Mental health literacy in South Korea

ABSTRACT The study aimed to examine the Korean public’s recognition of mental disorders, attitudes towards mental disorders and knowledge and beliefs about professional or self-help for mental disorders. In all, 253 participants were presented with case vignettes describing bulimia nervosa, bipolar disorder, substance addiction, depression, schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anorexia and social phobia. Participants were asked to identify described mental disorders in the vignettes, to rate each character’s adjustment to live with the mental problems and to rate the likelihood of suggesting several types of help for each character. Participants noted their previous history of exposure to mental disorders. Substance addiction was recognized the most (80.2%) and anorexia the least (10.7%). Participants responded that a psychologist/psychiatrist’s help would be the most useful. Of the nine mental disorders, the recognition of six mental disorders was significantly predicted by the variables included in this study, and amongst the factors, higher level of education was found to be the most significant predictor for high recognition of mental disorders. Compared to other countries, the ability of Koreans to recognize mental disorders was poorer than that of British, and there was a difference between South Korean and other Asian countries in terms of ability to recognize mental disorders even if they shared a similar culture. Limitations of this study were recognized.