ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Mood Disorders
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1478336
This article is part of the Research TopicStigma Around Depression Through the Sociocultural LensView all articles
Temperament correlates of stigma resistance among patients with mood disorders: a cross-sectional study
Provisionally accepted
- University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Background: In the realm of mental health, stigma presents a barrier to well-being and social acceptance. However, amidst societal prejudices, stigma resistance emerges as a vital concept, reflecting individuals' capacity to challenge negative stereotypes and maintain a positive self-concept. This paper explores the dynamics of stigma resistance, its determinants, and its implications for mental health outcomes, focusing specifically on mood disorder patients. Methods: Adult patients with mood disorders who provided written informed consent were consecutively recruited. Data were collected between 2020 and 2022 at the Mood Disorder Unit of the Geneva University Hospitals. Participants were assessed using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI), Montgomery–Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS), Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness scale (ISMI), Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris and San Diego Autoquestionnaire (TEMPS-A), and the Quality of Life in Bipolar Disorder scale (QolBD). For all scales, higher scores indicate greater symptom severity or higher levels of the measured construct Results: In this sample, the majority of patients were women, approximately one-third were single, and about half had completed high school or university education. Most participants were well integrated in the labor market. Multiple linear regression analyses indicated that shorter illness duration, higher hyperthymic temperament scores, and better quality of life were significantly associated with greater stigma resistance. Additionally, a positive trend was observed between internalized stigma and stigma resistance, although this did not reach statistical significance. Conclusions: Our study highlights the complex interplay of factors influencing stigma resistance among individuals with mood disorders. Understanding these dynamics is crucial for developing targeted interventions to enhance resilience and improve outcomes in this population.
Keywords: stigma, Stigma resistance, social resistance, Mood Disorders, Temperament
Received: 09 Aug 2024; Accepted: 03 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Urbani, Chatton, Jermann, Favre and Richardlepouriel. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Rossella Urbani, rossella.urbani@hug.ch
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.