Living with schizophrenia: Perspectives of Turkish people with schizophrenia from two Patient Associations on how the illness affects their lives

Abstract

Background: Schizophrenia is a chronic mental illness affecting the social and occupational lives of the sufferers and posing a considerable burden on the patients and their families. Furthermore, negative societal reactions and the internalization of these attitudes exacerbate the difficulties encountered. This study examines the perspectives of Turkish people with schizophrenia on how they view the impact of the illness on their lives, the societal reactions and attitudes to schizophrenia and whether they agree with these reactions. Methods: Twenty-three adult participants, all members of two schizophrenia associations in Ankara, capital of Turkey, were recruited. Semistructured interviews were used to find out their perspectives on how the illness affected their lives, how the society reacts to them and their views on these reactions. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and thematic analysis was used to capture the general and the subthemes. Results: The findings suggest that causal attributions for the illness, the impact of illness on various life domains, challenges of living with the illness and finally stigmatization are general categories that capture the perspectives of the participants. Conclusion: People diagnosed with schizophrenia experience the impacts and burdens of their illness in various domains of their lives and negative societal reactions heighten these burdens. It seems important to consider the challenges faced by people with schizophrenia in living with their illness and the impacts of negative societal behaviors and attitudes in offering psychosocial interventions programs for supporting this group. Furthermore, combating negative societal attitudes also seems to be necessary.

Experiences of Persons Living Schizophrenia in Ghana

“…In support of the above ndings, Karanci et. al, (2019) concluded that medication changed the general wellbeing of persons living with the diagnosis of schizophrenia from bad to good and is generally good for persons with schizophrenia.…”

Coping with personal care and stigma: experiences of persons living with schizophrenia

“…Another reason people stigmatise these individuals may be due to the symptoms people with schizophrenia exhibit, especially in the relapse stage. Such manifestations scare people, especially those in the catchment area where study participants reside [ 41 ]. Hence, most people in the community may consider them highly violent and can even kill people who may get closer to them.…”

“…Hence, most people in the community may consider them highly violent and can even kill people who may get closer to them. Society may permanently stigmatise them [ 41 ]. Stigma affects the well-being of people with schizophrenia because it leads to isolation and rejection of these victims.…”

Coping with Personal Care and Stigma: Experiences of Persons Living with Schizophrenia

“…People's perception of schizophrenia and how they label people with the condition make it very challenging for individuals living with the need to cope with it, especially when they step out of their homes [37]. They, therefore, respond to these unfortunate situations by using defense mechanisms such as avoidance, denial and resorting to wishful thinking [38][39][40][41]. They sometimes have no other choice of facing stigma rather than resorting to these strategies in maintaining their well-being.…”