01917nas a2200145   4500000000100000008004100001260002200042100002000064700001500084245003300099856026000132300000800392520134900400020002201749       2021                            d  bAPSARA PRAKASHANA1 aShashi Kumar BM1 aSavitha AS00aAddressing Stigma in Leprosy  uhttp://scholar.google.nl/scholar_url?url=https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kishor-Manohar-Rao/publication/351304819_Essentials_of_Psychiatry_for_Dermatology_and_Aesthetic_Practice/links/60910b8f299bf1ad8d7720d7/Essentials-of-Psychiatry-for-Dermatology-  a2203 aThere are a number of chronic health conditions that bear
the burden of stigma, but perhaps the most powerful image of
stigma is that related to leprosy; still a common metaphor for
stigma. Weiss recognized this reality and to lay emphasis on it,
he disclosed that leprosy had been the only condition for which
explicit and exclusive studies of stigma had been supported by
the WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in
Tropical Diseases (TDR).1 Leprosy patients have been made to
live in segregated colonies outside the communities or in distant
islands. Now with availability of early detection methods and
effective treatment, patients can take treatment in their homes
with reduced incidences of deformities and disabilities. Yet, there
is discrimination against people affected by leprosy, which needs
to be removed from the public mind, so that they can lead a
normal life. References to earlier studies on stigma showed that
it is not the disease per se that invokes negative responses but
disfigurement and disability caused by the disease that resulted in
rejection.2Studies show that patients with leprosy , without visible
deformity or ulceration do not appear to suffer participation
restriction.3Even today communities perceive leprosy as a disease
from God, the will of God or as a punishment by God.4  a978-81-948549-6-8