The public's stigmatizing attitudes towards people with mental disorders: How important are biomedical conceptualizations?

Abstract

Objective: This study examined hypotheses that stigmatizing attitudes are increased by use of psychiatric labels, by conceptualization of symptoms as a medical illness and by belief in genetic causes. Method: A survey of 3998 Australian adults asked questions about one of four vignettes: early schizophrenia, chronic schizophrenia, depression and depression with suicidal thoughts. Attitudes were measured by a social distance scale and a question about likely dangerousness. Results: Social distance was unrelated to the hypothesized factors. For schizophrenia (but not depression), belief in dangerousness was predicted by medical illness conceptualizations and genetic causal attribution. However..