Anticipated and experienced discrimination amongst people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder: a cross sectional study

Mental and behavioural disorders account for almost a quarter of the non-fatal health- related disability worldwide [1] at a cost of approximately £11.8 billion per year in England [2]. A proportion of this cost derives from missed education and employment opportunities, homelessness, or poor physical health leading to reduced life expectancy (which for severe mental illness (SMI) is 15–20 years less than the general population) [2]. One potential reason for such poor outcomes is ‘experienced discrimination’ , which can be defined as reported unfair treatment due to having a diagnosis of a mental illness [3, 4]. Further, the anticipation of discrimination may lead to avoidance of important life areas (such as employment, education or healthcare).

Data from three studies suggest high rates of mental illness-related discrimination are common. In 2009, the INDIGO schizophrenia study [4] reported the lifetime experiences of discrimination amongst 732 individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia in 27 countries. High rates of discrimination were consistent across countries. 47% of participants had experienced discrimination in making or keeping friends, 43% from family members and 29% in finding/keeping a job. The same group examined experienced discrimination amongst 1087 individuals diagnosed with major depressive disorder in 35 countries [5] and found 79% of participants experienced discrimination in at least one area of life. Finally, the Viewpoint annual cross-sectional survey of users of secondary mental health services in England [6] suggests that while rates of discrimination may be improving, 88% of those surveyed in 2011 had experienced discrimination in at least one area of life in the previous 12 months [7].

These studies also captured the extent to which the anticipation of discrimination stopped people from participating in important areas of life, including work, education and personal relationships. Interestingly, while there was an association between the anticipation of discrimination and prior experience of discrimination, that was not true in all cases. For example, in the INDIGO schizophrenia study one third of participants anticipated discrimination in work despite having had no prior experience of discrimination in this area [4, 8].

The impact of experienced and anticipated discrimination can be profound. For example, in a qualitative analysis of the INDIGO schizophrenia study [9], many participants described feeling ‘shunned’ and ‘mocked’ by their communities, resulting in or exacerbating social withdrawal. Further, two meta-analyses indicate that experienced discrimination (due to any social attribute) is linked with poorer mental and physical health [10, 11].

These studies have been seminal in understanding the extent of experienced discrimination internationally, however, with relatively low sample sizes in the international studies [4, 5] and low response rates [7], the generalisability of these findings is unclear. Further, anticipated discrimination was measured by four items which captured a behavioural consequence of discrimination i.e., avoidance; measurement of actual anticipation of discrimination using a validated measure is required. In addition, little is known about the predictors of discrimination, e.g., are people with schizophrenia more likely to experience discrimination than those with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder? Are men or women more likely to anticipate discrimination? Finally, questions remain regarding the influence of functioning and psychopathology on discrimination [8, 12]. For example, do people with more severe symptoms experience more discrimination than those less impaired? Are feelings of hopelessness associated with increased reporting of discrimination?

This paper presents the results of a cross-sectional study investigating the patterns and associations of experienced and anticipated discrimination for people with SMI and addresses four research questions:

The MIRIAD (Mental Illness-Related Investigations on Discrimination) study was a cross-sectional study of 200 individuals using secondary mental health services in South London. Data were collected between September 2011 and October 2012. The study was approved by the East of England/Essex 2 Research Ethics Committee (ref 11/EE/0052).

4233 service users were screened for eligibility. 1345 (31.7%) were eligible and were invited to participate. 207 (15.4%) service users provided written and informed consent. There were no differences between eligible consenting and eligible non-consenting service users in terms of diagnoses, age, gender and ethnicity. Five service users were excluded after interview due to incorrect diagnoses (n = 4) or incomplete data (n = 1), leaving 202 participants. Their socio-demographic and clinical characteristics are shown in Table 1.

In this study, 87.6% of service users reported experienced discrimination and 92.6% anticipated discrimination in at least one life area. These figures are similar to previous research [5, 7]. We also found no evidence to suggest that the overall severity of experienced discrimination differed according to diagnostic group. There have been inconsistent findings in this regard in the literature. One study using the same instrument as in our study found no difference according to diagnostic group [20]. Other studies, using different instruments to measure and operationalise experienced discrimination, have found differential rates amongst those with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or severe mental illnesses, when compared to the experiences of those with a diagnosis of depression [22, 23]. These divergent findings may be due to measurement differences, but warrant replication. Interestingly, our findings are at odds with studies of public attitudes which often show more negative attitudes to individuals with a diagnosis of schizophrenia compared to depression (see [24]), and suggest that people’s actual behaviour differs from their attitudes, and/or that it is the diagnosis of a mental health problem per se, rather than specific disorders which affect levels of discrimination.

