Providing psychiatric treatment in general hospitals rather than in mental hospitals and keeping recovering patients in their own communities with the necessary supports, will also help to overcome the prejudice against psychiatrically disabled persons. Stigma has caused families to shy away from public involvement for fear of creating further hurt or embarrassment for their ill person and other family members. As a result of these years of silence about the illness, the general public sees no evidence of an unmet need. Read also the words of a victim about the stigma. Most people think that it means having a split personality.
Most people are wrong.
Most people with chronic schizophrenia are much too disordered to carry off double lives. Split personalities are rare and are a form of hysteria, not schizophrenia. Today many psychiatrists regret the existence of the term because it is misunderstood. But the split mind myth is not the worst to warp the perceptions of the public. That honour must be given to the myth of the violent madman.