Mental illness stigma refers to the negative attitudes, stereotypes, and discrimination that people with mental health conditions face from society. It can prevent individuals from seeking treatment, hinder their ability to access resources, and ultimately lead to poorer outcomes.

My work on mental illness stigma and minority health provides insights into the causes of the under-utilization of mental health services among minority populations and provides a roadmap for dispelling such stigma and promote mental health among minority groups.

Mental Illness in China

My students and I have done extensive research to understand the culturally specific stigma about mental illness within the historical, political, and social contexts of China. Here are some of the studies on mental illness stigma through in-depth interviews.

Topics explored include mental illness in general, postpartum depression, suicide, etc.

• Tang, L., & Bie, B. (2016). Narratives about mental illnesses in China: The voices of Generation Y. Health Communication, 31(2), 171-181. doi:10.1080/10410236.2014.940673 [Summary][Full article]
• Zou, W., Tang, L., & Bie, B. (2021) The stigmatization of suicide: A study of stories told by college students in China. Death Studies 46 (9), 2035-2045. https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2021.1958396  [Summary][Full Text]

Social media and mental illness

• Li, J., Tang, L., & Pu, Y. (2023). My story of depression: A content analysis of autobiographic videos on Douyin. Health Communication. DOI: 10.1080/10410236.2023.2191887 [Summary] [Full text]

Latinx Mental Health

I am part of a research team suportd Robert Woods Johnson Foundation grant (PI: Dr. Melissa Dopont-Reyes at Columbia) and NIH to study Spanish-language media contents about mental health and how Latinx individuals use media for health and mental health information.

• Dupont-Reyes, M.J., Hermandez, J., & Tang, L. (2022). Television advertising, corporate power, and Latino health disparities. American Journal of Preventative Medicine, 63(4): 496-504. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2022.04.017 [Full text]
• Dupont-Reyes, M.J., Villatoro, A., Gama, G., & Tang, L.  (2023). Measuring media-related health and mental health information acquisition among Latino adults in the United States. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research. e1967. https://doi.org/10.1002/mpr.1967 [Full text]
• Dupont-Reyes, M.J., Villatoro, A., & Tang, L. (2024). Mechanisms of mental illness anti-stigma messaging matter: Leveraging mental health communication inequities among Latinx populations to understand what works and what we can do better. Social Science and Medicine, 349. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116865 [Full Text]
• DuPont-Reyes, M. J., Villatoro, A.P., Peña, M., Tang, L. (2024). A source of mental health inequities: The case of a Spanish and English cross language content analysis of depiction of mental illness in primetime YouTube TV programming. Stigma and Health.
• DuPont-Reyes, M. J., Villatoro, A.P., Chowkwanyun, M., Ortiz, S.E., Tang, L. (2024). Communication policy to reduce health disparities: A cross-language content analysis of YouTube TV advertising. American Journal of Preventative Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2024.05.016 [Full Text]
• Dupont-Reyes, M.J., Villatoro, A., & Tang, L. (2024). Media-based health information behaviors among Latine in the United States. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1177/07399863241259292 [Full Text]
• Dupont-Reyes, M.J., Villatoro, A., & Tang, L. (2024). Mechanisms of mental illness anti-stigma messaging matter: Leveraging mental health communication inequities among Latinx populations to understand what works and what we can do better. Social Science and Medicine, 349. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116865 [Full Text]

Postpartum Depression and Maternal Health

This line of research stands at the interaction of mental health and women’s health, trying to explain the specially challenges and stigma women face and how they cope.

• Tang, L., Zhu, R., & Zhang, X. (2016). Postpartum depression and social support in China: A cultural perspective. Journal of Health Communication, 21(9), 1055-1061. doi: 10.1080/10810730.2016.1204384. [Summary] [Full article]
• Tang, L., Zhang, X., & Zhu, R. (2020). What causes postpartum depression and how to cope with it: A phenomenological study of mothers in China. Health Communication, 36(12): 1495-1504. Doi: 10.1080/10410236.2020.1771063. [Summary] [Full article]

Recently, Dr. Wenxue Zou and I published two studies out of her dissertation examining PPD in among different groups of women in the United States.

• Zou, W.*, Tang, L., Zhou, M., & Zhang, X. (2024). Self-disclosure and received social support among women experiencing infertility on Reddit: A natural language processing approach. Computers in Human Behavior. 154. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2024.108159 [Full Text]
• Zou, W.*, Tang, L., Wallis, C. (2025). “My body is betraying me”: Exploring the stigma of female infertility at the intersection of race and gender. Health Communication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2025.2470984