carried out at the pre-interview stage indicated that the general population has a good understanding of these terms. Topics were derived from the work of Hayward & Bright ( 1997 ), who reviewed the literature on stigmatisation of people with mental illnesses. They concluded that there were enduring themes of people with mental illnesses being perceived as : being dangerous, being unpredictable, being difficult to talk with, having only themselves to blame, being able to pull themselves together, having a poor outcome and responding poorly to treatment. Responses were recorded on a five-point scale, the extremes of which bore anchoring statements, for example "dangerous to others-not dangerous to others". This method was chosen because it had worked well in previous surveys by the ONS. Respondents were also asked whether they knew anyone who has or had had a mental illness. RESULTS Of the 2679 adults identified, 657 (24.5%) refused to be interviewed (at this stage unaware of the nature of the survey) and 232 (8.7%) could not be contacted. This response rate is within the range achieved in regular ONS Omnibus Surveys. We therefore interviewed 1790 (66.8%), and of those remaining a further 53 (3.0%) refused to answer the questions when they learned of their nature. Thus, 1737 people participated in the survey. Of the sample, approximately 45% were male, 24% were single, and 95% were White. These and other demographic variables were representative of the population of Great Britain but the number of non-White respondents was therefore small. Responses