Epilepsy and stigma: An update and critical review of recent literature

Abstract

In this paper, the concept of illness-related stigma and its relevance to consideration of the psychosocial impact of epilepsy is discussed; an overview is provided of the recent literature on epilepsy-related stigma, as it relates both to the stigma experience of people with epilepsy themselves and the beliefs and attitudes held by other key target groups; limitations of these and previous studies are considered and some advances in knowledge arising from them are highlighted; finally, some suggestions are made about possible areas for further investigation.