"Putting yourself in the shoes of others" - Relatability as a novel measure to explain the difference in stigma toward depression and schizophrenia.

Purpose: Attitudes toward schizophrenia and depression have evolved differently over the last decades, exposing people with schizophrenia to growing stigma. Classic descriptions of schizophrenia symptoms as being particularly unrelatable might offer an explanation for this gap in attitudes that has not yet been tested. We examine to what extent relatability explains the difference in social distance toward people with depression or schizophrenia.

'Broken souls' vs. 'mad ax man' - changes in the portrayal of depression and schizophrenia in the German media over 10 years.

Aims: Population studies show the stigma of depression to diminish, while the stigma of schizophrenia increases. To find out whether this widening gap is reflected in the media portrayal of both disorders, this study compares the portrayal of depression and schizophrenia in German print media in 2010 vs. 2020.

Changes in the ability to correctly identify schizophrenia and depression: results from general population surveys in Germany over 30 years.

Purpose: This study aims to examine time trends in the ability to correctly identify schizophrenia and major depression within the German general population from 1990 to 2020, as an indicator of changing mental health literacy (MHL). Additionally, we investigated shifts in the use of stigmatizing language.

Methods: Our analysis is based on four waves of representative population surveys in Germany in 1990/1993 (West Germany: N = 2044, East Germany: N = 1563), 2001 (N = 5025), 2011 (N = 2455), and 2020 (N = 3042) using identical methodology.

Do values and political attitudes affect help-seeking? Exploring reported help-seeking for mental health problems in a general population sample using a milieu framework.

Aims: Help-seeking for mental health problems is facilitated and hindered by several factors at the individual, interpersonal and community level. The most frequently researched factors contributing to differences in help-seeking behaviour are based on classical socio-demographic variables, such as age, gender and education, but explanations for the observed differences are often absent or remain vague. The present study complements traditional approaches in help-seeking research by introducing a milieu approach, focusing on values and political attitudes as a possible explanation for differences in help-seeking for emotional mental health problems.

Public attitudes towards protecting the human rights of people with mental illness: a scoping review and data from a population trend study in Germany.

The human rights of people with mental illness are constantly threatened. We conduct a scoping review showing how public attitudes towards protecting human rights have so far been examined and providing an overview of our present knowledge of these attitudes, and present novel findings from a trend study in Germany over nine years, reporting attitudes elicited in 2020 and examining whether these attitudes have changed since 2011. Few studies address attitudes towards human rights explicitly, but several studies contain single items on either first generation human rights, mainly concerning involuntary admission, or civil liberties like the right to vote, or second generation human rights, mainly with regard to funding for healthcare, but also for example regarding career choice.

Systematic review of involuntary hospitalisation and long-term compliance.

Introduction: Involuntary hospitalisation denies autonomy and freedom of decision-making and is frequent in psychiatric clinical practice. However, there is still a lack of knowledge of long-term compliance after Involuntary commitment.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review of published studies reporting people compliance after involuntary hospitalisation and people compliance after voluntary admission.

Respects of human rights and perception of quality of care, the users' point of view comparing mental health and other health facilities in a region of Italy.

This work is part of a research project that aims to measure organisational well-being, human rights respect and quality of care in mental health services in Sardinia, Italy, country that has replaced long-stay psychiatric hospitals with community mental health services. Previous contributions have seen Italian health professionals and users as the most satisfied and optimistic about the quality of the mental health care provided and the respect they offer for service users' rights. Our aim is to confirm these findings by comparing experiences of users of mental health services with those of other care services in the same region.

The rise in acceptance of mental health professionals: help-seeking recommendations of the German public 1990-2020.

Aims: We will first examine whether seeking help for depression and schizophrenia from mental health professionals is nowadays more accepted among the German public than it used to be 30 years ago. Next, we will explore whether changes in help-seeking preferences between 1990 and 2020 are specific to mental health professions or are part of changes in attitudes to professional help-seeking in general. Finally, we will study whether a temporal relationship does exist between the advent of awareness-raising and anti-stigma campaigns after the turn of the millennium and changes in the acceptance of mental health care.

Self- and surrogate-seeking of information about mental health and illness in Germany.

Background: Seeking information on mental health issues - both for oneself and on behalf of others (so-called surrogate-seeking) - is a critical early step in dealing with mental illness and known to impede stigmatizing attitudes and foster help-seeking. Yet, knowledge about mental health tends to be insufficient worldwide. Therefore, it is necessary to better understand the search for mental health information and examine the factors that are positively associated with information-seeking.

[The Economization of the Social Sphere and the Compulsion to Self-Optimize - Implications for Attitudes Towards People with Schizophrenia].

Attitudes towards people with schizophrenia are not improving, but instead have deteriorated over the last 30 years. This, it is argued, is related to a process of economisation of the social, which, especially in the market-radical version of neoliberalism, has placed the competitive character in society as a priority. The calculative way of dealing with oneself is dominant both individually and socially.

Changes in mental illness stigma over 30 years - Improvement, persistence, or deterioration?

Background: Large efforts have been made to erase the stigma of mental illness, but it is unclear whether they have succeeded on a population level. We examine how attitudes toward people with depression or schizophrenia have evolved in Germany since 1990, and whether there are different developments for both disorders.

