WORKPLACE EFFECTS OF THE STIGMATIZATION OF DEPRESSION

Employers have previously been shown to hold negative attitudes toward mental illness. I The purpose of this survey of human resource office rs in UK companies was to ascertain whether these attitudes prejudice employment opportunities for subjects with mental illness-specifically , depression-and, if so, some of the beliefs upon which these attitude s are based, When employers were given vignettes of job applicants ide ntical except for diagnosis, a label of depression significantly reduc ed the chances of employment, compared with one of diabetes, despite b oth being seen as equally credible ill illnesses. This stigmatization is based upon perceptions of potential poor work performance, rather t han expectations of future absenteeism, but is not concordant with pre vious research. It is suggested that greater dissemination of informat ion may alleviate some of this stigma.