The public's current beliefs about mental illness: serious obstacle to effective community psychology

A demythologizing, educational approach to the community is outlined and recent empirical studies are summarized which demonstrate that beliefs in favor of the mental illness concept can be significantly changed. Such conceptual change, reflecting an acceptance of a psychosocial paradigm of psychological problems, apparently induces a seminar participants a number of desirable effects from a community psychology perspective: an increased positive image of the mental patient, increased positive self-attributions, decreased fear ratings of mental patients, and a decreased fear of becoming insane. The importance of these findings for community psychology is discussed.