Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a highly stigmatised mental disorder. A variety of research exists highlighting the stigma experienced by individuals with BPD and the impacts of such prejudices on their lives. Similarly, much research exists on the benefits of engaging in compassionate acts, including improved mental health recovery. However, there is a notable gap in understanding how stigma experienced by people with BPD acts as a barrier to compassion and by extension recovery. This paper synthesises these perspectives, examining common barriers to compassionate acts, the impact of stigma on people with BPD, and how these barriers are exacerbated for individuals with BPD due to the stigma they face. The synthesis of perspectives in the article highlights the critical role of compassion in supporting the recovery of individuals with BPD, while also revealing the significant barriers posed by stigma. Addressing these challenges requires a comprehensive understanding of the intersection between compassion and stigma, informing the development of targeted interventions to promote well-being and recovery for individuals with BPD.

Historical research on efforts to reduce the stigma associated with venereal disease (VD) generally dates these campaigns back to the 1930s. Within the United States, one of the earliest attempts to detach VD from its traditional association with sexual immorality occurred during the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century, when the New York City dermatologist Lucius Bulkley coined the term syphilis insontium (‘syphilis of the innocent’) in the hopes of demonstrating that many of those who contracted this disease did so through non-sexual contact. Gaining widespread acceptance within the medical community, Bulkley’s ideas served as the intellectual foundation for a discursive assault on the prevailing belief that syphilis constituted the ‘wages of sin’—one designed to destigmatise the disease and to promote more scientific responses to it. However, the effects of this anti-stigma rhetoric were often counterproductive. Encouraging doctors to discern ‘innocence’ or ‘guilt’ through assessments of a patient’s character, syphilis insontium often amplified the disease’s association with immorality. With the passage of time, physicians became increasingly aware of these problems, and in the 1910s, a backlash against Bulkley’s ideas emerged within the American medical community. Yet even with the resultant demise of his destigmatisation campaign, discourses of ‘innocent syphilis’ continued to circulate, casting a long shadow over subsequent stigma reduction efforts.

Current social assistance programmes in Canada and beyond have been criticised for normalising the dehumanisation of recipients through policy design and implementation. In this article we look at how exposure to a form of basic income through the Ontario Basic Income Pilot (OBIP) allowed recipients to imagine a different kind of support. We report on the findings from a study in OBIP from Hamilton, Canada, thematically analysing a subset of interviews with forty OBIP participants. We find that the higher levels of support, fewer behavioural conditions compared to social assistance, and reduced surveillance under OBIP-nurtured feelings of trust and confidence. Participants felt rehumanised as full members of society in reciprocal relationships with community and government that had been strained under previous forms of social assistance. We consider how the OBIP model provided a transformative framework for participants’ expectations for income support programmes and discuss implications for future research.

Lists have come to define terrorism. In the absence of an agreed-upon definition of what constitutes terrorism, proscription, or the inclusion of non-state armed groups on terrorist lists, has created a new category, a new reality. The material and symbolic consequences of these lists have been explored in human rights law and critical terrorism studies literature. But as the world seems to shift away from the terrorist framing, what happens to the ‘terrorists’ stuck on these lists?

Grounded in empirical research with listed non-state armed groups the article explores how listed actors themselves react to the listings. They should not be seen as mere passive recipients of these labels and lists – they are active agents and able to cope strategically with this stigma. Building on Rebecca Adler-Nissen’s work on stigma in world politics, the article shifts the focus from state to non-state actors and assesses how different listed groups cope using Adler-Nissen’s typology of stigma recognition, stigma rejection, and counter-stigmatisation. This diversity in reaction is unpacked through three case studies (ETA, Hezbollah, and FARC). While some armed groups have tried to explicitly reject the label imposed on them, others have embraced it.

The article traces what happens to the ‘terrorists’, how they are reacting, and whether they can ever escape their condition. Listing regimes have enabled the continuation of the war on terror through their embeddedness in the multilateral system, creating a permanence that can endlessly be reactivated.

In contemporary Europe, far-right parties threaten liberal democratic principles such as pluralism, media freedom and minority rights. Despite the stigma they normally face, far-right parties have experienced electoral breakthroughs even in countries where they remained electorally marginal such as Germany, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. We advance the idea that this happened because the level of stigmatization faced by these parties decreased before their electoral breakthrough. Therefore, we form a theoretical framework based on a threefold mechanism: far-right parties manage to reduce the stigma they face because of a reputational shield or by moderating their message; the media help the far right gain visibility and legitimacy by accommodating its views; established parties accommodate far-right parties without ostracizing them. Then, we test the framework by looking at the electoral breakthroughs of four parties: the results confirm the expectations except for the role of established parties, which is inconclusive.

The aim of this study was to explore the perspectives of older medicinal cannabis consumers and those advising them on older Canadians’ experiences accessing cannabis and information about it, as well as how stigma may influence their experiences. A concurrent triangulation mixed methods design was used. The design was qualitatively driven and involved conducting semi-structured interviews with older adults and advisors and developing a survey for older adults. We used a Qualitative Descriptive approach for the analysis of qualitative data and descriptive statistics for quantitative survey data. Findings demonstrate that many older adults are accessing information about cannabis for medical purposes from retailers, either because they are reticent to talk to their healthcare professionals or were rebuffed when bringing up the subject. We recommend cannabis education be required for healthcare professionals working with older persons and that future research examines their perspectives on medicinal cannabis and older adults.

The World Health Organization (WHO) proclaimed September 21 as World Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Day and extended the observance to the entire month. Various awareness campaigns are being conducted around the world, with special emphasis on the importance of education to improve the quality of life for patients, families, and the community at large, and to eliminate stigma and ageism.

