Results Respondents commonly perceived people with schizophrenia, alcoholism and drug addiction as unpredictable and dangerous. The two latter conditions were also viewed as self-inflicted. People with any of the seven disorders were perceived as hard to talk with. Opinions about effects of treatment and prognosis suggested reasonable knowledge. About half the respondents reported knowing someone with a mental illness. Conclusions Negative opinions indiscriminately overemphasise social handicaps that can accompany mental disorders. They contribute to social isolation, distress and difficulties in employment faced by sufferers. A campaign against stigma should take account of the differences in opinions about the seven disorders studied. In 1998 the Royal College of Psychiatrists started a five-year campaign entitled 'Changing Minds : Every Family in the Land' to reduce the stigma of mental illness ( James, 1998 ; Crisp, 1999 ). Many studies have shown that stigmatising attitudes towards people with mental illness are widespread ( Byrne, 1997 ; Link et al , 1997 ; Jorm et al , 1999 ) and are commonly held ( Rabkin, 1974 ; Heginbotham, 1998 ; Porter, 1998 ), but there has been no recent survey of a large representative sample of the population of Great Britain. To guide the Campaign and as a baseline for a subsequent study of its effects, the Campaign Management Committee commissioned such a survey of current public opinions about people with one or other of the seven mental disorders embraced by its Campaign and based on the range of commonly attributed public attitudes to