The purpose of this study is to assess the discourse of people with disabilities regarding their perception of discrimination and stigma. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten adults with physical disabilities, ten with hearing impairments and seven with visual impairments. The agreement between the coders showed an excellent reliability for all three groups, with kappa coefficients between .82 and .96. Differences were assessed between the three groups regarding the types of discrimination they experienced and their most frequent emotional responses. People with physical disabilities mainly reported being stared at, undervalued, and subtly discriminated at work, whereas people with hearing impairments mainly reported encountering barriers in leisure activities, and people with visual impairments spoke of a lack of equal opportunities, mockery and/or bullying, and overprotection. Regarding their emotional reactions, people with physical disabilities mainly reported feeling anxious and depressed, whereas people with hearing impairments reported feeling helpless, and people with visual impairments reported feeling anger and self-pity. Findings are relevant to guide future research and interventions on the stigma of disability.

Nowadays, journalism is considered a stressful occupation, not only due to the stress perceived in journalists’ daily work but also due to the critical, potentially traumatic events they report. However, research on journalists’ occupational stress in both these professional settings is still scarce. This study aims to characterize and compare occupational stress variables perceived by journalists in their daily work and in critical scenarios. Taking the Holistic Model of Occupational Stress by Nelson and Simmons (2003) as a framework, 25 Portuguese journalists, all with experience in reporting critical events, were interviewed on their perceptions of some core variables of the model: occupational stressors, distress and eustress emotional reactions, and the consequences of these experiences on their well-being. Differences among these core variables, according to the number of deployments to a critical event, were statistically analysed in order to ascertain whether repeated exposure to trauma influenced journalists’ occupational stress perceptions. The data content analysis showed that occupational stressors and emotional reactions differed across settings, while the consequences associated with journalists’ experiences were perceived as being mainly negative in both occupational contexts. Significant differences were identified in some of these variables according to the number of deployments to a critical event (p < .05). These findings may contribute to a reflection on the role of media organizations in preparing and supporting journalists in their work performance, and on the promotion of occupational health within the scope of journalists’ daily work and critical events. The article closes with considerations for future studies.

Aims – Based on findings from population surveys, we provide an overview of the public's emotional reactions to people with mental illness. Methods – A literature search for populations studies using measures of emotional response to people with mental illness was carried out. In addition, data on the public's emotional reactions, originating from representative surveys conducted in Germany in the years 1990, 1993 and 2001, were analysed. Results – Positive emotional reactions to people with mental illness are most prevalent, followed by fear and anger. This pattern appears relatively stable across different cultures. In recent years, the emotional response of the public remained unchanged or even deteriorated. The public seems to react quite differently to people with different mental disorders. Emotional reactions have a substantial effect on the desire for social distance. The association between familiarity with mental disorder and the desire for social distance is to a considerable extent mediated through emotions. Conclusions – The public's emotional reactions to people with mental disorder are relatively under-researched. More research may help better understand the complexities of the stigma surrounding mental illness. Interventions aimed at reducing the stigma of mental illness may benefit from paying more attention to emotions.

Previous research on asymmetric effects of emotional expression and brain-hemispheric asymmetry has supported opposing theories of hemispheric dominance in the control of emotional reactions. In the present study, 32 subjects were exposed to pictures of happy and angry facial stimuli while facial electromyographic (EMG) activity from the zygomatic major and the corrugator supercilii muscle regions was detected from the left and right sides of the face. The subjects reacted spontaneously and rapidly with larger zygomatic EMG activity to happy facial stimuli and larger corrugator EMG activity to angry stimuli. These distinct reactions were significantly larger on the left side of the face. It is concluded that the present results support the hypothesis that the right brain hemisphere is predominantly involved in the control of spontaneously evoked emotional reactions.