Background: This study aimed at exploring adolescents' attitudes to schizophrenia and the impact of an educational intervention on improving them, by employing a mixed methodology. Method: A total of 1081 secondary-school students were randomly allocated to a control and intervention condition. Stigma endorsement was assessed by a free association card and a questionnaire, before and 2 weeks after the intervention. Results: The intervention yielded substantial changes in students' beliefs, attitudes and social distance levels as well as in their associations with the term 'severe mental illness'. Conclusions: Educational interventions can contribute substantially to preventing consolidation of unfavourable attitudes towards mental illness. Key Practitioner Message:• There is confusion in the literature with regard to 14-year olds' knowledge about and attitudes towards mental illness, while the evidence to support the effectiveness of educational interventions in improving them is scanty • The present study aims to elucidate this discrepancy by employing a mixed methodology approach • The results highlight adolescents' ambivalence towards severe mental illness and the significance of educational interventions in addressing it • Through targeting adolescents' attitudes towards mental illness, one can alleviate their fear of being stigmatised, which has been found to deter them from seeking professional help

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Background and Aims:The Greek Program against Stigma and Discrimination because of Mental Illness developed an educational intervention targeting high-school students, as part of a broader anti-stigma campaign. Educational interventions aiming to confront the stigma of schizophrenia are mostly effective in preventing the formation of stereotypes and prejudice against people with schizophrenia (PWS), when implemented in populations open to change, such as high school students. The study aims to evaluate: a) students’ beliefs and attitudes towards PWS and b) the effectiveness of an educational intervention in challenging stereotypical beliefs and discriminatory attitudes towards PWS.Methods:The intervention, a two-hour semi-structured educational program, entailed guided discussions and creative activities facilitating self-expression, such as collective drawing and role-playing. A survey questionnaire was administrated before and after the intervention and at a six months follow-up, in order to identify sources of information about schizophrenia, knowledge about symptoms and treatment options and students’ attitudes.Results:High-school students hold faulty beliefs about schizophrenia, are unwilling to interact with PWS, embrace stereotypic images of violence and dangerousness about PWS and draw information about schizophrenia mainly from television. The intervention was effective in challenging negative beliefs about PWS and had a significant positive effect on attitudes toward PWS, which - although weakened - remained to a considerable degree at the follow-up measure. A differential effect of students’ demographic characteristics and previous contact with PWS was also found.Conclusions:Further implementation of the educational intervention is strongly suggested, as its anti-stigma purposes have, so far, attained encouraging results.

Methods: This was a multinational, multicentre, noninterventional, longitudinal study of patients diagnosed with BD-I or BD-II with 1 mood event in the preceding 12 months, followed-up for 12-27 months (including retrospective and prospective phases). Patients were selected from a cross-sectional sample representative of BD populations in daily clinical practice