{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,10]],"date-time":"2026-09-10T16:22:01Z","timestamp":1789057321484,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":54,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,2]],"date-time":"2025-09-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1756771200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychiatry"],"abstract":"<jats:p>We investigated how the label \u201cdepression\u201d and information about a medical diagnosis influence perceptions of individuals with depressive symptoms as legitimately experiencing depression and a medical condition. In three experiments, participants read a description of a person meeting Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) criteria for major depressive episode and manipulated whether the label \u201cdepression\u201d and the information about a professional medical diagnosis were included. Participants were more likely to perceive the person as having depression when both the label and diagnosis were present. However, paradoxically, when a diagnosis explicitly included the word \u201cdepression\u201d, participants were less likely to view the symptoms as indicating a legitimate medical condition than when the diagnosis omitted the term. These effects were not moderated by participants\u2019 own experience of depression. Gender effects emerged in Experiment 3: results replicated for male protagonists but differed for female protagonists, where label effects were independent of medical diagnosis information. Finally, a meta-analysis across the three experiments supported our hypothesis that the label \u201cdepression\u201d weakened the effect of the medical diagnosis. Moreover, participants attributed a higher degree of legitimacy to a medical condition when the diagnosis was provided by a doctor, but only when this diagnosis did not include the label \u201cdepression\u201d.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyt.2025.1612517","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,2]],"date-time":"2025-09-02T05:35:19Z","timestamp":1756791319000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Label matters: how labeling and diagnosis affect lay perception of people with depressive symptoms"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Katarzyna","family":"Kulwicka","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jagoda","family":"Rusowicz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Agata","family":"Gasiorowska","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"444","DOI":"10.2307\/2094300","article-title":"The labelling theory of mental illness","volume":"39","author":"Scheff","year":"1974","journal-title":"Am Sociological Review"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1086\/228672","article-title":"The social rejection of former mental patients: understanding why labels matter","volume":"92","author":"Link","year":"1987","journal-title":"Am J Sociology"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/09638237.2021.1922653","article-title":"How does diagnostic labelling affect social responses to people with mental illness? 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