Title: Department of Health | 2.3.1 Knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of mental health and mental illness
Headings: 2.3.1 Knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of mental health and mental illness
Research and consultation among young people on mental health issues: Final report
2.3.1 Knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of mental health and mental illness
Responses to the term 'Mental Health'
Responses to the term 'Mental Illness'
Perceived differences between mental health problems and mental illness
Most commonly named mental illnesses
Mental health problems which people believed they knew most about
Mental health problems which people reported knowing least about
Mental illnesses or mental health problems perceived as the most common among young people
Mental illnesses or mental health problems perceived as most common in the general community
Which problem might be hardest to deal with?

Content: In addition, the notion that mental illness has some sort of genetic or chemical basis or involves something wrong in the brain was often expressed. Perceived differences between mental health problems and mental illness
Some people responded to each of these terms simply by referring its opposite - for example, 'mental health' was 'not being mentally ill'. Others tended to use the terms interchangeably. However, despite the frequent blending of the terms 'mental health' and 'mental illness', numbers of young people did draw distinctions between 'mental health problems' and 'mental illnesses' in more extended discussions. For example, mental health problems might be: related to a specific life event such as unemployment, relationships, exam stress, troubles with family
relatively short term
within a person's control
not necessarily something that called for outside help. Mental illnesses, by contrast, were generally seen as : more serious
long-term
genetic or something 'you're born with'
out of a person' s control
needing treatment. This distinction seemed important in that at later stages some participants suggested that a person with a mental illness deserved tolerance because their problem was 'not their fault', 'beyond their control' or 'needed treatment'. On the other hand, people who were experiencing mental heath problems related to a specific life event might be perceived as partly responsible for their predicament, deserving of less sympathy, and seen as having more responsibility to take the initiative to deal with things themselves.