Public attitudes towards the mentally ill: A cross-cultural study between Bali and Tokyo

The present study investigates the differences in public attitudes towards the mentally ill in Bali (Indonesia) and Tokyo (Japan), the former being a non-industrialized society and the latter an industrialized society in Asia . Seventy-seven residents of Bali and 66 residents from Tokyo were examined by a devaluation-discrimination measure and a self-assessment questionnair e to gauge their reactions to five imaginary case study vignettes consistin g of three cases of schizophrenia, one case of a depressive episode, and on e case of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Balinese respondents had significa ntly lower devaluation-discrimination measure scores, indicating a more fav orable global attitude towards persons with a history of psychiatric treatm ent than did respondents in Tokyo. However, the extent to which people were prejudicial against mental patients in the two societies varied with the k inds of mental disorders, with Balinese having a more positive attitude to schizophrenics but more negative to depressive and obsessive- compulsive pa tients.