IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/socpsy/v55y2009i6p525-537.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Psychiatric and Psychotherapeutic Literacy: Attitudes To, and Knowledge of, Psychotherapy

Author

Listed:
  • Adrian Furnham

    (Department of Psychology, University College London, UK, a.furnham@ucl.ac.uk)

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Adrian Furnham, 2009. "Psychiatric and Psychotherapeutic Literacy: Attitudes To, and Knowledge of, Psychotherapy," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 55(6), pages 525-537, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:55:y:2009:i:6:p:525-537
    DOI: 10.1177/0020764008094428
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0020764008094428
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0020764008094428?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kee-Lee Chou & Ki-Yan Mak & Po-Kin Chung & David Chan & Kimmy Ho, 1996. "Attitudes Towards Mental Patients in Hong Kong," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 42(3), pages 213-219, September.
    2. Markku Ojanen, 1992. "Attitudes Towards Mental Patients," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 38(2), pages 120-130, June.
    3. Adenekan O. Oyefeso, 1994. "Attitudes Towards the Work Behaviour of Ex-Mental Patients in Nigeria," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 40(1), pages 27-34, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mauro G Carta & Matthias C Angermeyer & Herbert Matschinger & Anita Holzinger & Elisa Pintus & Mirra Pintus & Maria F Moro, 2014. "Recommendations of the Sardinian public for the treatment of depression," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 60(7), pages 619-626, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kee-Lee Chou & Ki-yan Mak, 1998. "Attitudes To Mental Patients Among Hong Kong Chinese: a Trend Study Over Two Years," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 44(3), pages 215-224, September.
    2. Adrian Furnham & Masako Murao, 2000. "A Cross-Cultural Comparison of British and Japanese Lay Theories of Schizophrenia," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 46(1), pages 4-20, March.
    3. Samir Al-Adawi & Atsu S.S. Dorvlo & Suad S. Al-Ismaily & Dalal A. Al-Ghafry & Balquis Z. Al-Noobi & Ahmed Al-Salmi & David T. Burke & Mrugeshkumar K. Shah & Harith Ghassany & Suma P. Chand, 2002. "Perception of and Attitude towards Mental Illness in Oman," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 48(4), pages 305-317, December.
    4. Petrus Ng & Kai-Fong Chan, 2000. "Sex Differences in Opinion Towards Mental Illness of Secondary School Students in Hong Kong," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 46(2), pages 79-88, June.
    5. Marcus Y.L. Chiu & Kenneth K.L. Chan, 2007. "Community Attitudes Towards Discriminatory Practice Against People with Severe Mental Illness in Hong Kong," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 53(2), pages 159-174, March.
    6. Kee-Lee Chou & Ki-Yan Mak & Po-Kin Chung & David Chan & Kimmy Ho, 1996. "Attitudes Towards Mental Patients in Hong Kong," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 42(3), pages 213-219, September.
    7. Ming-De Chen & Yen-Ching Chang, 2016. "Personnel attitudes toward people with mental illness at a psychiatric hospital in Taiwan," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 62(4), pages 361-368, June.
    8. Robert Sévigny & Yang Wenying & Zhang Peiyan & Jacques D. Marleau & Yang Zhouyun & Su Lin & Li GuowangUOWAN & Xu Dong & Wang Yanling & Wang Haijun, 1999. "Attitudes Toward the Mentally Ill in a Sample of Professionals Working in a Psychiatric Hospital in Beijing (China)," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 45(1), pages 41-55, March.
    9. Matthias C. Angermeyer & Herbert Matschinger, 2005. "The Stigma of Mental Illness in Germany: A Trend Analysis," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 51(3), pages 276-284, September.
    10. Joshua A Williams & Ni Liu & Khalid Afzal & Brian Cooper & Renslow Sherer & Ivy Morgan & Hongmei Dong, 2014. "Positive attitudes towards psychiatry among Chinese medical students," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 60(1), pages 21-29, February.
    11. Nazan Aydin & Arzu Yigit & Tacettin Inandi & Ismet Kirpinar, 2003. "Attitudes of Hospital Staff Toward Mentally Ill Patients in a Teaching Hospital, Turkey," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 49(1), pages 17-26, March.
    12. K.F. Chung & Eric Y.H. Chen & Catherine S.M. Liu, 2001. "University Students' Attitudes Towards Mental Patients and Psychiatric Treatment," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 47(2), pages 63-72, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:55:y:2009:i:6:p:525-537. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.