Associations between Beliefs about the Causes of Mental Disorders and Stigmatizing Attitudes: Results of a Mental Health Literacy and Stigma Survey of the Japanese Public

Abstract:

This study aimed to examine the associations between beliefs about the causes of depression and schizophrenia and stigmatizing attitudes towards people with these disorders. In 2013, a web-based survey was carried out with 1,000 Japanese adults. Participants were presented with a case vignette describing either depression, depression with suicidal thoughts, early schizophrenia, or chronic schizophrenia and asked about their beliefs about the causes of these disorders and also about their personally-held stigmatizing attitudes, stigmatizing attitudes perceived in others, and the desire for social distance from the person described in the vignette. The results suggested that perceived stigma was significantly associated with several biogenetic, psychosocial, and personality explanations for both depression and schizophrenia. When respondents believed that psychosocial factors caused depression, they were less likely to perceive them as weak rather than sick. Believing that depression and schizophrenia were caused by personality characteristics was associated with stronger personal beliefs about the ill person’s dangerousness and unpredictability. Future research could aim to examine the influence of personality-based causes of mental illnesses in greater detail.

Keywords::

• causal beliefs
• mental disorders
• mental health literacy
• stigma

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors thank Professor Anthony Jorm for his comments on earlier drafts of the manuscript.