In 2000 and 2001, telephone surveys in the German cities Nuremberg and Wurzburg were
carried out to gain insights into beliefs and attitudes of the public towards depression
and its treatment and to evaluate the activites of the ”Nuremberg Alliance Against
Depression”, a joint effort of health professionals, aiming at the improvement of
the situation of people in Nuremberg suffering from depression. In 2000, most people
considered depression a serious illness that can be treated fairly well by a professional.
Concerning the proper means for this, we found that the well-known bad reputation
of psychotropic drugs still prevails. Since 2001 a prominent part of the activities
of the Nuremberg Alliance is a citywide campaign informing the public about causes
and treatment of depression. Although the campaign had been performed for only 10
months, slight to moderate effects concerning causes and treatment of depression were
observed in both cities. However, no effects were found with respect to the misconceptions
about pharmacotherapy.
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Prof. Dr. Ulrich Hegerl
University of Munich
Department of Psychiatry
Nussbaumstr. 7
80336 Munich
Germany
