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

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 i...