As poignantly illustrated by Christine Gallo’s remarks,
persons with mental illness may internalize mental illness
stigma and experience diminished self-esteem and selfefficacy.
We refer to this process as self-stigma. Not everyone
with a mental illness, however, suffers a loss of
self-esteem due to stigma. Some people react to stigma
by becoming energized and empowered, while others remain
relatively indifferent and unaffected.2–4 In this article,
we summarize a model of self-stigma that takes
into account divergent reactions to stigma. We then describe
our analysis of data collected from individuals with
serious mental illness participating in community support
services and provide preliminary support for the processes
outlined in the model.