{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,7]],"date-time":"2026-09-07T06:08:15Z","timestamp":1788761295809,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,7]],"date-time":"2026-09-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788739200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003390","name":"Fritz Thyssen Stiftung","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["10.11.2.175"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["10.11.2.175"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003390","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychiatry"],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Purpose<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Promoting continuum beliefs has been discussed as a strategy for stigma reduction. The current study examines associations of continuum beliefs with stigma aspects (stereotypes, emotions, and social distance) and mental health literacy (illness recognition and treatment recommendations).<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      In 2011, a sample of the German population (\n                      <jats:italic>N<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u00a0=\u00a03,642) completed a vignette-based interview on attitudes regarding schizophrenia, depression, or alcohol dependence. Logistic regression analyses were performed and predicted probabilities were used to calculate prevalence estimates and depict direct effect sizes.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Increased continuum beliefs were strongly related to a\n                      <jats:italic>decreased<\/jats:italic>\n                      likelihood of social distance and endorsement of some negative stereotypes (e.g., being alien for schizophrenia) and an\n                      <jats:italic>increased<\/jats:italic>\n                      likelihood for endorsement of other negative stereotypes (e.g., lack of willpower for schizophrenia and depression) and emotions (e.g., anger for schizophrenia). Effect sizes indicated a greater reduction in negative stereotypes and desired social distance than increases in negative stereotypes or emotions. Furthermore, continuum beliefs were associated with a\n                      <jats:italic>decreased<\/jats:italic>\n                      probability of illness recognition for schizophrenia and recommending treatment for schizophrenia and depression, but an\n                      <jats:italic>increased<\/jats:italic>\n                      likelihood for illness recognition and recommending treatment for alcohol dependence.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Potentially harmful associations of continuum beliefs were found for schizophrenia and depression and should be considered by future studies and intervention designs. These potentially harmful associations are likely outweighed by helpful associations based on prevalence estimates and effect sizes. Associations between continuum beliefs and mental health literacy seem to be illness-dependent. Because of the sociocultural context and the time gap between the study and publication, representativeness for current public attitudes is limited.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyt.2026.1869356","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,7]],"date-time":"2026-09-07T05:33:38Z","timestamp":1788759218000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Differentiating the potential of continuum beliefs to reduce the public stigma of schizophrenia, depression, and alcohol dependence: associations with illness recognition and treatment recommendations"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Sven","family":"Speerforck","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Leipzig","place":["Leipzig, Germany"]},{"name":"Institut f\u00fcr Sozialpsychiatrie Mecklenburg-Vorpommern e.V.","place":["Rostock, Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Anya","family":"Leonhard","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Leipzig","place":["Leipzig, Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Matthias C.","family":"Angermeyer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Public Health, Clinical and Molecular Psychiatry, University of Cagliari","place":["Cagliari, Italy"]},{"name":"Center for Public Mental Health","place":["G\u00f6sing am Wagram, Austria"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Georg","family":"Schomerus","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Leipzig","place":["Leipzig, Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"291","DOI":"10.1186\/s12888-015-0681-9","article-title":"Mental health literacy measures evaluating knowledge, attitudes and help-seeking: a scoping review","volume":"15","author":"Wei","year":"2015","journal-title":"BMC Psychiatry"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5694\/j.1326-5377.1997.tb140071.x","article-title":"Mental health literacy\": a survey of the public's ability to recognise mental disorders and their beliefs about the effectiveness of treatment","volume":"166","author":"Jorm","year":"1997"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1192\/j.eurpsy.2022.2337","article-title":"Changes in mental illness stigma over 30 years - 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