Lay beliefs about mental disorders: a comparison between the western and the eastern parts of Germany

Background: Since the end of the Second World War the western and eastern p arts of Germany have been exposed to very different social and cultural inf luences. It was our assumption that this should also be reflected in the be liefs about mental disorders held by the general public. Methods: In autumn 1990, immediately after German reunification, a representative survey on l ay concepts of schizophrenia and depression was carried out in both parts o f Germany. In all, 2118 personal, fully structured interviews resulted in t he West, 980 in the East. Results: In general, there were more similarities than differences between West and East, particularly as concerns causal at tributions (with psychosocial stress being most frequently seen as etiologi cally relevant) and treatment recommendations (with psychotherapy clearly f avored over drug treatment). However, there were also some differences, mos t notably a stronger tendency in the West to define depressive behavior in psychiatric terms and to recommend established forms of psychiatric treatme nt for its management. Conclusions: Our assumption that the exposure to dif ferent cultural influences should have led to discrepant beliefs about ment al disorders was only partly confirmed. Especially with regard to schizophr enia, the prevalence of the dominant stereotype hardly differed between Wes t and East.