Press Release
Issued on: Tuesday 22 June 1999
Issued by: National Schizophrenia Fellowship (Scotland) National Office
For immediate release
Living with Schizophrenia
People with direct experience of mental illness, their carers and professionals will be
meeting in Glasgow on Thursday to talk about Living with Schizophrenia.
In particular, the conference will focus on the stigma attached to schizophrenia - a stigma which leads to secrecy and isolation and serves only to compound the many difficulties experienced by individuals and their families. Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness which is estimated to affect over 20,000 Scots at any one time.
NSF (Scotland) and the National Psychosis Unit of the Maudsley Hospital, London, will be hosting the 'Living with Schizophrenia' Conference at the Kelvin Park Lorne Hotel, 923 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow on Thursday 24 June, from 9.00 a.m. - 4.30 p.m.
Graham Morgan, a service user with schizophrenia, says, 'The shame and hurt of mental
illness exists throughout our society. It is fixed within the culture of our playgrounds, in our
stories, in our jokes, in our myths and histories and in our psyches. The consequences of
such attitudes can lead to harassment, discrimination and abuse.'
And Susanna Williams, a carer, says that 'instead of the big 'C' - cancer, we now have the
big 'S' - schizophrenia. The causes of the stigma are the same - fear and ignorance. If the
law has created Acts of Parliament which aims to shape public opinion and actions in the
context of race and gender, why not mental illness?'
ENDS
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