Stigma is often identified as the irrational troublemaker that can dissuade people from seeking effective treatment for a variety of health conditions, including mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder. Researchers with Indiana University 's Indiana Consortium for Mental Health Services Research are putting numbers to the talk.

The group has been conducting a series of national surveys to examine whether Americans' attitudes and practices regarding mental health issues have changed since the first Surgeon General's Report on mental illness in 1999. Their research includes forthcoming reports on how Americans view children and mental-health problems and the effect of media on mental-health attitudes.

"We're always working on a lot of things here and it's a lot of fun," ICMHSR Director Bernice Pescosolido told Bloomington Herald-Times columnist Mike Leonard recently (see http://www.heraldtimesonline.com/stories/2006/03/05/column.0305-SH-A3_EAV01727.sto?lin ). "It's fun because we believe it's meaningful and important. We're always looking at that place where medicine meets social science. Our job is to bring real data to the table so people aren't working with assumptions and preconceived notions."

ICMHSR, founded in 1994, is a multidisciplinary group of researchers from IU campuses and other Midwest universities, as well as practitioners, policymakers and advocates. The consortium focuses on the interface of communities and medical treatment systems. It has received grants from federal, state and private sources, including the National Institutes of Health, Indiana Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Indiana University , the MacArthur Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Eli Lilly & Co. Much of the data for this series of reports comes from survey responses collected using the General Social Survey, a nationally representative face-to-face survey of Americans conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago .

ICMHRS recently released its second report, in which it described how a majority of Americans believe in the effectiveness of psychiatric medications, but most are reluctant to use these drugs for the treatment of their personal problems (see http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/2933.html ).

"Most people believe that mental health problems are amenable to treatment," said IU sociology professor Jack Martin , lead author of the recent report. "They also agree that psychiatric medications are effective. Yet our survey shows that while Americans are aware of this, most have serious reservations about personally taking these medications."

Key findings include:

• Approximately two-thirds of Americans reported that using psychiatric medications helps people with mental health problems deal with day-to-day stress, control their symptoms, and improve relationships with members of their family.
• Almost half (47 percent) of respondents reported that psychiatric medications should be discontinued once symptoms disappear.
• About 7 of 10 Americans reported trusting their own physician, but 6 of 10 also were skeptical of physicians in general, suspecting them of taking unnecessary risks, charging for unnecessary services, performing unnecessary surgeries and not acting in their patients' best interests.

ICMHSR's first report, issued several years ago, pointed to surprisingly high rejection rates -- the majority of respondents reported they would not want to marry or work in close proximity to someone with a mental health disorder. The rate, roughly 66 percent, was similar to rejection rates reported in the 1950s.

Overall their research shows that much ground has been gained since the 1950s in public awareness of mental health disorders and their medical nature. However, little change has occurred in the stigma attached to the conditions.

The consortium is in the third year of its 5-year $3.5 million global stigma project (see http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/2196.html ), which is funded by the National Institutes of Health. For more information about ICMHSR and its various research projects, visit http://www.indiana.edu/~icmhsr/.