Destigmatising dementia: The dangers of felt stigma and benevolent othering

Abstract

The destigmatisation of dementia through awareness raising campaigns and associated activities has become a key pillar of dementia studies and related activism. This anti-stigma agenda is undermined by a poor evidence base and inadequate operationalisations of stigma. Scambler’s distinction between felt stigma and enacted stigma provides a conceptual basis for improvement. Felt stigma encompasses negative self-appraisals and fears regarding the reactions of others, while enacted stigma describes active discriminatory behaviours. Awareness campaigns based around high-profile spokespeople and pathology-based models of dementia may effectively tackle enacted stigma, but they may also unintentionally exacerbate felt stigma. Distinguishing people with dementia as an exceptional group to elicit public sympathies promotes benevolent othering, unwittingly implying their negative otherness. This is problematic because felt stigma is typically more prevalent and deleterious to wellbeing than enacted stigma.