Background: Whereas there is now a rapidly emerging literature on psychiatric literacy (Jorm, 2000), there is much less work on the public’s knowledge of, and beliefs about the purpose of, and processes involved in, psychotherapy. This study looked at what lay people think happens during psychotherapy; what the processes and aims are; and the aetiology, treatment and prognosis for a mood and psychotic (bipolar, schizophrenia) and two neurotic (depression, obsessivecompulsive) disorders.
Methods: In total 185 British adults, recruited by a market research company, completed a four-part questionnaire, lasting about 20 minutes.
Results: Participants were generally very positive about psychotherapy believing the experience to be highly beneficial. Schizophrenia was seen to have a biological basis; depression and bipolar disorder were perceived to have family, work and other stress-related causal issues; obsessive-compulsive disorder was seen to be caused by stress and family-related issues. Participants thought psychotherapy a very effective treatment but drug treatments more effective for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. ‘Talking it over’ was judged highly relevant, specifically to depression. Participants believed that depression had a good chance of cure, and remission, but that neither schizophrenia nor bipolar disorder had much chance of an effective cure.
Conclusion: Lay people show a curious pattern on insight, ignorance and naivety with regard to the cause and cure of mental disorders. They appear to have a modestly realistic but somewhat naive view of the process and efficacy of psychotherapy. This may influence how they react to their own and others’ mental illness. It has clear implications for education in psychiatric literacy.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Angermeyer, M. & Dietrich, S. ( 2006) Public belief about and attitudes towards people with mental illness: A review of population studies. Acta Psychiatrica Scandanavia, 133, 163-179.
2.
Angermeyer, M. & Matschinger, H. ( 1996a) The effect of diagnostic labelling on the lay theory regarding schizophrenic disorders. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemology, 31, 316-320.
3.
Angermeyer, M. & Matschinger, H. ( 1996b) The effect of personal experience with mental illness on the attitude of individuals suffering from mental disorders. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 31, 321-326.
4.
Angermeyer, M., Matschinger, H. & Holzinger, A. ( 1998) Gender and attitudes towards people with schizophrenia . International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 44, 107-116.
5.
Angermeyer, M. & Schulze, B. ( 2001) Reinforcing stereotypes. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 24, 464-486.
6.
Angermeyer, M., Beck, M., Dietrich, S. & Holzinger, A. ( 2004) The stigma of mental illness: Patients’ anticipations and experiences. International Journal of Social Psychiatry , 50, 153-162.
7.
Angermeyer, M., Buyantugs, L., Kenzine, D. & Matschinger, H. ( 2004) Effects of labelling on public attitudes towards people with schizophrenia: Are there cultural differences? Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavia, 109, 420-425.
Cattell, R. ( 1966) Scree test for number of factors. Multivariate Behaviour Research, 1, 245.
10.
Chen, H., Parker, G., Kua, J., Jorm, A. & Loh, J. ( 2000) Mental health literacy in Singapore. Annals of the Academy of Medicine Singapore, 29, 467-473.
11.
Chou, K-L., Mak, K-Y., Chung, P-K. & Ho, K. ( 1996) Attitudes towards mental patients in Hong Kong. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 42, 213-219.
12.
Cohen, J. & Struening, E. ( 1962) Opinions about mental illness in the personnel of two large mental hospitals. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology , 64, 349-360.
13.
Dammann, E. ( 1997) The myth of mental illness: Continuing controversies and their implications for mental health professionals. Clinical Psychology Review, 17, 733-756.
14.
Dinos, S., Stevens, S., Serfaly, M., Weich, S. & King, M. ( 2004) Stigma: The feelings and experience of 46 people with mental illness. British Journal of Psychiatry, 184, 176-181.
15.
Duggan, C., Milton, J., Egan, V., McCarthy, L., Palmer, B. & Lee, A. ( 2003) Theories of general personality and mental disorder. British Journal of Psychiatry, 182, 19-23.
16.
Furnham, A. ( 1997) Overcoming neurosis: Lay attitudes of cure for five specific neurotic disorders. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 53, 595-604.
17.
