[Attitude of family to neuroleptics].

Purpose: The present study is based on the assumption that for patients' compliance with psychotropic medication is also of importance their closest relatives' attitude towards that treatment.

Methods: In the context of a mail survey of relatives of people with schizophrenia, we asked what the relatives considered to be the most important positive and negative effects of the medication.

Results: As expected, the main benefit was seen in the reduction of symptoms and in the prevention of relapse.

[Development of a standardized documentation system for outpatient non-hospital based psychiatric care].

An instrument documenting the care process in in-patient psychiatric services within the German mental health care system has been developed (BADO). This paper reports on the development of a documentation system for all non-hospital based mental health services (day centres, community mental health centres, supported accommodation, work rehabilitation services for general adult psychiatric patients and people with substance misuse). The development process and the instrument (PC and paper and pencil version) are described.

Do memory complaints indicate the presence of cognitive impairment? Results of a field study.

Background: In the context of suspected cognitive disorders, the validity of memory complaints is subject to considerable debate. This investigation documents the prevalence of memory complaints and assesses the validity of memory complaints for detecting cognitive impairment.

Methods: The sample comprises 349 randomly selected non-institutionalized individuals, aged 75 and over living in the city of Leipzig.

Lay beliefs about mental disorders: a comparison between the western and the eastern parts of Germany.

Background: Since the end of the Second World War the western and eastern parts of Germany have been exposed to very different social and cultural influences. It was our assumption that this should also be reflected in the beliefs about mental disorders held by the general public.

Methods: In autumn 1990, immediately after German reunification, a representative survey on lay concepts of schizophrenia and depression was carried out in both parts of Germany.

Whom to ask for help in case of a mental disorder? Preferences of the lay public.

Background: Although socio-cultural factors have been recognised as an important predictor in shaping help-seeking behaviour, few attempts have been made in this regard to specify the nature and impact of socio-cultural factors such as attitudes and belief systems prevalent in society.

Methods: We investigated the lay public's attitudes toward help-seeking regarding psychiatric disorders, and their determinants, in a cross-sectional national survey in Germany (n = 1564), using structured interviews with vignettes depicting a person either suffering from depression or from schizophrenia. Two distinct methodological approaches (rating vs ranking) were applied.

[Quality of life--what it means to me... Results of a survey among schizophrenic patients].

Purpose: In recent years numerous studies have been published on the quality of life of schizophrenic patients. However, the patients' understanding of what quality of life is about has not been given sufficient attention.

Method: 565 schizophrenic patients from the whole of Germany were asked what quality of life meant for them.

Quality of life in psychiatry as an ethical duty: from the clinical to the societal perspective.

It is the aim of this paper to discuss the ethical roots of the concept of quality of life and the historical background of its introduction into mental health service evaluation research. It will be argued that the original broad meaning of the quality of life concept has been brought closely in line with the clinical view, neglecting the ethical and the societal dimensions of this concept. In conclusion, expansion of the scope of quality of life research in psychiatry from a clinical to a societal perspective will be suggested.

[Acceptance of community psychiatry reform in the population. Results of a representative study in new German federal lands].

In 1993, a representative survey on the acceptance of community psychiatric services was conducted in the New German Länder. Its results show that the prospect of a hostel or group home for psychiatric patients to be established in their neighbourhood led to a predominantly negative reaction. On the other hand, the announcement that a day centre or a sheltered workshop should be opened was met with a more positive response.

["Out of the picture"--self-evaluation of the occupational status of chronic schizophrenic patients in united Germany].

Purpose: This study is based of the documentation of drastic changes in the vocational life of chronically schizophrenic individuals in the New German Länder. With the political and economic transition since 1989, the employment rate of those suffering from chronic schizophrenia dropped from 50% to 7%. Currently most of them receive a disability pension.

The psychiatric epidemiology of violent behaviour.

This paper reviews the current state of the debate on the relationship between mental disorder and violent behaviour. Starting from the discussion of methodological approaches to assessing a possible association, the most important studies carried out on the issue in recent years are discussed. Their results concur in supporting the assumption that there is a moderate but reliable association between mental disorder and violence.

[Mentally ill patients--a danger?].

This paper reviews the current state of the debate on the relationship between mental disorder and violent behaviour. Starting from the discussion of methodological approaches to assessing a possible association, the most important studies carried out on the issue in recent years are discussed. Their results concur in supporting the assumption that there is a moderate but reliable association between mental disorder and violence.

Gender and attitudes towards people with schizophrenia. Results of a representative survey in the Federal Republic of Germany.

Based on the observation that the course of schizophrenia appears to be more unfavourable in men than in women, we examined whether male suffers are exposed to more negative and less positive emotional reactions and are met with a greater amount of rejection by their environment than their female counterparts. Data from a representative survey conducted in the 'old' Federal Republic of Germany during 1990 did not yield the expected gender difference with regard to emotional reactions. There were, however, some gender differences on the side of the respondents: Women expressed more feelings of anxiety and tended to show more prosocial reactions.

