People suffering from a mental illness are stigmatized due to them being labelled as mentally ill. Stigma describes the belief that mentally ill people are marked, with unlikable characteristics and deserve being left alone because of their illness.(Goffman 1963; Corrigan and Penn 1999). The labels attached to sufferers, not only prevent them from being treated equally in society, but may cause their health to deteriorate. Schizophrenia is a brain disorder that distorts reality and cause hallucinations. People suffering from severe illnesses like schizophrenia, are more likely to be stigmatized (Crisp et al., 2000; Dublin and Fink,1992; Farina,1998). Schizophrenics are regarded as being dangerous, their behaviours are not predictable, they lack responsibility and not mature enough (Brockington et al., 1993; Crisp et al., 2000, Levey and Howells,1995; Penn et al., 1999). However the stigma faced by people suffering from a mental disorder varies from the severity of their illness (Crisp et al., 2000). By referring to studies, Farina (1998) stated that mentally ill people with apparent symptoms and poor social skills, will be faced with more negative responses than those …show more content…
They also have difficulty finding homes Not only are employers reluctant to hiring the mentally ill, landlords also refuse to rent places to them as a way to protect other tenants (Aviram and Segal,1973). According to a research by Dr Marjorie L Baldwin (2004), people with mental illnesses experience more stigma, and have lower employability rate than people with other medical conditions. She discussed about a survey comprising of 117 businesses that were interviewed. Her findings showed that only 33 percent of these businesses were willing to hire people with mental