Public beliefs about the causes of mental disorders revisited

When the lay public is asked to prioritize their causal beliefs for a vignette depicting either schizophrenia or depression, psychosocial causes are most popular for depression, but a large proportion of respondents prefers biological causes for schizophrenia. Recognition of the vignette as mental illness enhances the likelihood to endorse brain disease as a cause and reduces choices of certain psychosocial causes.