“Coming Out” with a Mental Disorder in Japan: How Self-Stigma and Empowerment Affect this Decision

ABSTRACT

When persons with mental disorders attempt to live independently in the community, they face situations where they must decide whether to disclose their disorder (i.e., “come out”), which will affect self-concept, self-stigma, and empowerment. We conducted a self-reported questionnaire among users of psychiatric daycare facilities (N = 150) to gather correlational data on these variables among others. Sixty-one percent had positive intentions to come out, which was influenced by affirmativeness and self-efficacy. More participants with mood disorders intended on coming out than did those with schizophrenia. Satisfaction with social support encouraged coming-out affirmativeness and autonomy, providing implications for caregivers.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. Please note that this study is an extract of a Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine (nursing course) doctoral thesis.

Acknowledgments

We express our thanks to the users and staff of the daycare facilities who offered their understanding and support toward this study. We also thank Editage (www.editage.com) for English language editing and Publication Support.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) (research representative: Kuniyoshi Nagai, grant No. 2360116).