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Attitudes to mental illness survey shows some improvement but more work needed

Andre Tomlin

The NHS Information Centre has published a report that presents the findings of a survey of attitudes towards mental illness among adults in England undertaken in 2011.

The questionnaire included a number of statements about mental illness. Respondents were asked to indicate how much they agreed or disagreed with each statement. Other questions covered a range of other topics including descriptions of people with mental illness, relationships with people with mental health problems, personal experience of mental illness, and perceptions of mental health-related stigma and discrimination.

Key facts

The report highlighted some significant changes over time. Some key changes include:

  • The percentage of people agreeing that ‘Mental illness is an illness like any other’ increased from 71% in 1994 (the first year this question was asked) to 77% in 2011, although this figure is little changed in recent years.
  • The percentage saying they would be comfortable talking to a friend or family member about their mental health, for example telling them they had a mental health diagnosis and how it affects them, rose from 66% in 2009 (the first year the question was asked) to 70% in 2011.
  • The percentage saying they would feel uncomfortable talking their employer about their mental health was 43%, compared to 50% in 2010 (the first year this question was asked)

In addition, other results for 2011 include:

  • 25% of respondents agreed that ‘Most women who were once patients in a mental hospital can be trusted as babysitters’.
  • Agreement that one of the main causes of mental illness is a lack of self-discipline and will-power stands at 16%.
  • The percentage of people saying that locating mental health facilities in a residential area downgrades the neighbourhood stood at 17%.

Attitudes to mental illness: 2011 survey report. NHS Information Centre, 8 June 2011.

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Written by

André Tomlin is an Information Scientist with 20 years experience working in evidence-based healthcare. He's worked in the NHS, for Oxford University and since 2002 as Managing Director of Minervation Ltd, a consultancy company who do clever digital stuff for charities, universities and the public sector. Most recently André has been the driving force behind the Mental Elf and the National Elf Service; an innovative digital platform that helps professionals keep up to date with simple, clear and engaging summaries of evidence-based research. André is a Trustee at the Centre for Mental Health and an Honorary Research Fellow at University College London Division of Psychiatry. He lives in Bristol, surrounded by dogs, elflings and lots of woodland!

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  • John Northfield

    John Northfield

    14 years ago
    Interesting that the survey on public attitudes to mental illness dates back to at least 1994 and possibly before. I blogged today about a review of literature on public attitudes to people with learning disabilities http://www.weldblog.net/2011/11/02/little-is-known-about-public-attitudes-to-people-with-learning-disabilities-from-current-research/ which suggested that high quality research in the area was generally missing. In the period from 1990, there were about 75 studies to include in the review, with most of them being surveys, but the author concluded that the overall picture was that the research in this area offered little insight into public knowledge of learning disability john
  • Karen

    Karen

    15 years ago
    No statistical figures anywhere on this page of the number of people surveyed, ages, locations so of no use to me or anyone whatsoever AND mental illness is NOT an illness just like any other ~ this is FAR to generalised and must not be counted nor taken any serious notice of. Dr Karen E Evangelista.