title: Parental perspectives on chronic schizophrenia.
abstract: Parents of chronic schizophrenics are an understudied population. Few researchers have asked them about their wants, needs, and difficulties. The little work that has been done indicates that their suffering is great, their coping skills better than had been previously assumed, and the stresses they are experiencing almost unendurable. This paper looks at what parents are coping with: a child with a terribly debilitating disease about which little is known, a culture which heaps stigma and shame upon them, very difficult and often unworkable mental health and legal systems, and to top it all off, a large number of clinical (non-researchers) professionals who are ignorant about schizophrenia and often unsympathetic towards the parents. This paper then looks at what little data we have from parents about their needs, and offers suggestions about how parents and professionals might best work together, towards the benefit of all concerned.
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008605:Mental Health Services; D010290:Parents; D012561:Schizophrenia, Childhood; D013315:Stress, Psychological