Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The General Population’S Understanding Of Mental Illness, Iris Walker-Tjepkes

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

The goal of this study was to show to what extent people understand different mental illnesses and what ideas they have about mental illnesses are right or wrong. The study also attempted to compare differences in responses for different names of the same disorders. The mental illnesses examined were major depressive disorder (MDD), dissociative identity disorder (DID), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and schizophrenia. Method: Participants (N = 80) took a Qualtrics survey that asked questions about different mental illnesses. Each disorder had open response questions regarding the criteria for that disorder. For each disorder, there was no prior information about …