Public identification and acceptance of the mentally ill.

Abstract

This study indicates that the public is frequently unwilling to associate with mentally ill individuals. Although it was not possible to ascertain whether or not those questioned could identify someone as mentally ill, they could differentiate among different types of mental disease. This is indicated by their relatively strong rejection of the paranoid schizophrenic compared to the low rejection of the phobic-compulsive. Although the better-educated show less avoidance of ex-mental patients than do others, there exists among college graduates a reluctance to enter into certain kinds of relationships with former mental hospital patients.