[Schizophrenia--an illness and its treatment reflected in public attitude]

Abstract

Stigmatization with regard to mental illness and especially schizophrenia has been known from time immemorial. Meanwhile the negative attitudes have become metaphorical for unpredictability, violence, and bizarrely (grotesquely) contradictory behaviour. Persons concerned with these prejudices are excluded from the society and there is little willingness for contact. Particularly afflicted are also the relatives of schizophrenic persons. Media and motion pictures play an essential role in the maintenance of these negative attitudes. There will be suggestions (stimuli), especially by opinion leaders, to reach a change of the attitudes towards diseases and their methods of treatment.