Positive Beliefs about Mental Illness: Associations with Sex, Age, Diagnosis, and Clinical Outcomes

Abstract Background Beliefs about mental illness affect how individuals cope with their symptoms. Positive beliefs about mental illness (PBMI) refer to perceptions of positive attributes individuals may identify in their illness, such as beneficial consequences, enhanced creativity or cognition, or growth through adversity. Methods The present study developed and tested a brief measure of PBMI in 332 adults presenting for partial hospitalization with a variety of acute psychiatric conditions. Results Results indicated that older individuals and women had lower levels of PBMI than others, while individuals with bipolar disorder had higher levels of PBMI than others. PBMI significantly increased over the course of brief standard treatment. Baseline levels of PBMI, as well as changes in PBMI over the course of treatment, were associated with clinical outcomes including, but not limited to, depression and well-being. A diagnosis of bipolar disorder moderated the relationship between PBMI and only one clinical outcome, emotional lability. Increases in PBMI during treatment were associated with reduced emotional lability only in participants without bipolar disorder. Limitations Our findings are limited by the naturalistic study design. In addition, the lack of ethnoracial diversity in our sample limits the generalization of results. Conclusions Our results suggest that PBMI are a distinct set of beliefs that meaningfully relate to demographic characteristics, diagnostic characteristics, and clinical outcomes. Future research should examine the mechanisms through which PBMI and outcomes are related, as well as determine whether interventions designed to address PBMI (and perhaps tailored for different diagnostic groups) have clinical utility.