Stigmatising attitudes towards people with mental disorders: A comparison of Australian health professionals with the general community

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this paper was to explore attitudes towards people with mental disorders among Australian health professionals (psychiatrists, psychologists and general practitioners (GPs)) and to compare their attitudes with members of the general community. Methods: The study involved a postal survey of 518 GPs, 506 psychiatrists and 498 clinical psychologists and a telephone survey of 6019 members of the general community. Participants were given a case vignette describing a person with either depression, depression with suicidal thoughts, early schizophrenia, chronic schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or social phobia and two questionnaires to assess stigmatising ..