Stigma Related to Mental Illness in General Population From the City of M3adrid.

INTRODUCTION: Terms such as mark, affront or bad name are usually employed in habitual dictionaries to describe the concept of stigma. Related to the area of mental health, this concept includes also the presence of false myths and negative evaluations towards the mental patient. The consecuence of that are prejudiced behaviours that demage the life of the stigmatized patient. Due to the significant repercussion of this fact, evaluate the level of mental stigmatization become fundamental. Objectives To evaluate the presence of behavioural discrimination among the general public from Madrid city against people with mental health problems. Material and Methods This RIBS scale (Reported and Intended Behaviour Scale) was used to evaluate the previously cited discrimination. Different sociodemographic variables were also included to be able to establish the possible Association between them and the scale reults. 100 participants from general population from Madrid completed this questionnaire. A descriptive and analytical analysis were carried out using the statistics programme spss v. 21. Results and Conclusions In line with the results from previous studies, this analysis shows a high rate of behavioural discrimination against people with mental health problems. This situation may be a negative condition to the access of mental patients to mental health services. Besides, it may affect in a deleterious way to many others vital areas of the patient. Theese results reinforce the need of encourage anti-stigma programmes.