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Causes and psychosocial consequences of schizophrenia: the opinions of Italian population

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 October 2011

Lorenza Magliano ,
Corrado De Rosa ,
Andrea Fiorillo ,
Claudio Malangone ,
Manuela Guarneri ,
Cecilia Marasco ,
Mario Maj  and
Gruppo Di Lavoro
Lorenza Magliano*
Affiliation:
Istituto di Psichiatria, Università di Napoli SUN, Napoli
Corrado De Rosa
Affiliation:
Istituto di Psichiatria, Università di Napoli SUN, Napoli
Andrea Fiorillo
Affiliation:
Istituto di Psichiatria, Università di Napoli SUN, Napoli
Claudio Malangone
Affiliation:
Istituto di Psichiatria, Università di Napoli SUN, Napoli
Manuela Guarneri
Affiliation:
Istituto di Psichiatria, Università di Napoli SUN, Napoli
Cecilia Marasco
Affiliation:
Istituto di Psichiatria, Università di Napoli SUN, Napoli
Mario Maj
Affiliation:
Istituto di Psichiatria, Università di Napoli SUN, Napoli
Gruppo Di Lavoro
Affiliation:
Gruppo di Lavoro: S. Marini (Fermo, AP), A. Merenda (Palermo), M. Arioli (Abbiategrasso, Ml), A. Aletti (Cremona), S.L. Benzi (Tortona, AL), M. Bertelli (Firenze), G. Boine (San Mauro Torinese, TO), M. Virgili (Bormio, SO), M. Poppi (Portomaggiore, FE), M. Dell'Anna (Ferentino, FR), C. Cangiano (Gragnano, NA), L. Ragonese (Castel del Piano, GR), S. Cesano (Torino), L. Zen (Angri, SA), B. Saccottelli (Barletta, BA), E. Mori (Livorno), A. Figura (La Spezia), R. Zaratti (Roma), E. Gulisano (Catania), L. Aucello (Fondi, LT), G. Farsaci (Pace del Mela, ME), N. Trudu (Oristano), R. Ciavarella (Foggia), Mezzaluna (Ascoli Piceno), A. Sambuco (Squinzano, LE), O. Salemi (Como), L. Mandelli (Milano), A. Trisolini (Vetralla, VT), M.Calvari (Lanusei, NU)
*
Address for correspondence: Dr. L. Maghano, Istituto di Psichiatria, Università di Napoli SUN, Largo Madonna delle Grazie, 80138 Napoli. Fax: +39-81-566.6523 E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Summary

Objective – Description of opinions on schizophrenia and its psychosocial consequences in a sample of general population. Methods – The study has been carried out in 29 GP units stratified by geographic area and population density of their catchment areas and randomly selected. Each respondent was asked to read a case-vignette describing a patient who met ICD-10 criteria for schizophrenia, and then to fill the Questionnaire on the Opinions about Mental Illness General Population's version (QO-GP). Results – Data on 714 respondents were collected. 21% of the sample identified a case of schizophrenia, 66% of depression/anxiety disorder, and 13% of “nervous breakdown”. Factors most frequently mentioned as causes of detected disorder were stress (72%), heredity (62%), family difficulties and psychological traumas (45%). More pessimistic opinions about psychosocial consequences of schizophrenia were found among respondents with lower educational level and older age. Respondents who referred the case-vignette to schizophrenia reported more pessimistic opinions about psychosocial consequences of detected disorder. Conclusions – The results of this study outline the need to plan educational campaigns on mental illnesses, which take into account the socio-cultural characteristics of the target populations.

Declaration of interest: none of the seven authors has had any interest or received any form of support, including that from drug companies and honoraria for lectures and consultancies, potentially in conflict with this scientific work, in the last 2 years.

Keywords

opinionsschizophreniageneral population
Type
Original Papers
Information
Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences , Volume 12 , Issue 3 , September 2003 , pp. 187 - 197
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2003

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