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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Attitudes to Mental Illness - 2011 survey report:part 2

Understanding and tolerance of mental illness

Introduction

This section explores understanding and tolerance of mental illness. These statements have all been included in each survey since 1994.

Analysis in this section focuses on the understanding/tolerance dimension of each statement.

For some statements this is the percentage agreeing, for others it is the percentage disagreeing. This is indicated for each statement in the list below.

The statements included are:

1.  ‘We have a responsibility to provide the best possible care for people with mental illness’ (% agreeing)
2.  ‘Virtually anyone can become mentally ill’ (% agreeing)
3.  ‘Increased spending on mental health services is a waste of money’ (% disagreeing)
4.  ‘People with mental illness don't deserve our sympathy’ (% disagreeing)
5.  ‘We need to adopt a far more tolerant attitude toward people with mental illness in our society’ (%agreeing) ‘People with mental illness have for too long been the subject of ridicule’ (% agreeing) ‘As far as possible, mental health services should be provided through community based facilities’ (% agreeing) 

Trends over time

Levels of understanding and tolerance of mental illness were generally high.

The percentage of respondents with understanding attitudes on these statements ranged in 2011 from 74% for ‘As far as possible, mental health services should be provided through community-based facilities’ to 91% for ‘We have a responsibility to provide the best possible care’ and ‘Virtually anyone can become mentally ill’ (Figure 4).

 Since 1994, the percentage of respondents voicing more tolerant opinions on several of these statements has decreased.

For example, the percentage disagreeing that ‘Increased spending on mental health services is a waste of money’ also fell, from 89% in 1994 to 82% in 2011. 

Agreement that ‘We need to adopt a more tolerant attitude towards people with mental illness’ fell from 92% in 1994 to 86% in 2011.
There has been a significant change in attitudes between 2010 and 2011 in two statements in this section – the percentage disagreeing with ‘Increased spending on mental health services is a waste of money’ fell from 87% in 2010 to 82% in 2011 (reversing a similar increase between 2009 and 2010), and the percentage agreeing that ‘As far as possible, mental health services should be provided through community-based facilities’ fell from 79% in 2010 to 74% in 2011

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Attitudes to Mental Illness - 2011 survey report

Attitudes to mental illness

Grouping the statements

The 27 attitude statements are grouped into four categories for analysis purposes:

1. Fear and exclusion of people with mental illness

2. Understanding and tolerance of mental illness

3. Integrating people with mental illness into the community

4. Causes of mental illness and the need for special services.

Fear and exclusion of people with mental illness

Introduction

This section explores fear and exclusion of people with mental illness. These statements have all been included in each wave of the survey since 1994.

The statements covered in this section are:

• ‘Locating mental health facilities in a residential area downgrades the neighbourhood’

• ‘It is frightening to think of people with mental problems living in residential

neighbourhoods’

• ‘I would not want to live next door to someone who has been mentally ill’

• ‘A woman would be foolish to marry a man who has suffered from mental illness, even

though he seems fully recovered’

• ‘Anyone with a history of mental problems should be excluded from taking public office’

• ‘People with mental illness should not be given any responsibility’

• ‘People with mental illness are a burden on society’

• ‘As soon as a person shows signs of mental disturbance, he should be hospitalized’

The statements in this section all portray less favourable or ‘negative’ attitudes towards

people with mental illness. Analysis in this section focuses on the percentage of respondents

agreeing with each of these statements (that is, displaying a negative attitude).

Trends over time

Figure 1 shows the levels of agreement with these statements from 1994 to 2011.

Overall, the levels of agreement with these negative statements about people with mental

illness were low, ranging in 2011 from 6% to 21%. 

The highest levels of agreement in 2011 were with the statements ‘Anyone with a history of mental illness should be excluded from taking public office’ (21%) and ‘As soon as a person shows signs of mental disturbance, he should be hospitalized’ (21%).

The percentage of people saying that locating mental health facilities in a residential area downgrades the neighbourhood stood at 17% in 2011. (Figure1).

Data source:

Table 1

Levels of agreement with several of these statements have fallen since 1994. Acceptance of people with mental illness taking public office and being give responsibility has grown – the percentage agreeing that ‘Anyone with a history of mental problems should be excluded from taking public office’ decreased from 29% in 1994 to 21% in 2011, while the percentage agreeing that ‘People with mental illness should not be given any responsibility’ decreased from 17% to 13% over the same period. There were no significant changes in levels of agreement with these statements between 2010 and 2011.

Differences by age and sex

Looking at the three age groups 16-34, 35-54 and 55+, there were significant differences by age group in agreement with several of these statements in 2011 (Figure 2). Statements from this section where there were no significant differences by age group are not shown on the chart.

                                              

In general the oldest group (age 55+) had the most negative attitudes towards people with mental illness, being significantly more likely than younger groups to agree that a woman would be foolish to marry a man who has suffered from mental illness.

 Those aged 55+ and 35-54 were more likely than the youngest group to agree that anyone with a history of mental illness should be excluded from public office.

Those aged 16-34 were more likely than the older groups to agree that as soon as a person

shows signs of mental disturbance, he should be hospitalised.

Statements in this section where there was a significant difference in 2011 between men andwomen in the percentage agreeing are shown in Figure 3.

Where there was a difference between men and women, women were less negative towardspeople with mental illness.

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