Mental illness stereotype content in a sample of undergraduates from mental health-related fields

Objective: Mental health professionals stigmatise mental illness, and this has negative consequences for people who suffer from mental illness. This stigmatisation is also inconsistent with the role of a mental health professional and could indicate a need for more specialised training. To inform such an approach, knowledge of the relative stigmatisation of mental illness by undergraduates from mental health-related fields is needed. The aim of the current study was to investigate the relative stigma of mental illness among a sample of undergraduates from mental health-related fields by examining stereotype content. Method: A cross-sectional survey asked 478 relevant undergraduates (e.g., psychology students, social work students, biomedical students) to express their level of agreement with four stereotypes towards 10 mental disorders. Result: A cluster analysis of stereotypes revealed four clusters of disorders. Cluster 1, consisting of affective disorders and anorexia nervosa, generally elicited low levels of negative stereotyping. Cluster 2, including personality disorders, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder, was characterised by a moderate degree of negative stereotyping with low levels of blame. Clusters 3 and 4 contained paedophilic disorder and alcohol use disorder, respectively. Paedophilic disorder elicited moderate and high degrees of negative stereotyping, whereas alcohol use disorder was characterised by a moderate amount of negative stereotyping. Conclusion: These results may be used to guide the development of training programmes and reduce the stigmatisation of mental illness by mental health professionals.