Society's misconceptions of Schizophrenia
...izophrenics is inappropriate drug use. Sufferers of schizophrenia who are receiving treatment are just as likely as to be violent as the general population. The truth is most sufferers are withdrawn, passive, and usually in fear of others. Society just takes notice to the violent sufferers. In actuality many sufferers tend to be the victims of violence rather than the causer. People tend to fear the unknown; this is what many people come to fear mental illness. Improved health education programs could help lessen this stigma. Some people believe that schizophrenia is caused by trauma early on in life, typically by parents. A cold distant mother used to be referred to as gschizophrenigenich because she supposedly caused the symptoms of schizophrenia (1994). This is because in the 1950fs psychiatrists believed this to be true. Scientific research has proven this theory wrong, yet it still lingers and people blame having a mental illness on bad childhood. The actual cause of schizophrenia has not been discovered yet, but many factors are being discovered. It is believed sufferers do inherit the disease, but that does not necessarily mean you will develop it, you are just more susceptible (1994). Stress, illness, change in environment or body chemistry can all add to the actual development of the disease. If one biological parent has schizophrenia a child has an eight to eighteen percent chance of developing the disease (even if they are adopted); if both parents do the percentage rises to between fifteen and fifty percent (1994). If one or both adoptive parents suffer from schizophrenia a child has a one percent chance of developing the disease (the same as the rest of the general public) (1994). If an identical twin suffers from schizophrenia than the other has a fifty to sixty percent chances of also suffering (1994). This makes it obvious that schizophrenia is genetically inherited, but just because it is inherited does not mean it will develop. It is not like inheriting your hair color. Hormonal and physical changes (usually in adolescence) usually cause schizophrenia to appear (1994). Many of these stigmas against mental illness come from Hollywoodfs portrayal of the disease in movies. Movies from as far back as 1909, such as gThe Maniac Cookh show inaccurate portrayals of sufferers of mental illness. It shows a cook be is stressed and starts attacking her employers and than is arrested. She escapes plotting to kill her employers and instead takes a baby and roasts it in the oven. Movies like gPsychoh and gHalloweenh shows seriously mentally ill sufferers as a homicidal maniac (2002). A more recent move gThe Red Dragonh shows an obvious sufferer of schizophrenia torturing and killing women because he believes he is turning into the Red Dragon. He also hears voices of his dead grandmother who severely abused him as a child. The most accurate part of the movie would have to be the fact that he falls in love with a woman he meets. This is where we see that he has a real side and his illness has not entirely taken over his life. The Jim Carrey movie gMe, Myself, and...