Background: Service users’ perception of mental illness is vital because it points out a viable direction that practitioners can follow to fully understand service users in their own sociocultural context.
Material: Qualitative research findings include mental health service users’ roles and identities, their perceptions of mental illness and their personal experiences of psychiatric stigma.
Discussion: While there are similar phenomena regarding mental illness stigma between East and West, there are culturally distinctive characteristics found in Taiwan.
Conclusions: Based on personal perceptions and experiences, mental health service users have interpreted illness and performed the patient role in their own way.