Furnham, A. ( 1988) Lay theories: Everyday understanding of problems in thesocial sciences. Oxford: Pergamon.
18.
Furnham, A. & Bower, P. ( 1992) A comparison of academic and lay theories of schizophrenia . British Journal of Psychiatry, 161, 201-210.
19.
Furnham, A. & Chan, E. ( 2004) Lay theories of schizophrenia: A cross-cultural comparison of British and Hong Kong Chinese attitudes, attributions and beliefs. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 39, 543-552.
20.
Furnham, A. & Henley, S. ( 1988) Lay beliefs about overcoming psychological problems. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 26, 423-438.
21.
Furnham, A. & Kirkcaldy, B. ( 1996) The health beliefs and behaviours of orthodox and complementary medicine clients. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 35, 49-61.
22.
Furnham, A. & McDermott, M. ( 1994) Lay beliefs about the efficacy of self-reliance, seeking help and estimated control as strategies for overcoming obesity, drug addiction, marital problems, stuttering and insomnia. Psychology and Health, 9, 397-406.
23.
Furnham, A. & Murao, M. ( 1999) A cross-cultural comparison of British and Japanese lay theories of schizophrenia. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 46, 4-20.
24.
Furnham, A. & Wardley, Z. ( 1990) Lay theories of psychotherapy I: Attitudes to and beliefs about psychotherapy and psychotherapists. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 46, 878-890.
25.
Furnham, A. & Wardley, Z. ( 1991) Lay theories of psychotherapy II: The efficacy of different therapies and prognosis for different problems. Human Relations , 44, 1197-2010.
26.
Furnham, A. & Wong, L. ( 2007) A cross-cultural comparison of British and Chinese beliefs about the causes, behaviour manifestation and treatment of schizophrenia. Psychiatry Research, 151, 123-138.
27.
Furnham, A., Raja, N. & Khan, U. ( 2008) A cross-cultural comparison of British and Pakistani medical students’ understanding of schizophrenia. Psychiatry Research, 159, 308-319.
28.
Furnham, A., Wardley, Z. & Lillie, F. ( 1992) Lay theories of psychotherapy III: Comparing the ratings of lay persons and clinical psychologists. Human Relations , 45, 839-858.
29.
Furnham, A., Pereira, E. & Rawles, R. ( 2001) Lay theories of psychotherapy: Perceptions of the efficacy of different ‘cures’ for specific disorders. Psychology, Health and Medicine, 6, 77-84.
30.
Goldrey, R., Fisher, L. & Wilson, D. ( 2001) Mental health literacy: An impediment to the optimum treatment of major depression in the community. Journal of Affective Disorders, 64, 277-384.
31.
Heaven, P. & Furnham, A. ( 1994) Personality factors and preferences for therapy. Australian Psychologist, 29, 207-211.
32.
Henley, S. & Furnham, A. ( 1988) The attribution of cure. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 27, 384-386.
33.
Hillert, A., Sandmann, J., Ehmig, S., Weisbecker, H., Kepplinger, H. & Benkert, O. ( 1999) The general public’s cognitive and emotional perception of mental illnesses: An alternative to attitude-research. In The Image of Madness (ed J. Guimen, W. Fischer & N. Sartarious ), pp.56-71. Basel: Karger.
34.
James, S., Chisholm, D., Murthy, S., Kumar, K., Sekar, K., Saeed, K. & Mubbashar, M. ( 2002) Demand for, access to and use of community mental health care. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 48, 163-176.
35.
Jorm, A. ( 2000) Mental health literacy: Public’s knowledge and beliefs about mental disorders. British Journal of Psychiatry, 177, 396-401.
36.
Jorm, A., Korten, A., Jacomb, P., Christensen, H., Rodgers, B. & Pollitt, P. ( 1997a) Public beliefs about causes and risk factors for depression and schizophrenia. Social Psychology and Psychiatric Epidemology , 32, 143-148.
37.
Jorm, A., Korten, A., Jacomb, P., Christensen, H., Rodgers, B. & Pollitt, P. ( 1997b) Mental health literacy: A survey of the public’s ability to recognise mental disorders and their beliefs about the effectiveness of treatment. Medical Journal of Australia, 166, 182-186.
38.
Jorm, A., Korten, A., Rodgers, B., Pollitt, P., Jacomb, P., Christensen, H. & Jias, Z. ( 1997c) Belief systems of the general public concerning the appropriate treatments for mental disorders. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatry Epidemiology, 32, 116-121.
39.
Jorm, A., Korten, A., Rodgers, B., Pollitt, P., Christensen, H. & Henderson, A. ( 1997d) Helpfulness of interventions for mental disorders: Beliefs of health professionals compared to the general public. British Journal of Psychiatry, 171, 233-237.
40.
Jorm, A., Korten, A., Jacomb, P., Christensen, H. & Henderson, S. ( 1999) Attitudes toward people with mental disorder: A survey of the Australian public and health professionals. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 33, 77-83.
41.
Jorm A., Christensen, H., Medway, J., Korten, A., Jacomb, R. & Rodgers, B. ( 2000) Public belief systems about the helpfulness of interventions for depression. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology , 35, 211-219.
42.
Kessler, R., McGonagle, K., Zhao, S., Nelson, C., Hughes, R., Eshleman, S., Wittchen, J. & Kendler, K. ( 1994) Lifetime and 12-month prevalence of DSM-III-R psychiatric disorder in the United States: Results from the National Comorbidity Survey . Archives of General Psychiatry, 51, 8-19.
43.
Knapp, J. & Karabenick, S. ( 1985) Overcoming problems: The perceived importance of willpower and other contributors. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 9, 343-354.
44.
Leong, F. & Zachar, P. ( 1999) Gender and opinions about mental illness as predictors of attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help. British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 27, 123-132.
45.
Llewelyn, S. ( 1988) Psychological therapy as viewed by clients and therapists . British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 27, 223-237.
46.
Matshinger, H. & Angermeyer, A. ( 1996) Lay beliefs about the causes of mental disorders: A new methodological approach. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 31, 309-315.
47.
McKeen, P. & Corrick, S. ( 1991) Public attitudes to depression: A national survey. Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine, 8, 116-121.
48.
Mubbashar, M. & Farooq, Q. ( 2001) Mental health literacy in developing countries. British Journal of Psychiatry, 179, 75.
49.
Ojanen, M. ( 1992) Attitudes towards mental patients. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 38, 120-130.
50.
Oyefeso, A. ( 1994) Attitudes towards the work behaviour of ex-mental patients in Nigeria. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 40, 27-34.
51.
Pistrang, N. & Barker, C. ( 1992) Clients’ beliefs about psychological problems. Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 5, 325-335.
52.
Reiger, D.A., Hirschfield, R.M.A., Goodwin, F.K., Burke, J.D., Luzar, J.B. & Judd, L.L. ( 1988) The NIMA depression awareness, recognition and treatment programme: Structure aims and scientific basis. American Journal of Psychiatry, 145, 1351-1357.
53.
Rippere, V. ( 1977) Some cognitive dimensions of anti-depressive behaviour . Behaviour Research and Therapy, 15, 57-62.
54.
Rippere, V. ( 1979) Scaling the helpfulness of anti-depressive activities . Behaviour Research and Therapy, 17, 439-449.
55.
Rippere, V. ( 1980) Predicting consensus about propositions concerning depression and anti-depressive behaviour: Another cognitive dimension of common-sense knowledge. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 18, 79-86.
56.
Shapiro, D. ( 1995) Finding out how psychotherapists help people change. Psychotherapy Research, 5, 1-21.
57.
Sheikh, S. & Furnham, A. ( 2000) A cross-cultural study of mental health beliefs and attitudes towards seeking professional help. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 35, 326-334.
58.
Sims, A. ( 1993) The scar that is more than skin deep: The stigma of depression . British Journal of General Practitioners, 43, 30-31.
59.
Wong, J. ( 1994) Lay theories of psychotherapy and perceptions of therapists: A replication and extension of Furnham and Wardley. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 50, 624-632.
