Abstract
Police officers' attitudes and emotions regarding the mentally ill are examined. The results are compared with a socio-demographically similar sample of non-police officers. 207 participants were asked about their attitudes and emotions towards the mentally ill. Of the participants, 105 were police officers of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg (Germany), 102 were civil servants. Social distance is greater when there is a concrete visual representation of the mentally ill person, ie in the movie clips, than when it is measured abstractly, which suggests that pencil-and-paper studies underestimate the extent of social distance towards the mentally ill. Police officers and non-police officers have similar attitudes towards the mentally ill. An exception is social distance towards mental patients. Police officers show a greater social distance towards the mentally ill, and a smaller social distance towards people who are emotionally upset but mentally healthy, than non-police officers. Frequently emotional reactions to mental patients are compassion, discomfort and the desire to help. Police officers feel significantly less insecure towards the mentally ill than non-police officers.
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