Background: Wide prevalence of mental illness has been documented in South India; however, the magnitude of stigma is unclear.
Aims: The aim was to investigate the magnitude of stigma prevalent among medical professionals in Hyderabad, India.
Materials and methods: A prospective survey of seven common psychiatric disorders for eight specified perceptions was conducted. Responses of 226 out of 250 (90%) doctors were analyzed.
Results: Significant overall negative perception (P < 0.001), with drug addiction (52.8%) and alcoholism (48.2%) eliciting most negative perceptions (Chi-square: P <0.05) was observed. Significant negative perceptions were also seen among married doctors and those with < 10 years experience. Even though, there was no overall difference based on gender (P = 0.242), more females had significant negative perception toward eating disorders, depression, dementia, alcoholism and schizophrenic patients (P ≤ 0.05).
Conclusions: This study revealed negative attitude of doctors toward mentally ill and highlighted the gender difference in perceptions.
Keywords: Attitudes; Hyderabad; India; doctors; mental illness.