Changes in mental illness stigma over 30 years - Improvement, persistence, or deterioration?

ABSTRACT:

Background

Large efforts have been made to erase the stigma of mental illness, but it is unclear whether they have succeeded on a population level. We examine how attitudes toward people with depression or schizophrenia have evolved in Germany since 1990, and whether there are different developments for both disorders.

Methods

Using data from the three decades, four wave repeated cross-sectional representative population study in the "old" (western) states in Germany with surveys in 1990 (n = 2,044), 2001 (n = 4,005), 2011 (n = 1,984), and 2020 (n = 2,449), we calculate time-trends for social distance and emotional reactions toward someone with major depression or acute schizophrenia.

Results

Social distance worsened in six out of seven sit

SUBMITTER: Schomerus G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9724218 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature