The stigma of mental illness is a problem in our society and our world. Almost every mental illness has a stigma; the stigma for schizophrenia is one of the worst, arguably the most misunderstood and unaccepted. Schizophrenia is not socially accepted, not an easy way of life and it effects many people, because of this, and people need to be educated about it.

“The stigma of schizophrenia is the same as a social death sentence,” according to Ken Duckworth, medical director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). He also says doctors are very reluctant to diagnose mental illnesses, because they are low-status illnesses; meaning, they are not as socially accepted as other ailments, such as diabetes or breast cancer. A survey, performed by NAMI, had some very shocking results about society’s acceptance of schizophrenia. To start off, only 85% of the survey takers knew schizophrenia was even a mental illness and only 43% of the participants said if they were diagnosed with schizophrenia they would tell their friends. One in four people are diagnosed with some sort of mental illness and 2.5 million people have schizophrenia, so why can we not accept mental illness? Jane Pauley said, “My goal is to see that mental illness is treated like cancer.” This is my goal, too.

A life with schizophrenia is rigorous. The survey performed by NAMI also showed 1/4 of the participants would not want to work with or for someone with schizophrenia, even with medication. Almost half of the survey takers would not even date a schizophrenic. They are excluded from many things; no wonder schizophrenia is misunderstood, unaccepted, has a stigma and is considered a, “social death sentence.” According to schizophrenia.com,
thirty years after receiving the diagnosis of schizophrenia, 25% of the people completely recover, 35% have greatly improved, 15% have improved but need some support, 15% are hospitalized and 15% are dead. The 15% dead were mostly suicides. Schizophrenia.com says one third of the 600,000 Americans that are homeless are schizophrenic. People will not hire them, people will not work with them, people will not even date them, the only time we ever hear about schizophrenics are when something bad happens involving them. For example, 56% of inmates are mentally ill; jail is America’s solution for the mentally ill (Miller Farah).

The prime ages for schizophrenia to start showing is 15 to 25, often the early symptoms go unnoticed by family and friends, as the times coincide with graduation, and new social situations. For a parent this is a difficult situation, they may begin to be aware of the symptoms of mental illness, yet they are likely unaware or what the symptoms mean and they may feel their kid is experiencing “a phase”. However, the only way for a parent to be involved in medicating a teen or minor is to get the minor to volunteer willingly, or the parent needs to prove the child is a personal threat to themselves or others. This is not as easy as it seems. You may have to have police or medical staffs witness this intent to harm. Once you are over 18 you have control of your own body, so if schizophrenia goes undiagnosed after the age of 18, they need to get charged with a crime, again, this crime must show intent to harm themselves or others. Even after they are charged with a crime, they are not required to take medications. If they are hospitalized, they will not stay in the hospital for very long, because insurance only covers short stays and medical staff is hesitant to keep them. In jail, they are able to get the medication they need. Is jail really the only solution? You could almost say schizophrenia is a problem swept under the rug... or kept behind bars (Miller Farah).

A life with schizophrenia does not affect only one; it affects everyone. NAMI's survey showed 27% of the survey takers said they would be embarrassed if their family member was a schizophrenic. I have a very personal connection to schizophrenia, my uncle has schizophrenia. He is the second oldest, with my five brothers and two sisters. He did not start showing any signs of schizophrenia until he was about 17 or 18. He was over 18 when the symptoms started to get serious, so my grandparents had no way of helping him get medication. He was sent to jail a few times, he got the medication, felt better so he stopped taking it, and got worse; it was a cycle, with no apparent solution. Eventually, after almost ten years, he realized he needed the medication. When he was officially diagnosed, a lot of people accused my grandparents, mainly my grandmother, of raising him wrong. My grandma was the President of the School Board and very involved with the community. My grandfather was the town's doctor. They had so many influences with the school, community, and every aspect of the town, but people still accused them of doing something wrong. My grandmother, in order to educate and bring the problem to the public, brought NAMI to her town and even became the president of NAMI in Wisconsin. My grandma is my encouragement to solving this problem, but my uncle, and everyone like him, is the inspiration.

If we educate people, we can relieve the stigma. The first week of October is Mental Illness Aware Week. During Mental Illness Awareness Week, schools could have speakers come in or students could do projects about mental illness. If schools had speakers come in and talk to the students, just think about the impact that would have. The affect, could be like dominos; it just takes one to start, but it takes all of them to finish it, like it will take all of us to relieve the stigma. Bringing the problem to the public is the first step to stopping the stigma. If people realize schizophrenia is not who a person is, but what illness they have, we can relieve the stigma. If people with mental illness would feel freer to discuss what it means to have mental illness, then more people would come to understand and appreciate the difficulties of the illnesses. More importantly, if more mentally ill people spoke about their illnesses, others may learn that they are not that different from themselves, and they may find new friends and new acquaintances, not just people with mental illness.

In conclusion, schizophrenia is not accepted by many people, is not easy to live with, affects everyone and is a problem that needs to be addressed. So many people are effected by schizophrenia; families, friends, communities, strangers, you and me. The least we can do is relieve the stigma and educate, educate, educate.


















Work Cited
Brichford, Connie. "The Stigma of Schizophrenia." EverydayHealth.com. Ed. Pat F. Bass. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Feb. 2013.
Miller, Farah. "'I Am Adam Lanza's Mother': A Mom's Perspective On The Mental Illness Conversation In America." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 16 Dec. 2012. Web. 07 Feb. 2013.
Pauley, Jane. BrainyQuote. Xplore, n.d. Web. 6 Feb. 2013.
"Schizophrenia Facts and Statistics." Schizophrenia.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Feb. 2013.
Schroeder, Sue. Personal interview. 6 Feb. 2013.
"What Causes Schizophrenia." National Institute of Mental Heath. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Feb. 2013.