Schizophrenia in society and culture

Schizophrenia is a thought disorder that affects a person's thinking, emotions, and behavior.

Schizophrenia can cause such severe disability that many people with this disorder do not have jobs, they live in poverty, and/or they are homeless.

There are medicines that can help treat schizophrenia. These medicines are important for the pharmaceutical industry. Unfortunately, the cost of treating schizophrenia (including medical bills and other expenses) is very high.

Studies show that people with schizophrenia often have higher suicide rates and more health problems compared to people without the disorder. They also face challenges in society that make it harder for them to get better.

Famous people like John Forbes Nash and Vaslav Nijinsky had schizophrenia, and shared openly about the disorder.

## Society

Schizophrenia can lead to unemployment, poverty and homelessness. It is unknown how many people have schizophrenia; the number changes depending on what measures a person uses to diagnose schizophrenia. More research on mental health is needed to work out how to help people with schizophrenia.

### Disability

Schizophrenia is responsible for a large portion of global disability. 1% of worldwide disability-adjusted life years is due to schizophrenia. In a 1999 paper, people with schizophrenia ranked hallucinations (a big symptom of schizophrenia) as the third-most-disabling symptom of the disorder. The disorder can strongly affect people's ability to function and their quality of life.

### Financial aspects

Schizophrenia has a major effect on the United States economy. A 2005 paper guessed that in 2002, the disorder cost $62.7 billion in the United States alone. These costs include medical expenses, long-term care, and indirect costs like less productivity at work, unemployment, and costs from law enforcement. Also, antipsychotic medications, commonly prescribed for schizophrenia, are used for many other conditions, leading to a large number of prescriptions. In the European Union, around 16.5 million people got daily antipsychotic prescriptions in 2018, with large increases seen in England between 1998 and 2010.

#### Pharmaceutical market

The market size for schizophrenia drugs was valued as $9,000,000,000 in 2021.  Pharmaceutical firms offering drugs in this market include:

- Acadia Pharmaceuticals
- BioXcel Therapeutics
- Boehringer Ingelheim
- Eli Lilly
- Gedeon Richter
- Intra-Cellular Therapies
- Johnson & Johnson
- Karuna Therapeutics
- Lundbeck
- Luye Pharma
- MedinCell
- Minerva Neurosciences
- Neurocrine Biosciences
- Novartis
- Otsuka
- Reviva Pharmaceuticals
- Sunovion Pharmaceuticals
- Teva

#### External

In 2020, researchers studied 160 people who had committed homicide in England or Wales, and were admitted to hospital for schizophrenia between January 1997 and 31 December 2012. Of the 160 study participants, about 150 (94%) had a history of alcohol and/or illegal drug consumption, and/or did not have their prescribed medication.

In a study of the actus _reus_ of homicide in England and Wales during the years 1997–2003, diagnosed schizophrenics were more likely to use an object with a sharpened edge, like a knife. In most cases, schizophrenics who committed homicide killed family members or a spouse in their homes.

#### Internal

Individuals with schizophrenia have a higher risk of suicide compared to most people, and also have a higher prevalence (chance) of physical health issues.  In 2015, around 16,900 deaths were linked to schizophrenia-related causes. A study involving over 4 million individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia showed that suicide, injury-poisoning, and unknown non-natural cause were the most common reasons for death, followed by pneumonia. Also, one study identified antipsychotic medication as the primary cause of pneumonia.

### Social challenges

Many people with schizophrenia pull away from others and have difficulty with social interactions.  A 1999 paper showed this as a major challenge in schizophrenia recovery.

The word "schizophrenia" is used as a metaphor in newspapers worldwide.

### Symptoms amongst non-patient groups

Studies have found that even mental health nurses and people without schizophrenia experience auditory hallucinations. However, in people with schizophrenia, auditory hallucinations tend to be more constant, intrusive (forcing in), and disturbing.

### Tobacco

Studies around the world have shown a strong link between schizophrenia and smoking tobacco. Smokers with schizophrenia tend to smoke heavily and to smoke cigarettes with a high nicotine content.

### People with schizophrenia

In 1908, the sister of Dr Eugen Bleuler was taken to a Zurich hospital with a catatonic illness. Dr Bleuler soon became the director of the same hospital, where he diagnosed his sister with schizophrenia.

Vaslav Nijinsky (born 1889   died 1950)  was a dancer; his parents were also dancers.  Starting around 1913, he was known by the nicknames  "the God of dance"  and "God's clown".  During or sometime after March 1919, Dr Bleuler diagnosed Nijinsky as "a confused schizophrenic with mild manic excitement," which meant she didn't need to go to a hospital.

Camille Claudel was a sculptor. She was diagnosed retrospectively (looking at the past) in 1913.

Eduard Einstein, one of Dr. Albert Einstein's children, was diagnosed with schizophrenia by Dr Blueler in the 1930s and lived his life in a hospital.

John Forbes Nash was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1959. John was a mathematician from the United States. He was given the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1994 for "equilibria (balance) in the theory of non-cooperative games".

### Alternate realities: psychoanalytic and religious

Some researchers believe that in some special situations, experiencing psychosis is proof of genius.

A 2016 paper showed similarities between schizophrenia and mysticism.

### Presentation in biography and cinema

A book and then a movie, both called "A Beautiful Mind," were made about the life of John Forbes Nash.

The movie “The Soloist” tells the story of Nathaniel Ayers, an experienced musician who left the Juilliard School in New York City after he started having symptoms of schizophrenia. He later became homeless in Los Angeles, California, in the notorious (negatively well known) Skid Row part.