Shifting blame? Impact of reports of violence and mental illness in the context of terrorism on population attitudes towards persons with mental illness in Germany

We examine whether reporting on violent and terrorist acts committed in July 2016 by persons who, among other characteristics, were suspected to have mental health issues did impact on mental illness stigma, and whether any changes added to changes observed after the Germanwings plane crash in 2015. Three identical online surveys (in 2014, 2015 and 2016) were conducted among persons >15 years old from an established market research panel in Germany (N=2195). Participants answered questions about a woman (“Anne”) with either depression or schizophrenia as described in an unlabeled vignette. In the 2016 survey (<4 weeks after the attacks), we also elicited perceived causes of the violent incidents. Compared to 2014, the predicted probability to rate Anne as dangerous increased from 7% to 11%. Perceived unpredictability increased from 17% to 23%. Other stigma measures did not change significantly. No significant changes were visible between 2015 and 2016. Mental illness ranked third among the most important perceived causes for the attacks in 2016, after 'religious beliefs' and 'being manipulated by others'. Overall, the observed attitude changes were small. We discuss how the context of the attacks may have prevented further attitude change regarding persons with mental illness.