Public attitudes towards treatment of depression: effects of an information campaign

In 2000 and 2001, telephone surveys in the German cities Nuremberg and Wurzburg were carried out to gain insights into beliefs and attitudes of the public towards depression and its treatment and to evaluate the activities of the "Nuremberg Alliance Against Depression", a joint effort of health professionals, aiming at the improvement of the situation of people in Nuremberg suffering from depression. In 2000, most people considered depression a serious illness that can be treated fairly well by a professional. Concerning the proper means for this, we found that the well-known bad reputation of psychotropic drugs still prevails. Since 2001 a prominent part of the activities of the Nuremberg Alliance is a citywide campaign informing the public about causes and treatment of depression. Although the campaign had been performed for only 10 months, slight to moderate effects concerning causes and treatment of depression were observed in both cities. However, no effects were found with respect to the misconceptions about pharmacotherapy.