It is already evident that varied factors of stigma in the setting of schizophrenia have an influence on the outcome of, or can even predict, the patients' performance, such as low adherence to treatment or its discontinuation; the effect possibly being moderated by psychological factors, such as personality. Stigma also has an impact on patients' employment or habitation problems, and can have a host of other unsettling psycho-social ramifications. It is thus noteworthy to analyze whether like problems are of significant meaning in depressive patients as well. Particularly, the role of hospitalization in the perception of stigma should be taken into consideration, let alone demographical and individual patients' differences. Further study designs should then focus on investigating the roles of entwined interrelationships between the factors mentioned above, exploring the nature of stigma in depression and constructing useful assessment tools to enable to compare stigmatization in different pathological states.
