Self-Stigma and its Relationship to Perceived social Support and Delay in Seeking Psychiatric Treatment among the Patients Attending Mental Health and Addiction Treatment Hospital in Minia

Abstract
The aim of the current study was to identify the level of self-stigma and perceived psycho-social support among a sample of the patients attending the mental health and addiction treatment hospital in Minia, and to reveal the relationship between self-stigma and perceived social support, between self-stigma and delay in seeking psychiatric treatment, and between perceived social support and delay in seeking psychiatric treatment. This study aimed also to identify the extent of the contribution of both the perceived social support as well as the delay in seeking psychiatric treatment to the prediction of self-stigma among the sample of the present study. The main study sample consisted of (71) psychiatric patients from the outpatient clinics at the mental health and addiction treatment hospitals. The study instruments included a scale of self- stigma as well as a scale of the perceived social support of the psychiatric patient (both prepared by the researcher). In addition, the researcher utilized the hospital records and personal interviews with the patients and their relatives in order to identify the period that the patient spent before commencing treatment in spite of the appearance of signs of mental illness without treatment. Findings showed a high prevalence of self-stigma among the study sample; while, the percentage of the perceived social support was medium. It was also revealed that there is a statistically significant negative correlation between self-stigma and perceived social support; whereas, there is a statistically significant positive correlation between self-stigma and delay in seeking treatment.  Findings revealed also a statistically significant negative correlation between the perceived social support and the delay in seeking psychiatric treatment among the study sample. Moreover, self-stigma was also predicted through the two variables of the perceived social support and the delay in seeking treatment, and the predictive regression equation was formulated as follows: self-stigma = -0.32 (social support variable) + 2.35 (the delay in seeking treatment) + 88.01