Stigma in Response to Mental Disorders: a Comparison of Australia and Japan

3998 Australian adults & 2000 Japanese adults were interviewed regarding their personal attitudes & perceptions of the attitudes of others in the community with respect to 4 case vignettes which described a person with depression; a person with depression with suicide ideation; a person with early schizophrenia; & a person with chronic schizophrenia. Personal stigma & social distance were typically greater among the Japanese than the Australian public whereas the reverse was true with respect to the perception of the attitudes & discriminatory behaviour of others. In both countries, personal stigma was significantly greater than perceived stigma. There was little evidence of a difference in stigma for depression with & without suicide ideation for either country. (44 refs)