MNCLHD

MNCLHD

Thursday, November 03, 2011

Attitudes towards people with mental disorders

An article in the most recent issue of the Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, Stigmatizing attitudes towards people with mental disorders: Findings from an Australian National Survey of Mental Health Literacy and Stigma  reports on a national survey focusing on stigmatising attitudes towards people with mental illness. It was found that schizophrenia was most commonly associated with dangerousness, unpredictability and a preference for not employing someone with the condition. On the other hand, social phobia was frequently perceived as being due to personal weakness. Thus, anti-stigma interventions are likely to be more successful if they focus on individual mental health conditions rather than mental illness in general.

[Reavley NJ, Jorm AF (2011). Aust & NZ J of Psych, doi:10.3109/00048674. 2011.621061]. Contact your health library if you would like the full text and have trouble obtaining it.

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