The Time to Change campaign to tackle prejudice
against people with mental health problems has claimed public
attitudes may have turned a corner after a
Department of Health survey published today
showed improvements.
The poll of 1,751 adults in England showed attitudes to people
with mental health problems had improved on a number of
measures:-
- Almost three-quarters (73%) agreed that people with mental
health problems should have the same rights to a job as anyone
else, an increase from 66% in 2008.
- Seventy two per cent felt mental health services should as far
as possible be provided through community-based facilities, up from
72% in 2008.
- Seventy nine per cent felt people with mental illness should
not be excluded from their neighbourhoods, up from 74% in
2008.
- Sixty one per cent of people agreed that people with a mental
illness are far less of a danger than most people suppose, up from
57% in 2008.
Time for Change, a campaign led by mental health charities Mind
and Rethink which is funded by the Big Lottery Fund and Comic
Relief, said the findings suggested a 15-year deterioration in
attitudes towards people with mental illness may have ended.
Prejudices 'starting to shift'
Director Sue Baker said: "Attitudes towards mental health issues
are finally beginning to move in the right direction. Deep-seated
prejudices are starting to shift and it's a further sign that we
are heading towards a tipping point in England and that there is a
real appetite for change.
She added: "Our challenge is to turn attitudinal change into
behavioural change to reduce the incidents of discrimination that
are still so widely reported by people with mental health
problems."
Negative findings
However, Time for Change pointed to some more negative findings
from the DH survey.
In 2009, 11% of people said they would not want to live next
door to someone with a mental health problem, an increase from 8%
in 1994 when the annual attitudes survey began. And 18% of people
thought that one of the main causes of mental illness was lack of
self-discipline and willpower - up from 14% last year.
Reduction in tolerance
And the proportion who agreed we needed to adopt a more tolerant
attitude towards people with mental health problems was 85% in
2009, compared with 92% in 1994.
Care services minister Phil Hope said: "There's no question that
even now in the 21st century, prejudiced and outdated attitudes to
mental health problems still exist, leading to discrimination and
social exclusion. But this survey shows that some attitudes are
starting to change for the better."
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