SCHIZOPHRENIA: WHAT IS IT?

(Definition, Statistics, Takeaways, and Conclusion)

A term paper

By:

CELINE V. CAPILOS
11-HUMSS A

Submitted to:
MR. AL ANDRADE
（Personal Development）

Date submitted:
October 24, 2023

Academic Year: 2023-2024

 Schizophrenia is a persistent, severe mental health condition that
affects a person’s ability to think, act, expresses emotions, perceive reality,
and interact with others. Though not as common as other mental health
illnesses, Schizophrenia can be the most chronic and disabling.
Schizophrenia can cause hallucinations, delusions, and extremely
disordered thinking behavior that interferes with daily functioning.

Schizophrenia ranks as the 4th most common mental health illness, and
according to the World Health Organization, globally, there are 24 million
people with schizophrenia, or 1 out of 300 individuals in every country. This
amounts to 0.32% of the worldwide population. In the Philippines, in 2021,
the Department of Health estimated that a total of 1 million Filipinos suffers
from schizophrenia.

The key takeaways here are: Numerous people were affected by

schizophrenia worldwide, even in our country, the Philippines. The cases in
every country are increasing every year, and Indonesia has the highest
number of cases of schizophrenia. Based on my research, people with
schizophrenia also experience stigma, discrimination, and violations of
human rights by other people, and according to the study by Gerlinger,
approximately 64.5% of 5871 schizophrenic individuals experienced stigma.

I, therefore, conclude that mental health illnesses such as schizophrenia

should be given more attention, especially because people who are affected
by this are experiencing human rights violations. Schizophrenic people
should not be treated as if they're not humans but rather be treated
specially because what they're experiencing is not a joke. Each person's
mental well-being is important on a daily basis; however, it's also important
to have awareness about mental health issues. In order for our society to
change, we should stop the stereotypes, stigmas, and discrimination
against those who suffer from mental health illnesses by no choice. Be part
of their healing process—not the wound that they need to heal.