Associations between Beliefs about the Causes of Mental Disorders and Stigmatizing Attitudes: Results of a Mental Health Literacy and Stigma Survey of the Japanese Public

Abstract

Abstract: This study aimed to examine the associations between beliefs about the causes of depression and schizophrenia and stigmatizing attitudes towards people with these disorders. In 2013, a web-based survey was carried out with 1,000 Japanese adults. Participants were presented with a case vignette describing either depression, depression with suicidal thoughts, early schizophrenia, or chronic schizophrenia and asked about their beliefs about the causes of these disorders and also about their personally-held stigmatizing attitudes, stigmatizing attitudes perceived in others, and the desire for social distance from the person described in the vignette. The results suggested that perceive..