Summary: In Spain, with the General Law on Health, April 5,
1986 (Article 20), begins the process of restructuring the mental health care through the integration of psychiatric care in general hospitals and the creation of devices Community. Since then, former chronic patients now desinstitucionalizados "along with the new chronic live and are treated in their own environment. This quantum leap from what institutional 10 social ago levied an important role the family and society as therapeutic agents "able to collaborate in the care, rehabilitation and integration of persons with mental illness. Nevertheless, we are witnessing at the moment to many uncertainties, by researchers from mental health, covering issues such as: Do you how far the reform process has resonated so psychiatric favorable public opinion regarding disorders me'ntales and mental patient, "Do you were the family and society prepared or willing to assume their role, to live with the patient and provide an acceptable role in the community? These concerns were aggravated further by the evidence that the stigma associated with mental disorders persist and influence emotions and behavior toward the person labeled as "mentally ill". Even, it is felt that today, the stigma of mental health, along with insufficient and inadequate development of community care, they represent a social barrier of the first order to "normalize" the living conditions of the patient and reintegrarles in the community ( Berker and Vázquez - Barquero, 2001; Rutz, 2001; Stuart and Arboleda-Flórez, 2001). In Galicia, from the Galician Plan de Saúde Mental approved by Decree 389/15 April 1994, it launched the reform process in that community care has become a reality and, as there are no studies on the attitudes toward mental disorders since its launch seems appropriate to investigate what think, what they feel and what behavioral intentions expressed, in our case, students at the University of Santiago de Compostela to mental disorders and mental patient. At the same time, considering that Social Responses vary depending on the type of mental disorder, we have tried to learn acceptance vs.. Social rejection towards a patient with paranoid schizophrenia, being the kind of disorder that most closely identifies as "mental illness" and that generates more fear and social rejection (Arcar, 1988; Arcar and Eker, 1992; Comarck and Furnhan, 1998; Eker, 1989; Eker and Arcar, 1991; Malla and Shaw, 1987; Norman and Malla, 1993). Moreover, in an attempt to provide a contribution to research-oriented modification of the stigma associated with mental disorders and to the mental patient, we tried to know the impact that might have on attitudes, the training curriculum from different areas knowledge more or less related to mental health. We have tried to compare the attitudes of students in the first and final year of various races (Psychology, Nursing Degrees and others) to mental disorders in general, and towards the patient with schizophrenia in particular. We have also analyzed the influence of the direct and indirect experience with mental disorders in these attitudes, along with other personal variables. To carry out the research was administered to a sample consisting of 588 students from the first and last year of various faculties (Psychology, Nursing 8 and 495 Degrees), a questionnaire Opinion toward mental disorders, validated and adapted by Spain in Ozamiz (1980), beginning on Opinions About Mental Illness (IMO, Cohen and Struening, 1962); A description of clinical cases of a patient with paranoid schizophrenia in the form of a bullet, followed by a Social Distance Scale, a questionnaire Experience with mental disorders and finally, a series of questions about personal variables. To make the analysis of data using the statistical package SPSS for Windows (Version 1.1) and conducted the following tests: descriptive analysis for all variables analyzed, ANOVASs; Correlations Pearson; tests for independent groups and Analysis Discriminantes.
