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Depression bias high among
Australian men
And migrants to Australia don't
fare much better in their attitudes
towards depression either.
24 April, 2008: In a finding
that doesn’t do credit to males, it
has been found that men are more
likely to be biased against people
suffering from mental depression than
women.
In a survey conducted by
researchers in Australia, about 20% of
the people surveyed said that if a
colleague had depression, they would
not work closely with the sufferer.
The researchers also found that
older males and people born overseas
were more likely to have a negative
view of those afflicted with
depression than most other
Australians.
Earlier researches have suggested
that one in five Australians
experience some form of mental illness
each year.
The recent study of over 6,000
Australian adults has revealed that
men, less educated people and migrants
were more likely to have stigmatizing
views about depression.
Professor Kathy Griffiths and
Professor Helen Christensen from the
Australian National University and
Professor Anthony Jorm from the
University of Melbourne conducted the
survey, which has been published in
the April 18, 2008, issue of the
BioMed Central, a scientific journal
based in the United Kingdom.
The Australian news agency AAP quoted
Professor Kathy Griffiths, mental
health expert and lead author of the
study, as saying,“This is the first
study to systematically investigate
predictors of personal stigma among
those people with high levels of
depressive symptoms. While our study
showed that stigma is not as
widespread as many members of the
public think, it is still a problem.”
Professor Griffiths, who described the
results of the survey as “startling,”
went on,“Personal stigmas (about
depression) were higher for males,
those with less education, those born
overseas and people with greater
psychological distress. While our
study showed that stigma is not as
widespread as many members of the
public think, it is still a problem.”
According to Professor Griffiths, “one
of the problems a lot of people with
depression experience has been the
negative reaction of others around
them to their illness. We already know
that stigma is a leading cause of
concern with people suffering from
depression, but up until now not a lot
has been done to examine it.
Interestingly, though it is often
assumed that people from rural areas
have more negative attitudes to mental
disorders, we did not find any
difference between stigma in the
country and city.”
It was difficult to know whether
public awareness campaigns were having
much of an effect on people in
reforming their attitude to sufferers
of depression, the researchers said.
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