Attitudes to Mental Illness 2007

[HA]

Attitudes to Mental Illness 2007
Download PDF of survey results: Attitudes to Mental Illness 2007

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

8.1 Attitudes towards people with mental illness

• 90% agree that we have a responsibility to provide the best possible care for people with mental illness.
• 84% agree that we need to adopt a far more tolerant attitude towards people with mental illness in our society.
• 72% agree that people with mental illness have for too long been the subject of ridicule.
• 78% disagree that increased spending on mental health services is a waste of money.
• 87% disagree that people with mental illness don’t deserve our sympathy.

8.2 Public perceptions of people with mental illness

• 89% believe that personally anyone can become mentally ill.
• 72% think that mental illness is an illness like any other.
• 62% disagree that one of the main causes of mental illness is a lack of self-discipline and will power.
• 59% disagree that there is something about people with mental illness that makes it easy to tell them from normal people.

8.3 Levels of responsibility given to people with mental health problems

• 68% believe that people with mental health problems should have the same rights to a job as anyone else.
• 21% agree than anyone with a history of mental problems should be excluded from taking public office.
• 22% think that women who were once patients in a mental hospital can be trusted as baby sitters.
• 14% believe that people with mental illness should not be given any responsibility.

8.4 Coming into contact with people with mental health problems

• 17% consider it frightening to think of people with mental problems living in residential neighbourhoods.
• 57% agree that residents have nothing to fear from people coming into their neighbourhood to obtain mental health services.
• 58% agree that people with mental illness are far less of a danger than most people suppose.
• 30% thought that less emphasis should be placed on protecting the public from people with mental illness.
• 63% disagreed with the statement that “I would not want to live next door to someone who had been mentally ill”.

8.5 Integrating people with mental health problems into the community

• 60% disagree that a woman would be foolish to marry a man who has suffered from mental illness, even though he seems fully recovered.
• 55% disagree that locating mental health facilities in a residential area downgrades the neighbourhood.
• 73% agree that the best therapy for many people with mental illness is to be part of a normal community.
• 74% believe that, as far as possible, mental health services should be provided through community based facilities.
• 75% agree that no-one has the right to exclude people with mental illness from their neighbourhood.

8.6 Attitudes towards available services

• 51% disagree that there are sufficient existing services for people with mental illness.
• 32% disagree that mental hospitals are an outdated means of treating people with mental illness.
• 63% disagree that as soon as a person shows signs of mental disturbance, he should be hospitalised.
• 84% disagree that increased spending on mental health services is a waste of money.

8.7 Describing people who are mentally ill

• 63% describe people who are mentally ill as suffering from Schizophrenia.
• 56% believe that someone who is mentally ill has to be kept in psychiatric or mental hospital.
• 55% consider them to have a split personality.
• 54% believe that in order to be mentally ill, a person must be suffering from serious depression.

8.8 Consulting a Doctor about a Mental, Nervous or Emotional problem

• 12% have spoken with their GP or family doctor in the last 12 months about “being anxious or depressed” or about “any personal, mental, nervous or emotional problem.”

8.9 Friends and family who have had mental illness

• 52% have had someone close to them having some kind of mental illness.
• 16% have had someone from their immediate family or their live-in partner suffer mental illness.
• 5% have suffered themselves from mental illness.

8.10 Proportion of people who might have a mental health problem at some point in their lives

• 15% correctly believe that 1 in 4 people in the UK will suffer a mental health problem at some point in their lives.
• 25% believe that 1 in 10 people will suffer.
• 8% believe that 1 in 3 people will suffer.

8.11 Awareness and views on Publicity about Mental Health issues

• 56% have seen some publicity on mental health issues in the last few years.
• 28% have seen some publicity on the TV news and 24% in a national newspaper.
• 45% of those who saw publicity on a TV programme believe that this source has a more positive effect.
• 53% of those who saw publicity in a leaflet believe that this is an important source on influencing views about mental health.

 

[braveheart]

8.7 Describing people who are mentally ill

63% describe people who are mentally ill as suffering from Schizophrenia.
56% believe that someone who is mentally ill has to be kept in psychiatric or mental hospital.
55% consider them to have a split personality.
54% believe that in order to be mentally ill, a person must be suffering from serious depression.

That's kind of alarming. Although it does reflect prejudices I've encountered from the general public.

8

.1 Attitudes towards people with mental illness
90% agree that we have a responsibility to provide the best possible care for people with mental illness.
84% agree that we need to adopt a far more tolerant attitude towards people with mental illness in our society.
72% agree that people with mental illness have for too long been the subject of ridicule.
78% disagree that increased spending on mental health services is a waste of money.
87% disagree that people with mental illness don’t deserve our sympathy.

That's a bit more positive though..