Stigma Category and Definition
Public stigma occurs when the general population—or certain subsets of the population—endorses negative beliefs pertaining to a certain illness and acts upon these beliefs in a discriminatory manner, often by avoidance and withdrawal.
Personal stigma occurs when the individual person—child or adult, or the family—becomes aware of the negative beliefs about a certain illness, internalizes these beliefs, and applies them to the self.
Patient label avoidance refers to the patient’s reluctance and efforts to distance him- or herself from a label—in the case of motor functional neurological disorder, a diagnosis—because the label is perceived as being socially unacceptable. This type of stigma is more commonly perceived in relation to mental health disorders—because such disorders are commonly misperceived as being the result of personal weakness or poor character.