Beliefs about mental disorder treatment and prognosis: Comparison of health professionals with the Australian public

Abstract

Objective: In the 1990s, large differences in beliefs about the helpfulness of treatments for mental disorders were observed between the Australian public and health professionals. This study evaluates whether gaps in public and professional beliefs remain by comparing beliefs of the public and health professionals on the helpfulness of interventions and likely prognosis for six mental health problems: depression, depression with suicidal thoughts, early schizophrenia, chronic schizophrenia, social phobia, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Methods: Mental health literacy surveys based around a vignette of a person with a mental disorder were carried out in a nationally representative sampl..