What do people know about mental illness?

A national telephone survey of 1,006 adult Americans was conducted by Roper Starch Worldwide for Janssen Pharmaceuticals to as certain the public's perception and understanding of mental illness. The results showed a number of misperceptions on the public's part.

Fact: Severe mental illnesses are biologically based brain disorders and are caused primarily by chemical imbalances in the brain. However, more than half believe that you can avoid developing chronic depression (65%), obsessive compulsive disorder (59%), and manic depression (53%).

Fact: Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness characterized by a dysfunction of the thinking process, such as hallucinations and delusions, and withdrawal from the outside world. Contrary to popular belief schizophrenia is not"split personality" or "multiple personality," and the vast majority of people who suffer from schizophrenia are not dangerous to others. Yet, a majority associate the following symptoms with schizophrenia: split personality and multiple personality (78% each); insanity, madness, or craziness (71 %); and violence (68%).

Fact: Years of research have proven that schizophrenia is a biologically based brain disease. The brains of people with schizophrenia have elevated dopamine and serotonin activity. Despite these findings, many still believe schizophrenia is caused by drug abuse (63%), the environment in which a person is raised (53%), a nervous breakdown (51%), poor parenting (34%), weak willpower (22%), and/or laziness or...