Skip to main content

Table 2 Perceived stigma ordered by stigma type and stigma topic

From: Stigma and its impact on the families of former soldiers of the German Armed Forces: an exploratory study

Stigma form

Sample quote

Stigma by association

Vicarious stigma

Mental illness stigma (47 codes)

Blame (17 codes)

“She’s just a psychologist. Psychologist, but not specialized in PTSD, you know. And she draws up an expert opinion in which she says that it was, …, that WE are actually to blame for the fact that he has PTSD.”

"... it's your own fault. Why did you go there?"

Malingering (14 codes)

 

“… well, as I said, with my parents, my family, it is complicated. Because he has two arms, two legs, he can take care of himself. He can work…”

Freeloading (14 codes)

“… I think, there are always some colleagues who are rolling their eyes. Of course, when I’m sometimes ill…, they say: ‘She is only ill because of her husband’s illness.’”

“… Well, as his wife, I am also sorry if I know that he is treated differently just because he has this stamp on his forehead, ‘I am a PTSD soldier’. … And it always hurts him that he is not regarded as normal, but always as a PTSD soldier and that eyes are often rolled because he has special conditions. He is only allowed to work six hours… And I noticed it myself, when I picked him up there or brought him there… this eye rolling”

Dangerous (2 codes)

“... and they avoided me, the mothers. Not so much the fathers, more the mothers. They had a problem with it, and they told me that they did not want to have anything do with a mentally ill person, because they could harm their kids.”

“… they don’t know how to deal with him, how to talk to him/ what they may or may not say… Somehow they’re all scared of him. I don’t know why. … he’s not a monster.”

Soldier stigma (54 codes)

“… But there are also people … who certainly don’t want to hear that you live with a soldier. It’s hard sometimes when it comes to the insults, which you must listen to: ‘Soldier’s whore’ and such things, which you get thrown at you. And that’s rough. It’s really rough, the hardcore pacifists. It’s not pretty.”

“…This is the dilemma nowadays, that society doesn’t appreciate soldiers any longer, and now, with professional armed forces, even less. They are murderers.”

Interaction between Mental illness stigma and stigma soldier

“…What I hear more often… that people say: ‘Why, he knows what he’s getting involved with, and they only go because they get a lot of dough anyway.’ … And then it’s their own fault, when they are sick, that’s their own fault.”