The Global Fight against the Stigma of Schizophrenia

Abstract

The stigma attached to mental illness is the greatest obstacle to the improvement of the lives of people with mental illness and their families [1]. Such stigma results in (1) a lower priority for mental health services, (2) difficulty getting staff of good quality to work in these services, (3) continuing problems in finding employment and housing for people who have had an episode of mental disorder, (4) the social isolation of people who suffer from mental illness and their families, and (5) poorer quality of care for physical illnesses occurring in people diagnosed as having had psychiatric illnesses [1]. These effects of stigma are true for all mental disorders, and in particular, for schizophrenia. The history of the stigmatisation of mental illness is long, but it is probable that intolerance to mental abnormality (and the rejection of people who had it) has become stronger in the past two centuries because of urbanisation and the growing demands for skills and qualifications in almost all sectors of employment. This, however, is only part of the story: mental illness is also linked to stigmatisation, discrimination, and intolerance in rural settings and in all countries, regardless of their level of industrialisation and sophistication of labour. Recent studies carried out in developing countries confirm that this stigma is universal [1]—indeed it is fair to say that stigma is attached to mental illness in different socio-cultural settings throughout the world, and that it is growing in strength and in its negative consequences.