The general public, as I read on the net, have a stigma about any mental illness. I can not recall any percent, but I believe the percent is high. Even I had/have to read about different types of mental illnesses to understand any differences between any two, three, or more, or combinations of them in the same person. Even employment, housing, and other things can and do effect people with mental illness. I don't tell people, and I believe two of my friends do not come around anymore after I informed them I was BP. It's not worth it to tell, to try and explain, and many just let it go over their heads.