Helpfulness of interventions for mental disorders: Beliefs of health professionals compared with the general public

Abstract

Background: The study aimed to compare the beliefs of health professionals about the potential helpfulness of various mental health interventions with those of the general public. Method: Surveys were carried out in Australia of 872 general practitioners, 1128 psychiatrists, 454 clinical psychologists and 2031 members of the public. Respondents were presented with a case vignette describing either a person with depression or one with schizophrenia. Respondents were asked to rate the likely helpfulness of various types of professional and nonprofessional help and of pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions. Results: The professionals gave much higher ratings than the public to th..