SR is a new and promising concept. The development of stigma-resisting beliefs might help individuals in their hope of finding a fulfilling life and in their recovery from mental illness.

Background The Internet is an important source of health information for people with psychiatric conditions. Little is known about the way patients with schizophrenia use the Internet when it comes to issues related to their illness. Data on their specific needs, difficulties, and the consequences related to Internet use are lacking.Objective Our objective was to investigate the nature and subjective consequences of health-related Internet use among patients with schizophrenia.Methods In all, 26 individual semistructured interviews were conducted and analyzed qualitatively in groups of 4 until theoretical saturation was achieved.Results Study results suggest that the Internet is an influential source of illness-related information for patients with schizophrenia. Many aspects of their behavior around the Internet resemble those of individuals not afflicted by mental illness. Importantly, problems specific to patients with schizophrenia were stimulus overflow, an inability to deal with the abundance of information, difficulties with concentration, lack of energy, paranoid ideas, symptom provocation, and the need to distance themselves from illness-related topics as part of the recovery process. Internet information was subjectively perceived as having the potential to significantly change patients’ attitudes toward medication and their relationships with doctors.Conclusions These findings provide insight into how individuals with schizophrenia handle illness-related Internet information. The data could contribute to the continuous development of Internet-based interventions and offer novel approaches to optimizing traditional treatment options.

The participants' diverse and differentiated perspectives on coercive measures and their different styles of integration suggest that people may come to accept coercive measures as necessary when confronted with danger to self or others. However, the implementation of coercion needs to be improved substantially to counteract possible long-term adverse effects.

Following a recovery approach in mental health services by focusing on the improvement of the social network, stigma reduction and especially on the development of personal strength has the potential to reduce depression in patients with psychosis and improving their QOL.

Background Hope includes the dimensions of time, goals, control, relations and personal characteristics. Existing tools that measure it vary in length and psychometric properties and cover different parts of its overall concept.

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Aims. Insight, positive and negative symptoms, hope, depression and self-stigma are relevant variables in schizophrenia spectrum disorders. So far, research on their mutual influences has been patchy. This study simultaneously tests the associations between these variables. Methods. A total of 284 people with schizophrenia spectrum disorders were assessed using the Schedule for the Assessment of Insight, Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, Integrative Hope Scale, Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale and Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness scale. Path analysis was applied to test the hypothesized relationships between the variables. Results. Model support was excellent. Strong and mutual causal influences were confirmed between hope, depression and self-stigma. The model supported the assumption that insight diminishes hope and increases depression and self-stigma. While negative symptoms directly affected these three variables, reducing hope and increasing depression and self-stigma, positive symptoms did not. However, positive symptoms diminished self-stigma on a pathway via insight. Conclusions. This study provides a comprehensive synopsis of the relationships between six variables relevant for schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Research implications include the need to investigate determinants of consequences of insight, and the sequence of influences exerted by positive and negative symptoms. Clinical implications include the importance of interventions against self-stigma and of taking a contextualized approach to insight.

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