Mental Illness Stigma in Turkish and Greek Cypriot Communities Living in Cyprus: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Currently stigma is considered to be the most important factor in the field of mental illness. More than 40 types of negative impact of stigma on ones’ life has been identified for the previous researchers. Although the impact of it is very negative there has not been any study conducted in the Northern side of Cyprus where Turkish Cypriots live. There has also very limited studies carried out in the Southern side where Greek Cypriots live. The aim of this study was, therefore, to investigate the attitudes of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot populations living in Cyprus towards schizophrenia and look into the possible explanations behind these differences. An independent groups design was used in this study. One hundred participants were recruited from Greek and Turkish Cypriot populations. Participation to this study was voluntary and participants were represented with four different questionnaires assessing knowledge regarding mental health, attitudes towards mentally ill, level of familiarity and culture. The results showed that there was a significant difference between the Turkish and Greek Cypriot attitudes towards schizophrenia; Turkish Cypriots held more negative attitudes. Turkish Cypriots were also significantly more vertical collectivist, which was associated with the higher levels of stigma. Furthermore, Greek Cypriots were significantly more familiar with mental health problems and were found to have higher levels of knowledge about schizophrenia.