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Causal beliefs and attitudes to people with schizophrenia. Trend analysis based on data from two population surveys
Matthias C Angermeyer1, Herbert Matschinger
1University of Leipzig, Department of Psychiatry, Johannisallee 20, D-04317 Leipzig, Germany. krausem@medizin.uni-leipzig.de
Background:
It is a widely shared belief that an increase in mental health literacy will result in an improvement of attitudes towards people with mental illness.
Aims:
To examine how the German public's causal attributions of schizophrenia and their desire for social distance from people with schizophrenia developed over the 1990s.
Method:
A trend analysis was carried out using data from two representative population surveys conducted in the Lander constituting the former Federal Republic of Germany in 1990 and 2001.
Results:
Parallel to an increase in the public's tendency to endorse biological causes, an increase in the desire for social distance from people with schizophrenia was found.
Conclusions:
The assumption underlying current anti-stigma programmes that there is a positive relationship between endorsing biological causes and the acceptance of people with mental illness appears to be problematic.
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