Lori Harper, PhD Clinical Psychologist, Geriatric Psychiatry Villa Caritas Hospital Instructor and Field Placement Coordinator MacEwan University Clinical Lecturer University of Alberta Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Bonnie M. Dobbs, PhD Director, The Medically At-Risk Driver Centre Director of Research, Division of Care of the Elderly Professor, Department of Family Medicine University of Alberta Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Shana D. Stites, PsyD, MS, MA Instructor, Division of Geriatrics Department of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Martha Sajatovic, MD Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology Willard Brown Chair in Neurological Outcomes Research Director, Neurological and Behavioral Outcomes Center University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine Cleveland, Ohio
Kathleen C. Buckwalter, PhD, RN, FAAN Professor of Research & Distinguished Nurse Scientist in Aging Donald W. Reynolds Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence, College of Nursing Oklahoma University Health Sciences Center Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Professor and Interim Dean Emerita University of Iowa College of Nursing Iowa City, Iowa
Sandy C. Burgener, PhD, RN, FAAN Associate Professor Emerita University of Illinois College of Nursing Chicago, Illinois
Disclosures Drs. Harper, Burgener, Dobbs, Buckwalter, and Stites report no financial relationships with any companies whose products are mentioned in this article, or with manufacturers of competing products. Dr. Sajatovic receives research grants from Otsuka, Alkermes, Janssen, International Society for Bipolar Disorders, Reuter Foundation, Woodruff Foundation, Reinberger Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She is a consultant to Bracket, Otsuka, Janssen, Neurocrine, and Health Analytics. Dr. Sajatovic receives royalties from Springer Press, Johns Hopkins University Press, Oxford Press, and UpToDate. Her CME activities include the American Physician’s Institute, MCM Education, CMEology, Potomac Center for Medical Education, Global Medical Education, and Creative Educational Concepts.
In a recent study by Harper et al,14 stigma was prevalent in the experience of PwD. One participant disclosed:
“I think there is [are] people I know who don’t ask me to go places or do things ’cause I have a dementia…I think lots of people don’t know what dementia is and I think it scares them ’cause they think of it as crazy. It hurts…”
Another participant said:
“I have had friends for over thirty years. They have turned their backs on me…we used to go for walks and they would phone me and go for coffee. Now I don’t hear from any of them…those aren’t true friends…true friends will stand behind you, not in front of you. That’s why I am not happy.”
Overall, quantitative and qualitative findings indicate multiple, detrimental effects of personal stigma on PwD. These effects fit well with measures of self-stigma, including social rejection (eg, being treated differently, participating in fewer activities, and having fewer friends), internalized shame (eg, being treated like a child, having fewer responsibilities, others acting as if dementia is “contagious”), and social isolation (eg, being less outgoing, feeling more comfortable in small groups, having limited social contacts).15
