ABSTRACT
It has been suggested that stigmatisation of `mental illness' is partly due to people being ignorant about the nature and causes of the illness. Biological and genetic explanations have been advocated as the likely causes of the `illness', with the declared intention of reducing stigma, prejudice and discrimination. The idea of de®ning `mental illness' as `an illness like any other' is that individuals who suffer from it are no different from those with physical illnesses such as diabetes, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, cardiovascular and lung diseases. They are `victims' of inherited diseases. As such, they require psychiatric or psychological care, understanding, support and medication, not stigmatisation and discrimination.
