The primary hypothesis of the psychological mediation framework advanced in this paper is that the stress associated with stigma activates several changes in general psychological processes that in turn confer risk for psychopathology. This review has suggested several such processes that are plausible sequelae of stigma (e.g., rumination) and has provided evidence that these processes serve to mediate the stress-psychopathology association. The emphasis on general psychological processes was motivated by the fact that most of these processes are modifiable with existing clinical interventions and may be more amenable to change than distal stress exposures.
