Background: Among the many reasons for the stigmatization of mental illnesses and those affected by it, the supposedly insufficient treatability plays a central role. In fact, treatability is not worse compared to various somatic diseases, although different factors impair the use and thus the effect of optimal treatment options. This is where measures to optimize treatment and care within the framework of quality psychiatry and psychotherapy come into play, whose resource-backed systematic introduction and implementation can contribute to overcoming stigma.
Objective: This article examines whether and how the quality of psychiatric treatment and care can contribute to reducing stigmatizing attitudes in the general public and the stigma experienced or anticipated by persons with mental illnesses.
Methods: Components of quality assured psychiatric treatment and care were identified at the conceptual level, which can hypothetically contribute to the destigmatization of persons with mental illnesses.
Results and conclusion: The components of quality psychiatry that can contribute to the destigmatization of persons with mental illnesses include the implementation of regularly updated evidence-based treatment guidelines, the individualization of psychiatric treatment (precision psychiatry) and the application of quality indicators within the framework of comprehensive quality management. The postulated relationships must be empirically verified, further analyzed and communicated to the public to be made systematically useful for the destigmatization of mental illnesses.
Keywords: Discrimination; Quality; Quality medicine; Stigma; Stigmatization.