High schoolers' knowledge and attitudes about schizophrenia in Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness, usually strikes adolescents and young adults, and drastically reduces their quality of life. To identify and assess wrong ideas, conceptions and attitudes of Saudi adolescents about schizophrenia. The author conducted 300 female students in Saudi Arabia using especially designed questionnaire. Showed the majority of the sample knows about schizophrenia mainly through television and newspapers. They reported schizophrenia as a mental or neuropsychiatric disorder and 27% of them considered patient to have spilt personality. The majority of the students acknowledged that schizophrenia is a treatable disease mainly outside hospitals by psychotherapy. From adolescent point of view, the schizophrenic patient usually has unexpected behavior, and can commit crime and the best help for those patient was raising the awareness of the community about the disease, and give the patient a chance to work. Most of the students showed negative attitude towards schizophrenics. Adolescents had some understanding of schizophrenia as a problem of the brain with psychosocial causes. However, they lacked knowledge about the proper treatment. The students strongly endorse negative attitudes about schizophrenia based on misconception about the symptoms