Ways of describing someone who is mentally ill

Ways of describing someone who is mentally ill and types of mental illness

Ways of describing someone who is mentally ill

Respondents were presented with a list of descriptions and were asked to indicate which they felt usually describes a person who is mentally ill.

The format of this question has changed since it was first asked in 1997, so comparisons are only possible from the 2003 survey onwards (see Figure 13) 

The description most likely to be selected was ‘someone who is suffering from schizophrenia’ – 58% in 2011.

The next most often selected were ‘someone who has serious bouts of depression’ and ‘someone who has to be kept in a psychiatric hospital’, both of which were selected by 54%.

The descriptions least likely to be selected were ‘someone who is prone to violence’ at 33% and ‘someone who is incapable of making simple decisions about his or her own life’ at 34%.

There was a significant increase from 2003 to 2011 in the percentage of respondents who chose the following two measures:

• ‘Someone who has to be kept in a psychiatric or mental hospital’ – from 46% to 54%

• ‘Someone prone to violence’ – from 29% to 33%.

There was a significant decrease from 2010 to 2011 in the percentage of respondents who chose the following measures:

• ‘Someone who has serious bouts of depression’ – from 58% to 54% (reversing an increase seen between 2009 and 2010)

• ‘Someone with a split personality’ – from 57% to 51%

• ‘Someone who is incapable of making simple decisions about his or her own life’ – from 38% to 34% (back towards the 2009 level).

Types of mental illness

Respondents were asked to say to what extent they agreed or disagreed that each of the following conditions is a type of mental illness:

• Depression

• Stress

• Schizophrenia

• Bipolar disorder (manic depression)

• Drug addiction

• Grief

These questions, which form part of the Mental Health Knowledge Schedule (MAKS), were asked for the first time in 2009

Respondents were most likely to agree that schizophrenia was a type of mental illness –

71% agreed strongly, with nearly nine out of ten agreeing in total. The pattern was similar for

bipolar disorder, with 62% agreeing strongly and 83% agreeing overall (Figure 21).

The percentage agreeing that depression was a type of mental illness was 81%, however

the percentage strongly agreeing was lower (45%) and slightly agree higher (36%) than for

bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

The lowest percentage was for drug addiction, although more than two out of five

respondents (43%) agreed that this was a type of mental illness.

There were no significant differences between 2010 and 2011 in responses to these

questions.

See Also:


Attitude To Mental Illness
Attitude to mental illness 2
mental illness report

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Posted in: Attitudes to Mental Illness,Causes of mental illness,health,health survey,mental health conditions,mental health illness,special services for mental illness,types of mental illness,who is mentally ill

Attitudes to Mental Illness - 2011 survey report:part 3

Causes of mental illness and the need for special services

Introduction

This section reports on statements about the causes of mental illness and the need for
special services.
The statements reported here are:

1.  ‘There are sufficient existing services for people with mental illness’
2.  ‘One of the main causes of mental illness is a lack of self-discipline and will-power’
3.  ‘There is something about people with mental illness that makes it easy to tell them from normal people’.

Analysis is based on the level of agreement with these statements, which have been included in all surveys since 1994.

Trends over time

Figure 10 shows levels of agreement with these statements since 1994.

 

Since 1994, the percentage agreeing that there are sufficient existing services for people with mental illness has increased from 11% in 1994 to 24% in 2011, although there has been no significant change since 2009.
The percentage agreeing that ‘there is something about people with mental illness that makes it easy to tell them from normal people’ decreased from 29% in 1994 to 22% in 2011, although again there has been no significant change since 2009.
Agreement that one of the main causes of mental illness is a lack of self-discipline and willpower stands at 16% in 2011, not significantly different from the 1994 figure of 15%, and again with no significant change since 2009.

Differences by age and sex

Differences in agreement by age group are shown in Figure 11.

 The youngest age group (16-34s) had the most negative attitudes towards mental illness, being more likely than the 35-54 and 55+ groups to agree that there are sufficient existing services, and more likely than the 35-54s to agree that there is something about people with mental illness that makes it easy to tell them from normal people.
Significant differences by gender are shown in Figure 12.

 Women again held more positive views towards people with mental illness, being less likely
than men to agree with these three statements.

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Posted in: about mental health,Attitudes to Mental Illness,Causes of mental illness,health,health survey,mental health conditions,mental health illness,special services for mental illness