International Journal of Social Psychiatry, Ahead of Print.
Background:Addressing the social stigma of mental illness is of importance in Iraq where mentally ill patients experience the compounded disadvantages of inadequate health services and illness stigma.Aims:To study the prevalence and magnitude of the social stigma towards mental illnesses.Method:A cross-sectional study has been carried out on 300 male and female participants at shopping malls and public cafes in Baghdad, Iraq. A self-administered questionnaire made data collection. Descriptive, and analytic statics procedure was operated as far as a convenience by using Excel 365 version as a data management tool.Results:About (80%) of the respondents revealed a moderate degree of stigmatising attitude towards mental illness with a Likert scale total equivalent score range of (2.34–3.669). About (20%) of respondents showed a low degree of stigmatising attitude towards mental illness, with a Likert scale total equivalent score range of (1–2.339). P-value was highly significant (=0.011798) <0.05 among gender variables while it is not significant among age, income, education, and positive family of mental illnesses. 83% of the respondents prefer the medical management of mental illnesses.Conclusions:There were no clear roles of socio-demographic factors in the stigmatic attitude towards mental illnesses. This finding warrants a more in-depth look into the Iraqi community’s cultural, social, and moral contexts.