International Journal of Health Sciences & Research (www.ijhsr.org) 355 Vol.5; Issue: 12; December 2015 International Journal of Health Sciences and Research www.ijhsr.org ISSN: 2249-9571 Original Research Article Assessment of Knowledge on Mental Illness and Its Determining Factors among People Aged 25-40 Years in Pokhara Valley, Nepal Shraddha Parajuli 1 , Manisha Chalise 1 , Gokul Pathak 1 , Hoshiar Singh Chauhan 2 1 MPH Scholar, 2 Professor and Dean, School of Public Health, Akal College of Health and Allied Sciences, Eternal University, Baru Sahib, Via Rajgarh, Distt. Sirmour-173101, Himachal Pradesh, India Corresponding Author: Shraddha Parajuli Received: 27/10/2015 Revised: 20/11/2015 Accepted: 21/11/2015 ABSTRACT Introduction: Mental health is an essential component of health and a source to deal with the stresses of everyday life. Mental health encompasses positive aspects of well-being and healthy functioning as well as negative aspects of different mental illnesses. Mental illnesses are particularly troublesome in developing countries like Nepal which is going through the issues of rapid urbanization and modernization and where the problem is highly negligent. Objective: To assess the Knowledge on mental illness and its association with socio-demographic factors among people of Pokhara. Methods: The cross-sectional study was carried out during the month of January 2015 in central wards of Pokhara valley. 180 samples were collected by using self administered questionnaires to the people of age 25-40 years. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 20. Results: Almost all (91.1%) respondents were aware about mental illness. Two-third of respondents (66.6%) reported mental illness as a condition of showing unusual behaviour. Almost half (49.4%) respondents reported unemployed youths as most vulnerable groups of mental illness. Most (53%) reported early diagnosis and treatment to be the prevention of mental illness followed by stress reduction (47.6%). Almost (98.8%) all respondents knew that mental illness can be treated. More than half (61.6%) respondents were having poor level of knowledge regarding mental illness, 24.4% with satisfactory and 14% with good level. Level of knowledge was statistically significant with educational status and occupation of respondents (p<0.05). Conclusion: Appropriate level of knowledge regarding mental illness was still lagging among respondents. Those who were highly educated were having good level of knowledge. This shows the necessity to introduce and promote mental health education in schools and colleges to increase awareness among the youths of urban society. Keywords: Mental health, mental illness, knowledge, awareness, significant. INTRODUCTION Mental health is an individual and personal matter. It involves a living human organism or more precisely, the condition of an individual human mind. Mental health is one of many human values; it should not be regarded as the ultimate good in itself. (1) Mental health is an essential component of health and is a resource to help us deal with the stresses and challenges of everyday life. Good mental health contributes to the quality of our lives as individuals, as communities, and as a society in general. Good mental health protects us and helps us to avoid risk