Objectives: To describe knowledge and prejudices about mental health and to determine if there is any association between demographic characteristics, health knowledge and prejudices on mental health.   Materials and Method: This is a cross-sectional descriptive study. Three vignettes describing typical cases of depression, panic disorder, and schizophrenia were elaborated, and questions were asked about them. Vignettes and their questions were validated by a group of experts. Each vignette and its questions were administered to 151 relatives of persons attending the outpatient clinic for conditions other than psychiatric disorders, so 453 individual vignettes were assessed.   Results: For cases of panic disorder, interviewees preferred patients should be seen by a specialized non-psychiatrist physician (76,0%), and they also considered these patients might die because of an un...

Objectives: To describe knowledge and prejudices about mental health and to determine if there is any association between demographic characteristics, health knowledge and prejudices on mental health.   Materials and Method: This is a cross-sectional descriptive study. Three vignettes describing typical cases of depression, panic disorder, and schizophrenia were elaborated, and questions were asked about them. Vignettes and their questions were validated by a group of experts. Each vignette and its questions were administered to 151 relatives of persons attending the outpatient clinic for conditions other than psychiatric disorders, so 453 individual vignettes were assessed.   Results: For cases of panic disorder, interviewees preferred patients should be seen by a specialized non-psychiatrist physician (76,0%), and they also considered these patients might die because of an un...