Stigma and psychiatric illness. a survey of attiude of medical students and doctors in Lahore, Pakistan

The stigma attached to mental illness in the West is now well recognised. There is however, only limited information available on this topic from the developing countries. Measurement of stigma among medical students and doctors is straightforward to carry out allowing targeted work to educate doctors in countries with few resources. This study was carried out to assess the attitude of medical students and doctors, attending medical colleges in Lahore, Pakistan. A survey was circulated among the medical students and the doctors of the three medical colleges in Lahore, Pakistan. 294 [59%] of the 500 survey forms sent out were returned. Just over half of the respondents held negative attitudes towards people with schizophrenia, depression, drug and alcohol disorders. However, most had favourable views of the recovery and treatability of the mental disorders. The views held by the medical students and the doctors in Lahore, Pakistan are broadly similar to the opinions expressed by the medical students and doctors in the UK

Attiude of the university students and teachers towards mentally ill, in Lahore, Pakistan

Although, much is known about the attitudes and beliefs people hold towards mental illness in the west, no such work has been done in the developing countries. It is difficult to measure the attitudes of the general public in developing countries due to differences in terminology and concepts of the illness. However, majority of educated people in the developing countries can recognise common psychiatric disorders by their western names. We therefore, decided to measure attitudes of university students and teachers in Lahore, Pakistan. This study was carried out to assess the attitude of university students and teachers in Lahore, Pakistan. A survey form was circulated among the university students and the teachers in Lahore, Pakistan. Of the 300 survey forms 194 were returned. Majority of the respondents held negative attitudes towards people with schizophrenia, depression and drug and alcohol disorders. The views held by the university teachers and students reveal negative attitudes towards mentally ill. Attitudes of those who knew someone with mental illness were similar to those who did not