STIGMA AND SELF-STYGMATIZATION OF PATIENTS WITH AFFECTIVE DISORDERSAND THE WAYS OF THEIR OVERCOMING
The review of the literature deals with the problems of stigmatization and self-stigmatization of patients with mental disorders. Theurgency of this problem is due to the close attention of specialists and the public to the problems of providing specialized assistance topatients with affective pathology due to the significant impact of depression on the quality of life of patients, including in the context oftheir stigma and discrimination. According to WHO, depression is the second most common factor leading to disability or loss of health.According to WHO forecasts, by 2020, depression will rank first in the world among all diseases, ahead of today's leaders - infectious andcardiovascular diseases. The article presents data of recent years concerning the problems of socio-demographic characteristics andprognosis of depressive disorders. It is shown that in a number of cases, patients with depression begin to take and try on themselvesstereotypes and prejudices about people with mental disorders. Modern views on the ways of stigma and self-stigma formation of patientswith mental disorders are highlighted. Data are provided showing that self-stigma is not just a reaction to a disease and not just a complexof negative emotions about the disease, but reflects a complex process of forming a new (deviant, marginal) identity. The results ofdomestic and foreign studies aimed at studying the effectiveness of modern anti-stigma measures are presented. At the same time, it isstressed that modern psychiatry does not have enough data in the field of research of psychological mechanisms of autostigmatization,which requires a careful, scientifically based approach to their study in order to optimize the provision of assistance to this contingent ofpatients. (The Journal of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology. - 2017. - № 2 (38). - P. 85-94)