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Hello.
I have scizophrenia. I have had it for about twelve years now. It is a disease of the central nervous system. I have only recently come to terms that I have a mental illness, and from what I have learned about it, I feel that it is not as grim as I had believed. I am in the information gathering process, because you've got to know your illness!
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Despite my illness, I am able to be responsible, take care of my business, look after myself and in general, function as a member of society.
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One of the biggest problems about any mental illness is stigmatism;
"Stigma based on various misconceptions has a dramatic negative influence on all treatment and rehabilitation efforts. The media have a major role in contributing to the negative steriotypes around scizophrenia, including statements such as 'Scizophrenia is untreatable', 'Scizophrenics are dangerous and show unpredictable behaviour', 'Scizophrenics patients should not have children' and so forth.
Patients are felt to be unable to play an active role in the management of thier disorder, and in general are seen as people who cannot make reasonable decisions concerning thier lives.
Unfortunately, these misconceptions are often shared by health professionals and even by the patients themselves.
Stigma not only increases the likelyhood of non-complience (to treatment), but also has a major negative impact on the funds alloted to mental healthcare by governments." 1
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Indeed, in the United States alone, dealing with scizophrenia costs approximately sixty billion dollars each year. Not to mention how much it costs for all the other mental illnesses!
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1 Re-integration of the schizophrenic patient , ISBN 1-85873-267-0
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The simple fact is that people with mental illnesses are no more likely to commit a crime than any other citizen.
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I dont know of any organisations in other regions but here are the ones in my region;
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http://www.ranzcp.org
http://www.sfnat.org.nz
http://www.richmondnz.org
http://www.mifellowshipaustralia.org.au
http://www.sane.org
http://www.carersaustralia.com.au
http://www.mentalhelp.net
http://www.health.gov.au
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Associations for the Relatives and Friends of the Mentally Ill (ARAFMI)
http://www.arafmi.org.au
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World Fellowship for Scizophrenia and Allied Disorders;
http://www.scizophrenia.com
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