It is estimated that there are approximately 44 million people worldwide with some form of dementia, while in the United States it reaches 5.4 million. In Puerto Rico, it is estimated that there are approximately 60,000 people with Alzheimer’s disease. An AARP study (2021) showed that there are over 500,000 caregivers of older adults, making Puerto Rico one of the top three countries with the largest aging population and the 6th country in the world. While in Latin America and the Caribbean there is a prevalence between 6.2 and 6.5 per 100 adults aged 60 years or older (WHO).

This health and social situation require an educated and empowered society to meet the challenges. Muñoz et. al (2023) conducted a qualitative study with caregivers and found that 91% of the participants stated that training would help them provide better care to the elderly. Social work is one of the main disciplines dealing with this social phenomenon and should therefore play a leading role in education and therapeutic intervention.

For the past five years, the Department of Social Work at Inter-American University, Metro Campus, has joined and supported the cause through the celebration of the Alzheimer’s Symposium: A Perspective from the Academy. This event involves the entire university community, as well as the community at large, which includes caregivers, government and non- profit agencies, and professionals from various disciplines. There will be concurrent lectures, Discussions among local and international professionals, a film forum, poster presentations, artistic expressions, and educational tables. The 6th Symposium will be held on September 20, 2024. The Symposium is promoted through various media. This activity has generated alliances, recommendations and new educational projects that contribute to the well-being of older adults.

Reducing loneliness amongst older people is an international public health and policy priority, with signs of decreasing importance in the UK. A growing body of research on tackling loneliness indicates it is a complex challenge. Most interventions imply they address loneliness, when in fact they offer social connectedness to address social isolation and can inadvertently responsibilise the individual for the causes and solutions for loneliness. This article presents research that explored loneliness in an underprivileged community in South Wales through interviews and focus groups with nineteen older people and eighteen local service providers. Their perspective supports a growing body of evidence that loneliness amongst older people is driven by wider structural and socio-cultural exclusion. Interventions to build social connections will be more effective if coupled with policies that reverse the reduction in public services (including transport and healthcare), and challenge socio-cultural norms, including a culture of self-reliance and ageism.

Jennifer Blumenthal-Barby (2024) has called for bioethics to end talk about personhood, asserting that such talk has the tendency to confuse and offend. It will be argued that this has only limited application for (largely) private settings. However, in other settings, theorizing about personhood leaves a gap in which there is the risk that the offending concept will get uptake elsewhere, and so the problem Blumenthal-Barby nominates may not be completely avoided. In response to this risk, an argument is presented in support of the idea that the role of philosophers and bioethicists, far from ending talk of personhood, ought to be to clarify the concept, and to do so in nuanced ways, given its application for specific kinds of impairments. The case of dementia is used to illustrate this in the context of person-centered care. Ironically, given the stigma attached to dementia, far from the need to end talk of personhood, bioethicists are needed to rescue the concept and clarify its role.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the contours of evolving jurisprudence on offensive expression and negative messages, and to suggest that it can best be understood by reference to the concept of stigma. At the European Court of Human Rights, there appears to have been an increasing willingness to recognise the harm of offensive expression through an interpretation of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, but the reach of this case law remains uncertain. In particular, while some cases associate negative expression with negative stereotyping, not all of these cases do, and there are potential conflicts with freedom of speech. In the domestic context, these issues recently arose in a significant case from the Court of Appeal, R (Crowter) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. In this case, the appellants argued that a legal provision sends a negative ‘message’, through the negative stereotyping of disabled people, but this ‘message’ is implicit, rather than explicitly articulated. While these developments raise important questions about the future evolution of case law, we propose that a focus on stigma can more clearly highlight the harms involved.

Mental health challenges are common following cancer diagnosis, negatively impacting treatment and quality of life for breast cancer (BC) patients. This pilot study provides an understanding of the impacts of BC diagnosis and care experiences on the mental health of patients seen at the Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya. We conducted 40 in-depth interviews, including 10 women with newly diagnosed BC, 10 women with metastatic BC, 10 family members and 10 healthcare professionals. Data were transcribed, translated into English as needed and coded using Dedoose software. Following BC diagnosis, it was reported that patients faced various physical, social, psychological and spiritual factors affecting their mental health and quality of life. Our interviews with each group indicated that BC patients experienced feelings of stress, anxiety and depression related to treatments and accompanying side effects. Disclosure concerns, financial impacts, relationship strain and negative outlooks on life were common among BC patients. The findings indicate that BC diagnosis and care experiences influence mental health in this population. With this basis, understanding and addressing the mental health challenges of BC patients is crucial to improve mental health and quality of life.

Research on adolescent mental health in low and middle-income countries cites the paucity of human resources and emphasises non-specialist worker (NSW)-led counselling intervention within school and health-system platforms. This pilot study aimed to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of a transdiagnostic stepped care model, for delivering preventive psychological treatment to adolescents through NSWs in urban vulnerable community settings. Conducted in three such settlements in Mumbai and Thane districts of Maharashtra in India, this mixed-methods study engaged 500 young people, their parents and 52 NSWs.

Quantitative data, obtained through monitoring indicators, fidelity checklists and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), revealed key stressors for adolescents, including poverty, structural inequity, cultural conformity pressures, academic anxieties and communication gap within families. Post-intervention, adolescents exhibited an enhanced capacity for positive emotions and agency. The qualitative component, incorporating observations, focus group discussions (FGDs) and in-depth interviews (IDIs) with various stakeholders, highlighted reduced stigma around mental health, yet identified barriers like time commitment, lack of incentivisation for NSWs, lack of privacy in densely populated communities and societal stigma.

This implementation research underscores that adolescent mental health stressors often originate from social determinants, exacerbated by insufficient awareness and stigma. Such stepped care models offer a pathway for communities to establish enduring support networks.