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Short-lived campaigns are not enough

The stigma of mental illness will be reduced only if region-specific awareness initiatives become a permanent fixture of health and social services, argues Norman Sartorius.

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Sartorius, N. Short-lived campaigns are not enough. Nature 468, 163–165 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/468163a

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  1. This article appears in the Nature issue on schizophrenia, and another article sited that the year 2005 Clinical Anti-psychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE) made it clear that the new therapies were barely different from the old. I think it is currently true that people with schizophrenia have great difficulty holding down full time time jobs for several consecutive years, but many hold part time intermittent jobs, and many cannot hold any kind job for several years. I wish the biggest barrier to progress was the negative attitude held by the public and decision-makers towards the people with schizophrenia as is true with depression. Schizophrenia is a much more difficult mental illness compared to depression. Perhaps the schizophrenia anti-stigma campaigns are short-lived because people find out how hard the disease is to treat, and how long lasting the disease can be.

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