Resisting depression stigma: exploring complementarities and contradictions

Depression represents a significant and growing global public health issue, and so too does the stigma associated with it. Despite this, there is limited knowledge about effective strategies to combat stigma related to depression. 

The main aim of this three-year sociological study is to address this issue through three interlinked research components. These will seek to explore complex anti-stigma discourses and practices to provide evidence that will inform future strategies and concentrate resources. 

Dr Bonnington will use a heuristic technique of social scales that distinguishes between ‘global’, ‘national’ and ‘local’ practices. These ‘scales’ will provide a new way to explore how measures to combat stigma are enacted. Together, they will constitute a ‘multi-sited ethnography’ of resistance to stigma.