Public stigma is defined here as “the way in which people in a given community or society view and act towards people with mental health disorders.”4
A common way of understanding public stigma is to identify three related components: knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours. The knowledge component usually refers to a lack of detailed knowledge in society about mental health disorders, but can also arise due to misinformation.4
Stigmatising attitudes refer to negative emotional reactions towards people with mental health disorders.4
Behaviour refers to the rejection and social exclusion of people with mental health disorders by discrimination, which can cause harm by being anticipated as well as being experienced.4
These negative attitudes and discriminatory behaviours can create and reinforce misconceptions about the prevalence, process, and causes of mental health disorders. Such misconceptions can include beliefs about the dangerousness or incompetence of people with mental health disorders, or the belief that these disorders cannot be treated.4