Attitudes of adult Poles towards mentally ill people

Background. The purpose of this study is to determine attitudes of Poles toward mentally ill people. Material and methods. The study was conducted on a group of 208 residents from the west Pomeranian region. 59% of them were women, 41% - men; 49% were aged 18- 44 years, 51% - over 45; 55% had higher and 28% secondary education. Results. According to the respondents mentally ill people are: dangerous (70%), aggressive (61%), unpredictable (85%), and should be isolated from society (31%). Feelings that they usually evoke are: fear, sympathy and helplessness. The people around the surveyed use such words as: madman, psycho, nutcase. As many as 96% of the respondents avoid mentally ill people, and 65% will not offer a helping hand to a mentally ill person. Positive attitudes toward the mentally ill were observed among respondents with secondary education; those with higher education distanced themselves from such people. Conclusions. The results obtained show positive changes in attitudes toward the mentally ill, which, however, are insufficient for the demands of democratic society counteracting social exclusion. Public education campaigns, targeting the general public and especially young members of society, are necessary to enable the social integration of mentally ill people.