Background: Mental health literacy has been defined as the public knowledge and beliefs about mental disorders, enhancing the ability to recognize specific disorders. Aim: Firstly, to determine the degree of recognition and understanding of schizophrenia and depression in Kuwait 2003. Secondly, to measure the public attitudes towards various helpers, medical professions, and various treatment modalities. Method: Three hundred and nine Kuwaiti citizens were interviewed face to face by one of the authors. Results: The depressive vignette was correctly recognized by (25.8%). In all (56.6%) mentioned a category within the mental health sphere, where as (45.4%) did not consider any mental health problem. The schizophrenia vignette was correctly recognized by (3.9%), and a further (16.2%) recognized the condition as depressive episode. Generally, 53.2% mentioned a category within the mental health sphere. 10.4% considered the condition as a possession by an evil spirit. In both vignettes a low proportion of the responders considered general practitioners as helpful (25.2% & 11.7% respectively). On the other hand, family members and close friends were highly rated in both vignettes.