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The public's current beliefs about mental illness: Serious obstacle to effective community psychology
Author(s) -
Morrison James K.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
american journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.113
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1573-2770
pISSN - 0091-0562
DOI - 10.1007/bf00918281
Subject(s) - health psychology , mental illness , psychology , psychosocial , attribution , community psychology , perspective (graphical) , positive psychology , mental health , psychological research , clinical psychology , social psychology , public health , psychotherapist , medicine , nursing , artificial intelligence , computer science
A demythologizing, educational approach to the community is outlined and recent empirical studies are summarized which demonstrate that beliefs in favor of the mental illness concept can be significantly changed. Such conceptual change, reflecting an acceptance of a psychosocial paradigm of psychological problems, apparently induces a seminar participants a number of desirable effects from a community psychology perspective: an increased positive image of the mental patient, increased positive self-attributions, decreased fear ratings of mental patients, and a decreased fear of becoming insane. The importance of these findings for community psychology is discussed.