Stigmatization, Coping with

Coping Strategies

Avoiding stigmatizing situations or concealing the stigma is a coping strategy option for individuals who are discreditable. Discreditable means that an individual embodies a characteristic that is typically stigmatized by others, but that it is not yet visible or known by those others. For example, people with HIV who are asymptomatic may conceal their status from others as a way of coping with the stigma attached to HIV/AIDS. In this way the discreditable individual may “pass” as nonstigmatized in public venues. The primary health downside of this coping technique is the potential to limit that person's access to and use of valuable treatment and social support.

Some individuals who perceive themselves as stigmatized will engage in coping strategies that seem to accept the stigmatized status. Examples of accepting strategies include: apologizing for the stigma, using humor to ease comfort with the stigma, blaming the stigma for other negative outcomes, isolating the self, and bonding with other individuals who also embody the stigma. None of these strategies overtly seek to change or eliminate the public's or individual's perception of the stigma. For example, though participation in health-related support groups may eventually lead to the use of other strategies, initial participation in such a group typically facilitates a bonding with similar others as they come to terms with their atypical conditions and the consequences therein, including stigmatization.

In other instances, stigmatized individuals may work to change public perceptions of a stigmatizing condition. There are three basic types of coping strategies that seek such changes. First, individuals may work to reduce the perceived offensiveness of the stigma. This reduction of offense is accomplished through basic minimization (e.g., “See, it's not really that bad.”), bolstering/refocusing (e.g., “I may not be able to walk, but I'm the point guard on our championship wheelchair monster ball team.”), and transcendence (e.g., “Having a sexually transmitted infection makes me better able to empathize with the struggles of those around me. It makes me a better human being.”).

A second changing-perceptions strategy that individuals may use to cope with stigmatization is evading responsibility for the stigma condition they embody. Examples of this strategy include individuals suggesting that they were provoked into the situation that led to their condition (provocation), that they had no control over what happened (defeasibility), or more generally that the stigmatized outcome was accidental/unintentional. For example, someone who has a sexually transmitted infection (STI) might use these strategies by sharing with others that they contracted the stigmatized condition via a blood transfusion or a partner's disregard for their request that they use some form of STI protection.

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