They aren’t like me, they are bad, and they are to blame: A theoretically-informed study of stigma of hoarding disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder

Abstract

There are no systematic investigations of public stigma of hoarding disorder (HD), and although there have been some studies on the public perception of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), such research has not examined three theoretically informed facets of stigma: difference (“They aren’t like me”), disdain (“They are bad”), and blame (“They are to blame”). The current Internet study evaluated these three facets of stigma in a general sample of 591 adults by comparing ratings of public perception for HD, OCD, serious mental illness (SMI), substance use disorders (SUD), and those in jail. Results indicate that HD is mostly associated with a neutral or negative public perception across all stigma facets, but OCD is associated with mostly positive or neutral public perception. Across all stigma ratings, HD was viewed more negatively than OCD. Comparison of ratings across conditions and the three facets of stigma suggest a nuanced picture in which HD and OCD demonstrate differences in public perceptions compared to jail, SMI, and SUD, some in the positive direction and some in the negative. In addition, among those who scored in a clinically elevated range of HD symptom severity, one facet of public stigma (i.e., a proxy for self-stigma) was negatively correlated with an index of treatment-seeking willingness, implicating stigma as a potential factor in the treatment ambivalence commonly associated with HD treatment.