Conceptions of Mental Illness and Social Distance Practices

Abstract: The present study is an attempt to examine the prevalent understanding of mental illness and related social distance practices. The study examines the conceptions of meaning of mental illness, recognition of its causal factors, and explores if contact with mentally ill individuals in the past has an impact on social distancing practices. For this purpose, a survey was constructed with open-ended questions and a vignette-based questionnaire adapted from the McArthur Mental Health Module (Link et al., 1999) and was administered to 93 participants of 18-48 years. Data analysis was carried out using content analysis and descriptive and inferential statistics. The results indicated no significant differences in social distance practices with respect to contact. Further, a dependent sample t-test indicated a significant difference between the social distance practices for a mental illness and a subclinical mental illness condition. One-way ANOVA indicated a significant difference in social distance practices among the three mental illness conditions: schizophrenia, depression and alcoholism. Although content analysis indicated optimistic results in terms of conceptions of mental illness, there persists a desire to socially distance from mentally ill individuals. Implications for further research have been discussed.