Press releases archive

Attitudes to Mental Illness 2010

Since March 1994, the Department of Health has placed a set of questions on TNS’s Face-to-Face Consumer Omnibus about public attitudes towards mental illness. From 1994 to 1997 the questions were asked on an annual basis and then every third year up until 2003.

Since 2007 the survey has again been carried out annually. The surveys serve as a benchmark, enabling measurement of whether attitudes are improving or worsening over time. The questionnaire included a number of statements about mental illness.  Respondents were asked to indicate how much they agreed or disagreed with each statement.

Key points from the report:

• People are broadly sympathetic towards people with a mental illness.
• Some attitudes towards people with mental illness are worse compared to when the Department of Health first commissioned the poll in 1994 although a number have improved.  Several attitudes that had worsened over the period up until 1997 have since improved.
• Attitudes to a number of statements have changed between 2009 and 2010.
• Opinions on some statements changed towards greater tolerance, for example:
  ‘Locating mental health facilities in a residential area downgrades the neighbourhood’ - agreement with this statement decreased from 21 percent to 18 percent.
• Some opinions moved more in favour of integrating people with mental illness into the community, for example:
  ‘Residents have nothing to fear from people coming into their neighbourhood to obtain mental health services’ – agreement with this statement increased from 62 percent to 66 percent.
• On one item though, opinions moved less in favour of integration:
  ‘Mental hospitals are an outdated means of treating people with mental illness’ – agreement with this statement fell from 37 percent in 2009 to 33 percent in 2010.

• Attitudes to mental illness 2010 research report