ArticleSocial psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology2023
Changes in continuum beliefs for depression and schizophrenia in the general population 2011-2020: a widening gap.
Article in Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Continuum beliefs of mental illness: a systematic review of measures.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2023Pooled it
- Stigma is on the rise.World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) · 2026Article
- 'Concept creep' in perceptions of mental illness - an experimental examination of prevalence-induced concept change.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2026Article
- Differentiating the potential of continuum beliefs to reduce the public stigma of schizophrenia, depression, and alcohol dependence: associations with illness recognition and treatment recommendations.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Attitudes towards Tourette syndrome and schizophrenia amongst psychology students.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- An Evolutionary Preamble Towards a Multilevel Framework to Understand Adolescent Mental Health: An International Delphi Study.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- "Putting yourself in the shoes of others" - Relatability as a novel measure to explain the difference in stigma toward depression and schizophrenia.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2025Article
- Changes in the ability to correctly identify schizophrenia and depression: results from general population surveys in Germany over 30 years.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2024Article
- 'Broken souls' vs. 'mad ax man' - changes in the portrayal of depression and schizophrenia in the German media over 10 years.Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences · 2024Article
- Stigma and public attitudes toward euthanasia or assisted suicide for psychiatric conditions: results from a general population survey in Germany.BJPsych open · 2024Article
- [The German population's attitude towards mental disorders].Bundesgesundheitsblatt, Gesundheitsforschung, Gesundheitsschutz · 2023Review
- Changes in mental illness stigma over 30 years - Improvement, persistence, or deterioration?European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
purposeThe public discourse about mental health and mental illness seems to have become more open over the last decade, giving rise to the hope that symptoms of mental illness have become more relatable. We examine whether continuum beliefs regarding schizophrenia and depression have increased on a population level over a period of 9 years, and whether notions of unfamiliarity and incomprehensibility have decreased.
methodsIn 2011 (n = 2455) and 2020 (n = 3042), two methodologically identical cross-sectional population surveys were conducted in Germany. After the presentation of an unlabeled case vignette depicting someone with schizophrenia or depression, we asked about continuum beliefs, perceived unfamiliarity and perceived incomprehensibility of the person described.
resultsMultinomial logit models holding sociodemographic variables fixed at their means for both surveys showed that agreement with continuum beliefs increased in depression from 43 to 46% [change 4%; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0; 8], but decreased in schizophrenia from 26 to 20% (change - 6%, 95% CI - 9; - 3). Unfamiliarity (change - 4%; 95% CI - 7; 0) and incomprehensibility (change - 7%, 95% CI - 10; - 4) decreased for depression, while remaining largely unchanged for schizophrenia.
conclusionAn already pronounced gap in the perception of both disorders with regard to continuity of symptom experiences and perceived otherness further widened over the last decade. While the public's increasing familiarity with symptoms of depression might be further aided by using continuum beliefs as part of anti-stigma messages and awareness campaigns, promulgating continuity models for schizophrenia seems more challenging.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.