The impact of social stigmatization on health seeking behavior among susceptible groups and public health policy responses

Abstract

The global gap in the treatment of mental disorders is huge, and the inhibitory effect of social stigma on patients' seeking help behavior is one of the key causes of this gap. However, the pathways of stigma and the effectiveness of existing interventions still lack systematic integration. This article summarizes the psychological, social, and structural triple mechanisms through which stigma affects the health seeking behavior of susceptible groups, and evaluates the main intervention strategies such as community promotion, medical service adjustment, legislative protection, and individual empowerment. Research has found that expected stigma and internalized stigma weaken the motivation to seek help, social network fragmentation cuts off support channels, institutional exclusion within the healthcare system perpetuates the stigma of seeking medical treatment, and the triple mechanism of delayed medical treatment becomes a reasonable response for individuals to the risk of exclusion. In terms of intervention, contact intervention has a good effect on improving attitudes, but most strategies are difficult to promote the transformation from attitude to actual behavior, and structural stigma adjustment is beyond the capacity of the health department. In the future, it is necessary to develop standardized measurement tools, promote the integration of interventions from a scientific perspective, and strengthen the causal assessment of health outcomes through anti stigma laws. Balancing individual empowerment with structural reform is the key to achieving measurable health improvement.