Health Inequality and Social Exclusion in Schizophrenia

Cañas F; Health Inequality and Social Exclusion in Schizophrenia. Mind & Brain, the Journal of Psychiatry, August  2010; 1(2):  23- 28

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Fernando Cañas

Affiliation : Hospital “Dr. R. Lafora”, Madrid, Spain

ABSTRACT

Patients with schizophrenia are often victims of discrimination that may come from family, friends and colleagues, institutions, or anticipatory discrimination from the patient himself/herself. Majority of the patients with schizophrenia are unemployed even though many of them are eligible and capable of being employed. Even clinicians have the perception that most of the patients with severe mental illness are incapable of carrying out highly skilled jobs. Patients who succeed in obtaining a job may find it difficult to sustain the work due to indifferent attitudes from their colleagues or their own anticipatory discrimination. However, in addition to illness-related factors, vocational support at the local level may also impact the employment rates of patients with schizophrenia. Patients with schizophrenia may also have higher rates of morbidity and mortality due to higher rates of comorbid conditions and poor personal habits. Moreover, many patients with severe mental illness do not receive guideline-based management for their comorbid conditions. Hence, it is essential that educating the public, clinicians, and patients themselves is an important aspect of the management of schizophrenia in addition to the employment of novel therapeutic options that offer higher treatment adherence.

Keywords: Comorbidity, Discrimination, Employment, Inequality, Schizophrenia, Stigma, Social network
Correspondence: Fernando Cañas, Head of Department of Psychiatry,Hospital “Dr. R. Lafora”, Cra. de Colmenar ViejoKm, 13,8, 28049- Madrid, Spain. Tel: +34-91-586-7390; e-mail: Fcanas.hpma@salud.madrid.org