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e well if the person “pulled himself together,” “mended his ways,” and tried harder to overcome his problems. This studysuggests that public belief that the mentally-ill people’s condition is a consequence of being neglectful about mental health.Furthermore, the report from Mohlomi Hospital (2000) say that the general attitude of the public was also very unhealthybecause those who were brought to the centre were usually tied up with ropes and had been subjected to severe beating andgeneral state of neglect. For those who were already admitted, the members of the public visited the Mental Detention Centreto amuse them and infact, actually teased and even provoke patients. This type of attitude also prevailed in the communitiesin which mental patients were found. Even today it is common to view mental patients as sources of fun.Harphan and Blue (1996) when reviewing some studies on mental illness, found that in a sense, all types of illness arestigmatising. If the term stigma is accepted to mean an undesirable differences, that is an attribute evaluated as something badand discrediting, then any illness falls into this category. This means mental illness is like any other illness though it is at themost stigmatising end of the continuum; as the studies results shows that mental illness is consistently ranked by people asmore undesirable and fearful than physical illness (Swartz, 1998). He further says that mental illness is popularly thought ofas serious conditions with little chance of full recovery; and the stigmatised person is often regarded less human(Goffman,1963).In McPherson, Richardson and Leroux (2003), prospective patients and members of the family are reluctant to seek medicalcare/help because of the frightening nature of stigma. Thus many of the mentally-ill themselves share the traditional negativestereotype of mental illness which causes individual’s response to the suggestion that their being mental patient is muchcoloured by the image of what that means; regarded them less human. The outcome of a related survey indicate that 43percent of respondents believe that people (i.e. those with supernatural powers) and evil can induce mental disorders onothers while 35 percent consider such disorders to be caused by sinful behaviour, and 19 percent point to a lack of willpoweror self-discipline (NAPHS, 1999).Though the American Psychiatric Association (APA) (2000) has provided some distinction that a person with mentalretardation have a great difficulty in areas such as communication, home living, self direction, work or safety, it has nothowever ameliorated how the mentally-ill are perceived. This is due to fact that individuals have difficulties in distinguishingbetween the mentally-ill and the mentally retarded people. And thus consequently the confusion and notion that mentalillness is incurable while retardation is the most likely not to heal.Reinforcing Paradigms on Public Attitude of the Mentally-illQuite a number of paradigms are available for explanation. Two of such paradigms and for which the present study isconcern is the labelling and behaviour theories. Prominently developed by Lemert (1951-1964) and with the support ofBecker (1963), the labelling theory argue that the act of labelling someone as mentally ill creates the mental illnessbehaviour; and that, if their original symptoms are unimportant and without labelling, the illness would go unnoticed. Forexample, if the person asks who is mentally ill, the labelling theorist would answer that everyone who is labelled as such, are.The implication of this argument is that the persons who are labelled mentally ill would be quite right if it were nor for the actof labelling. This is very different from pointing out the social consequences of being identified as mentally ill. To minimisethe importance of the original psychiatric symptoms to that extent is essentially to agree with Thomas Szasz (1970) thatmental disorder is not recognisable in any specific form before the label is applied to it. If the illness is prolonged and isaccompanied by an unpleasant or repulsive sights or smell then the stigma will be attached to it. So, the stigma is attached tomentally ill people because of the prolonged deviance from social expectations. The labelling theorists are judgemental bythe attribution of certain social constructs that the person deviated from.The focus of behaviour therapy is on a person’s actions not thoughts and feelings. The major emphasis of skinner’s theory isthe functional analysis of behaviour. Reinforcements are consequences that lead to an increase in a behaviour, andpunishments are consequences that lead to a decrease in the behaviour. The principle of reinforcement states that a responseis strengthened when reinforcement is given. Behavioural models are helpful in planning client education and designingprogrammes for a variety of mental health clients and families. So that behaviour is learned.People learn to be depressed in response to an external locus of control as they perceive themselves lacking control over theirlive experiences. Throughout life, depressed people experience little success in achieving gratification, and little positivereinforcement for their attempts to cope sit negative incidents. These repeated failure teach them that what they do has no176