To enamine the effect of long-term experience on a psyehtatric ward on nurses opinions about mental illness. experimental groups of nursing students (N = H) and experienced psychiatric nurses (N= S) and a control group of medical surgical nurses (N = S) were compared along the five dimensions of the Opinions about Mental Illness Scale. The medical surgical and psyehtatric nurses were matched for age and education. The experienced psyehtatric nurses were tound to hold significantly more authoritarian opinions about mental illness: they adhered less to a belief in interpersonal enology than the other two groups. Compared to the nursing students, the psyehtatric nurses held significantly more soctally restrictive opinions about mental illness; thev adhered less to current mental health ideology. However. age could not be ruled out as a variable in the latter two opinions, Factors which may contribute to opinion change in psychiatric nurses are discussed.