bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Lilian Goh

Researchers are worried that  stigma  associated with mental illness will deter patients from seeking professional help after about half  the respondents to a Chinese University survey  said they would not welcome  psychiatric patients as  neighbours.
The university's psychology department interviewed 940 people over the past two years on their perceptions of mental illness.
About half said they would not want a  patient living next door, 42 per cent said not on the same floor and 36 per cent said not in the same building.
The survey also found that 47 per cent  were against the idea of setting up a  psychiatric rehabilitation centre  near their homes.
About 15 per cent of the respondents believed that mental illness  was some sort of punishment for 'sins',  and 10 per cent believed the illnesses were related to fung shui.
The researchers   said about 15 per cent of  respondents  had a strong  prejudice against mental illness, according to their  answers to a specially designed questionnaire.
Winnie Mak Wing-sze said the study found that people who tend to  regard mental illness  as a  serious problem  usually  had a stronger  bias.
As a result,  psychiatric patients  were  less willing to seek professional help, Professor Mak said.
'Education is  needed to eliminate the stigma, which discourages patients from seeking therapy.  The government should also organise  activities to allow people to have  contact with  mental patients, so  they can understand the illnesses and accept the patients more.'



Stigma  prevents patients from seeking treatment, researchers say