Abstract
Objective
The Continuum Belief (CB) intervention approach has the potential to reduce the stigma of depression by suggesting that people with and without depression exist on one mental health-illness continuum. To date, few studies have examined the impact of implicit aspects.
Methods
Participants were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions. Continuum beliefs were induced by texts from a continuum view of depressive disorders, a categorized view, or a neutral text. Study 1 (N = 349) investigated explicit attitudes toward public stigma. Study 2 (N = 269) investigated implicit attitudes. Study 3 (N = 28) re-administered the continuum beliefs at a four-month interval.
Results
Inducing continuum beliefs significantly reduced the explicit stigma of depression among the public. At the implicit level, inducing continuum beliefs failed to decrease the public’s underlying stigma of depression. However, public stigma was slightly reduced through longitudinal studies.
Conclusions
This study found that continuum beliefs have a certain potential in reducing the stigma of depression.