Schizophrenia Daily News Blog

Early Awareness

Psychosis awareness campaigns benefit first-time sufferers

This recent study confirms what common sense would tell you - that if you have public education programs on schizophrenia, people get treated sooner, with better results for the people who get schizophrenia.

In Canada they've even started showing advertisements on TV as a public service, to educate people about schizophrenia, and they have web sites focused on this issue (see www.psychosissucks.ca ).

These efforts are working! I hope we'll see more of it in other countries - and by educating the public about brain diseases you simultaneously reduce stigma and educate people about one of the reasons why homelessness is so common in the USA, despite its relative wealth.

The research paper (from Sweden) suggested: "The introduction of public awareness campaigns about psychotic illnesses, such as schizophrenia, may encourage people experiencing their first symptoms of such disorders to seek treatment sooner, results of a Scandinavian study suggest.

The research team, led by Dr Ingrid Melle from Ullevaal University Hospital, Oslo, Norway, says that the time between the onset of psychotic symptoms and the start of treatment can vary considerably in people experiencing these symptoms for the first time. They add that a delay of months or years can have a serious negative effect on social, occupational and personal functioning."