ABSTRACTThe study aimed to examine the Korean public’s recognition of mental disorders, attitudes towards mental disorders and knowledge and beliefs about professional or self-help for mental disorders. In all, 253 participants were presented with case vignettes describing bulimia nervosa, bipolar disorder, substance addiction, depression, schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anorexia and social phobia. Participants were asked to identify described mental disorders in the vignettes, to rate each character’s adjustment to live with the mental problems and to rate the likelihood of suggesting several types of help for each character. Participants noted their previous history of exposure to mental disorders. Substance addiction was recognized the most (80.2%) and anorexia the least (10.7%). Participants responded that a psychologist/psychiatrist’s help would be the most useful. Of the nine mental disorders, the recognition of six mental disorders was signifi...