[What do you associate with the word schizophrenia? A study of the social representation of schizophrenia].

This study addresses the social representation of schizophrenia. The analysis is based on a representative survey among the population of the former East German provinces now reunified with formal West Germany as the new "Länder" of the Federal Republic, as well as on a survey among medical students at the Universities of Vienna and Leipzig. For those questioned, the most striking feature of schizophrenia was that of a "split" personality.

[Burden of relatives of chronic psychiatric patients].

Unlabelled: This study aimed at the systematic assessment of the burden imposed on the relatives of mentally ill persons. A postal survey was carried out on a sample drawn from the members of the Federal Association of Relatives of the Mentally ill (n = 557).

Results: Almost one third of those questioned experienced the care for their relatives as a heavy burden, a further third said that the burden was moderate.

[Quality of life for schizophrenic patients--that is.... Results of a survey of psychiatrists].

605 German psychiatrists were asked what they consider important ingredients of the quality of life of schizophrenic patients. Most frequently, quality of life was associated with social integration. Work, social contacts and acceptance on the part of their environment were considered particularly important in this respect.

Social distance towards the mentally ill: results of representative surveys in the Federal Republic of Germany.

Background: In 1975, a special commission appointed by the German Parliament submitted its report on the desolate state of psychiatric care in the old Federal Republic of Germany including suggestions for much-needed reforms. Among them was a call for the reduction of existing prejudices against mentally ill people. This study addresses the question as to what attitude is commonly found among the general public towards the mentally ill nowadays, two decades after the first step towards reform in psychiatric care and focuses on social distance.

The effect of violent attacks by schizophrenic persons on the attitude of the public towards the mentally ill.

This paper tests Scheffs proposition that selective media reporting has a reinforcing effect on the stereotype of mental illness. Based on several population surveys carried out in the "old" Federal Republic of Germany it can be shown that in 1990 there was a marked increase in desired social distance from mentally ill people immediately following violent attacks, by two individuals suffering from schizophrenia, against prominent German politicians. Both events were widely covered in the media.

Public attitude towards psychiatric treatment.

Past research on help-seeking behaviour and compliance among the mentally ill has mainly been focused on the examination of individual and structural determinants, while the impact of the socio-cultural context has been largely neglected. To examine this impact, we conducted a representative survey among German citizens who were eligible to vote. By means of vignettes describing different mental disorders we recorded the lay public's preferences for various treatment methods, together with their subjective reasons for voicing these particular preferences.

The effect of personal experience with mental illness on the attitude towards individuals suffering from mental disorders.

Based on the results of two population surveys conducted in Germany during 1990 and 1993, we examined to what extent personal experience with mental illness might influence attitudes towards the mentally ill. Respondents familiar with mental illness displayed prosocial reactions more frequently than those without any personal experience. They also tended to react less fearfully.

The effect of diagnostic labelling on the lay theory regarding schizophrenic disorders.

On the basis of a representative survey carried out in Germany in the Autumn of 1990, hypotheses about the effect of diagnostic labelling on lay beliefs regarding schizophrenic disorders were tested. As expected, labelling the disorder as schizophrenia increased the likelihood that biological factors were considered to be aetiologically relevant, while psychosocial stress, which most often was held responsible without labelling was cited less frequently as a cause. Thus, labelling the disorder as schizophrenia can be assumed to cause lay-aetiological beliefs to more closely approximate theories predominant among psychiatric experts.

Lay beliefs about the causes of mental disorders: a new methodological approach.

So far, researchers have, for the most part, used lists of Likert-scaled items in their quantitative analysis of lay beliefs about the causes of mental disorders. With the help of factor analyses they have then sought to identify the independent dimensions of the attitudinal space. In contrast, it is the aim of multiple unidimensional unfolding, which shall be presented in this paper, to establish a latent dimension of the order of preference regarding the causes offered as an explanation for the development of mental disorders.

[Social distance of the population toward psychiatric patients].

The focus of the present study centers on the attitude of the German public's attitude towards mentally ill individuals during the early 1990s, using the extent of social distance as its indicator. The study is based on a number of representative surveys carried out between 1990 and 1993. We found that alcohol dependents met with the highest level of rejection, even more so than those suffering from schizophrenia.

Relatives' beliefs about the causes of schizophrenia.

Based on a representative survey among the members of German and Austrian associations of relatives of mentally ill people, this paper examines the beliefs commonly held by relatives of persons suffering from schizophrenia concerning the causes of this disorder. A comparison of the information gathered in the course of this survey with the results of a representative survey conducted among the general public in Germany shows that relatives will usually look to biological factors when searching for the cause of schizophrenia, while the general public tends to cite psychosocial factors, especially stress-related factors, in order to explain the development of this illness. We attribute this discrepancy to relatives' greater exposure to the knowledge of psychiatric experts as well as their having to deal with their own feelings of guilt.