Doctors hope to change attitudes towards people with mental disorders

More than half of the country’s inhabitants, to be more precise – 64% of Russians believe that people with mental disorders can be dangerous to others in one way or another. These are the results of a survey conducted by doctors on the eve of World Mental Health Day, which will be celebrated on October 10. By the way, a third of the respondents are ready to help them, almost half are sure that drug treatment will help such patients become full-fledged members of society.

According to respondents, the most common mental illness is schizophrenia. At least 65% of respondents named this diagnosis. In second place among diagnoses are depression and depressive disorders: 19% of the respondents remembered them, in third place (11%) – bipolar effective disorder.

If we talk about how people of different ages relate to patients with mental disorders, then people aged 45 and older perceive them most negatively. Almost 47% of them believe that such “sick” are socially dangerous. Young people aged 18 to 24 are much more positive towards such patients. Among them, the number of those who are afraid of people with mental disorders is no more than 5%.

“According to the World Health Organization, there are a number of effective methods of helping patients with schizophrenia, thanks to which it is possible to achieve a complete recovery of at least one in three patients,” says doctor Attila Varadi. – The first of these methods is drug treatment. However, since integration into society is essential for remission for people with mental illness, educational projects are also important. I would like to believe that in this way – through information – it is possible to reduce the level of alertness of Russians in relation to those who suffer from mental disorders.

Mona Platonov.

Photo by Alexander Avilov / Moskva Agency