Methods: Using data from the three decades, four wave repeated cross-sectional representative population study in the "old" (western) states in Germany with surveys in 1990 ( = 2,044), 2001 ( = 4,005), 2011 ( = 1,984), and 2020 ( = 2,449), we calculate time-trends for social distance and emotional reactions toward someone with major depression or acute schizophrenia.

Frequency and gender differences in the use of professional home care in late life. Findings from three German old-age cohorts.

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency of and the gender differences in the use of professional home care in Germany.

Methods: We used harmonized data from three large cohort studies from Germany ("Healthy Aging: Gender-specific trajectories into the latest life"; AgeDifferent.de Platform).

Influence of positive and negative symptoms on hedonic and eudaemonic well-being in people with schizophrenia: A longitudinal analysis from the EuroSc study.

Background: Subjective well-being in people with schizophrenia is likely to be impaired by positive and negative psychotic symptoms. However, these may impact differentially on hedonic (satisfaction and interest in life) and eudaemonic (optimal psychological and social functioning) components.

Aims: We hypothesized that positive symptoms would influence the hedonic component, while negative symptoms would be linked to eudaemonic well-being.

Health-Related Quality of Life Assessment in Patients with Myelodysplastic Syndromes: Evidence from Randomized Clinical Trials.

Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are characterized by ineffective hematopoiesis and blood cytopenia with a variable risk of progression to acute myeloid leukemia. The main goal of therapy for the large majority of patients is to improve health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Its rigorous assessment is now recommended in international MDS guidelines.

The Quality of Life of People with Solid Cancer is Less Worse than Other Diseases with better Prognosis, Except in the Presence of Depression.

Background: Suffering from Solid Cancer (SC) may adversely impact the Health-related Quality of Life (H-QoL). The aims of this study are to measure the H-QoL in a sample of people suffering from SC and to clarify the role of the co-occurrence of depressive episodes. Results were compared with a healthy control group and with groups of other disorders.

Changes in continuum beliefs for depression and schizophrenia in the general population 2011-2020: a widening gap.

Purpose: The public discourse about mental health and mental illness seems to have become more open over the last decade, giving rise to the hope that symptoms of mental illness have become more relatable. We examine whether continuum beliefs regarding schizophrenia and depression have increased on a population level over a period of 9 years, and whether notions of unfamiliarity and incomprehensibility have decreased.

Methods: In 2011 (n = 2455) and 2020 (n = 3042), two methodologically identical cross-sectional population surveys were conducted in Germany.

Why Was the Perception of Human Rights Respect and Care Satisfaction So High in Users of Italian Mental Health Services during the COVID-19 Pandemic?

The aim of this study was to compare users' and mental health workers' (MHW) perception of respect of human rights and job/care satisfaction in mental health services in Italy during the COVID-19 pandemic. A sample of users and MHW of Sardinia, Italy, fulfilled the "Well-Being at work and respect for human rights questionnaire" (WWRR). The study included 240 MHW and 200 users.

Development and validity of the Value-based Stigma Inventory (VASI): a value-sensitive questionnaire for the assessment of mental health stigma.

Background: It has been hypothesized that mental illness stigma differs according to what matters most to people, and that this results in value-based differences in stigma within societies. However, there is a lack of stigma measures that account for a broad range of values, including modern and liberal values.

Methods: For the development of the Value-based Stigma Inventory (VASI) a preliminary item-pool of 68 VASI-items was assembled by mental health and stigma experts.

Are informal family caregivers stigmatized differently based on their gender or employment status?: a German study on public stigma towards informal long-term caregivers of older individuals.

Background: Stigma and informal caregiving are determinants for health and wellbeing, but few studies have examined stigma towards informal caregiving. Public stigma may be expressed differently towards caregivers depending on their gender and employment status due to societal norms. Therefore, this study analyzes if there is a difference in public stigma shown by the general population toward informal caregivers of care recipients aged 65 years or older based on the observed caregiver's gender or working status.

Longitudinal symptomatic interactions in long-standing schizophrenia: a novel five-point analysis based on directed acyclic graphs.

Background: Recent network models propose that mutual interaction between symptoms has an important bearing on the onset of schizophrenic disorder. In particular, cross-sectional studies suggest that affective symptoms may influence the emergence of psychotic symptoms. However, longitudinal analysis offers a more compelling test for causation: the European Schizophrenia Cohort (EuroSC) provides data suitable for this purpose.

[Psychometric Evaluation of a Long and Short German Version of the Prejudice Towards People with Mental Illness Scale (PPMI-D)].

Objective: We present a German version of the Prejudice towards People with Mental Illness Scale in long (PPMI-D) and short form (PPMI-D) and provide a psychometric evaluation in a German population sample.

Methods: After German translation (including back-translation), an online survey (N = 1004) was conducted.

Results: Item difficulty and selectivity are in the desirable medium range.

Active elderly and health-can moderate exercise improve health and wellbeing in older adults? Protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Aging is marked by a progressive rise in chronic diseases with an impact on social and healthcare costs. Physical activity (PA) may soothe the inconveniences related to chronic diseases, has positive effects on the quality of life and biological rhythms, and can prevent the decline in motor functions and the consequent falls, which are associated with early death and disability in older adults.

Methods: We randomized 120 over-65 males and females into groups of similar size and timing and will give each either moderate physical activity or cultural and recreational activities.