The Mixed ethnic group reported higher levels of experienced discrimination compared to the White group. While there is some evidence in the literature for differential treatment according to ethnicity in psychiatric treatment [25, 26], many studies exclude Mixed ethnicities due to low sample sizes. While caution is needed in interpreting the results in the current study due to the small sample, the high rates of experienced discrimination and associations with internalised stigma suggest that further research should target these groups to explore their internal models of self and mental illness and experiences in physical and mental health care settings. Higher levels of education were associated with greater experienced discrimination. It is possible that education may lead individuals to have greater expectations or to be more critical of their experiences. Equally, higher levels of education may lead to exposure to discrimination in a greater range of life areas (e.g., through work activities) than those with less education or no qualifications.

Higher levels of experienced discrimination were associated with greater levels of anxiety and depression. As some commentators have hypothesised [12] it is possible that such symptoms may affect individuals’ interpretation of events, leading to increased reporting of unfair treatment. However, it is equally possible that experienced discrimination may lead to increased feelings of anxiety and depression. Due to the cross-sectional design it is not possible to determine the directionality of this effect; longitudinal research is therefore needed to untangle this relationship.

The anticipation of discrimination was moderately associated with experienced discrimination overall, and in most areas except employment and education. The proportion of participants reporting that employment and education areas were not applicable suggests the anticipation, and not the experience, of discrimination may lead to avoidance. This is consistent with previous research [4, 8] and suggests either that negative stereotypes of employers and educators dominate people’s perceptions or that people are aware of real inequalities that people with SMI encounter (i.e., over a third of this sample for whom these areas were applicable had experienced discrimination in employment and one fifth in education). While the anticipation may be a precursor or consequence of experienced discrimination (or both) [4, 8], these data suggest a need for interventions and monitoring of employment and education agencies to ensure that people with SMI are both safeguarded from unfair treatment and receive adequate support to enable them to engage in these areas. Protection against unfair treatment in employment exists in many countries (e.g., the UK Equality Act [27]) however, these data suggest low awareness of such safeguards or perhaps a distrust that employers will adhere.

Higher levels of anticipated discrimination were moderately associated with increasing age and suspiciousness, but the strongest association was with gender. Females anticipated higher levels of discrimination than males in several areas including housing, employment and family life. Previous research has linked negative future predictions with depressive cognitions (e.g., [28]) however, in this study women had higher levels of anticipated discrimination even after adjusting for depressive and anxiety symptoms (which were not independently associated with anticipated discrimination). There are a couple of possible explanations for these results. There is research to suggest that women perceive more risks than men and feel less empowered to ensure positive outcomes [29, 30]. Alternatively, the anticipation of discrimination may reflect knowledge of the difficulties women with SMI report in these areas (e.g., problems finding part-time work or having children taken into care) [31, 32]. These findings, in conjunction with those regarding Mixed ethnicity groups suggest that anti-stigma and discrimination interventions should be extended from public-level information campaigns, to individual-level psychological interventions assisting individuals with SMI to engage in areas they may avoid and to reduce negative appraisals of self and others where appropriate.

This study has a number of strengths. It was able to examine the association between diagnostic group and experienced discrimination more robustly than existing research. It is the first study to use a validated measure of anticipated discrimination (QUAD) enabling the examination across a broad range of areas and to address the potential influence of symptomatology, functioning and demographic variables on experienced and anticipated discrimination. There are limitations to these data. We recruited 15% of the eligible sample, however, this is typical of similar studies [7] and there were no differences between participants and eligible individuals who did not participate. In addition, we only recruited those who were engaged in secondary mental health care and therefore our study reports on those with severe illness and/or associated complex needs. In this context, our findings may not generalise to other samples that do not require regular intervention and/or are adequately treated in primary care settings. Participants knew it was a study on discrimination and therefore the sample may over-represent those with discriminatory experiences to report. Conversely, as the DISC assessed experiences in the previous 12 months, we may underestimate discrimination in areas that occur infrequently or at particular stages of life (e.g., education/parenting). Finally, the study design was cross-sectional and unable to determine the directionality of associations.

Rates of experienced and anticipated discrimination amongst individuals with SMI are unacceptably high. Discrimination may lead to individuals avoiding important life areas with potential negative consequences for their overall well-being, and that of their communities. Further research is required to investigate the longitudinal associations and effects of discrimination. Interventions are needed to address structural discrimination and public stigma, but also to help service users with specific vulnerabilities and concerns regarding discrimination.