Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-mzp66 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-09T23:05:22.988Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

What about psychiatrists' attitude to mentally ill people?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2020

Christoph Lauber ,
Marion Anthony ,
Vladeta Ajdacic-Gross  and
Wulf Rössler
Christoph Lauber*
Affiliation:
Psychiatric University Hospital, Militärstrasse 8, PO Box 1930, 8021 Zurich, Switzerland
Marion Anthony
Affiliation:
Psychiatric University Hospital, Militärstrasse 8, PO Box 1930, 8021 Zurich, Switzerland
Vladeta Ajdacic-Gross
Affiliation:
Psychiatric University Hospital, Militärstrasse 8, PO Box 1930, 8021 Zurich, Switzerland
Wulf Rössler
Affiliation:
Psychiatric University Hospital, Militärstrasse 8, PO Box 1930, 8021 Zurich, Switzerland
*
*Corresponding author. Email addresses:[email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Objective

Firstly, to assess and, secondly, to compare experts' and lay attitudes towards community psychiatry and the respective social distance towards mentally ill people.

Method

Comparison of two representative Swiss samples, one comprising of 90 psychiatrists, the other including 786 individuals of the general population.

Results

The psychiatrists' attitude was significantly more positive than that of the general population although both samples have a positive attitude to community psychiatry. The statement that mental health facilities devalue a residential area has revealed most agreement. Psychiatrists and the public do not differ in their social distance to mentally ill people. Among both samples, the level of social distance increases the more the situation described implies ‘social closeness’.

Conclusion

The strategy to use psychiatrists as role models or opinion leaders in anti-stigma campaigns cannot be realised without accompanying actions. Psychiatrists must be aware that their attitudes do not differ from the general public and, thus, they should improve their knowledge about stigma and discrimination towards people with mental illnesses.

Keywords

Expert and lay attitudeMental illnessCommunity psychiatrySocial distanceAnti-stigma campaign
Type
Original article
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 19 , Issue 7 , November 2004 , pp. 423 - 427
Copyright
Copyright © European Psychiatric Association 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Corrigan, PW, River, LP, Lundin, RK, Penn, DL, Uphoff-Wasowski, K, Campion, J, et al. Three strategies for changing attributions about severe mental illness, Schizophr Bull 2001;27: 187–95.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cumming, E, Cumming, J. Closed ranks: an experiment in mental health education, Cambridge: MA: Harvard University Press; 1957.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frey, JH, Mertens Oishi, S. How to conduct interviews by telephone and in person, Thousand Oakes, London, New Delhi: Sage; 1995.Google Scholar
Jorm, AF, Christensen, H, Medway, J, Korten, AE, Jacomb, PA, Rodgers, B. Public belief systems about the helpfulness of interventions for depression: associations with history of depression and professional help-seeking, Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 2000;35: 211–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kish, L. A procedure for objective respondent selection within households, J Am Stat Assoc 1949;44: 380–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lauber, C, Nordt, C, Sartorius, N, Falcato, L, Rössler, W. Public acceptance of restrictions on mentally ill people, Acta Psychiatr Scand Suppl 2000;102: 26–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lauber, C, Nordt, C, Falcato, L, Rössler, W. Lay recommendations on how to treat mental disorders, Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 2001;36: 553–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lauber, C, Nordt, C, Falcato, L, Rössler, W. Determinants of attitude to volunteering in psychiatry: results of a public opinion survey in Switzerland, Int J Soc Psychiatry 2002;48: 209–19.Google ScholarPubMed
Lauber, C, Nordt, C, Falcato, L, Rössler, W. Public attitude to compulsory admission of mentally ill people, Acta Psychiatr Scand 2002;105: 385–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lauber, C, Eichenberger, A, Luginbühl, P, Keller, C, Rössler, W. Determinants of burden in caregivers of patients with exacerbating schizophrenia, Eur Psychiatry 2003;18: 285–9.Google ScholarPubMed
Lauber, C, Nordt, C, Falcato, L, Rössler, W. Do people recognise mental illness? Factors influencing mental health literacy, Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 2003;253: 248–51.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lauber, C, Nordt, C, Falcato, L, Rössler, W. Factors influencing social distance towards people with mental illness, Community Ment Health J 2004;40: 265–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lavrakas, PJ. Telephone survey methods: sampling, selection, and supervision, Newbury Park, CA, London, New Delhi: Sage; 1983.Google Scholar
Link, BG, Cullen, FT, Frank, J, Wozniak, JF. The social rejection of former mental patients: understanding why labels matter, Am J Sociol 1987;92: 146–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Penn, DL, Corrigan, PW. The effects of stereotype suppression on psychiatric stigma, Schizophr Res 2002;55: 269–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Penn, DL, Kohlmaier, JR, Corrigan, PW. Interpersonal factors contributing to the stigma of schizophrenia: social skills, perceived attractiveness, and symptoms, Schizophr Res 2000;45: 37–45.Google ScholarPubMed
Rössler, W, Salize, HJ. Factors affecting public attitudes towards mental health care, Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 1995;245: 20–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sartorius, N. Stigma: what can psychiatrists do about it? Lancet 1998; 352: 1058–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, SM, Dear, MJ. Scaling community attitudes toward the mentally ill. Schizophr Bull 1981;7: 225–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thornicroft, G, Szmukler, G. Textbook of community psychiatry, Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2001.Google Scholar
Wolff, G, Pathare, S, Craig, T, Leff, J. Community knowledge of mental illness and reaction to mentally ill people, Br J Psychiatry 1996;168: 191–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.