Summary
Successful re-integration of former psychiatric patients into the community rests upon social acceptance of such persons. A set of empirical studies is widely interpreted as supporting a high degree of indigenous community rejection of the mentally ill. An examination of the conceptual structure underlying these studies indicates bias in favor of a rejection interpretation; the same data can be interpreted as reflecting a high degree of indigenous acceptance. Analysis of new evidence on social acceptance of the mentally ill within a community dominated by the presence of a state mental hospital indicates that social acceptance of the mentally ill is positively related to exposure to psychiatric processing systems. When differences in measurement within the research design are considered, it appears that exposure to inpatient treatment systems may also lead to greater community optimism about the effectiveness of such systems. The analyses support an incremental pattern of community acceptance of psychiatric patients with the accumulation of exposure over time.
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Partial support for the senior author from U.S. Public Health Service Grant AA-04165 during the revision of this manuscript is gratefully acknowledged.
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Roman, P.M., Floyd, H.H. Social acceptance of psychiatric illness and psychiatric treatment. Soc Psychiatry 16, 21–29 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00578066
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00578066