Illness perspectives of Thais diagnosed with schizophrenia

Abstract

This study explored the perceptions of 18 people diagnosed with schizophrenia from 1-10 years to uncover how they perceived themselves and their illness. It also involved 12 family members who added their perceptions. The data were collected using in-depth interviews, reflective journaling, and observations. The data were analyzed through the lens of Heidegger's hermeneutic phenomenology. Four themes emerged: perceptions of mental illness, perceptions of the causes of illness, perceptions of discrimination, and attempting to live with schizophrenia. The findings included strong underlying cultural and spiritual beliefs, and attitudes unique to the Thai participants, including the causation of schizophrenia by supernatural powers, black magic, and bad karma stemming from past deeds. Understanding the perceptions of the participants might help health-care providers to be more sensitive to those living with schizophrenia in Thailand and elsewhere. In particular, the findings could be useful in informing psychiatric careproviders about developing better caring systems for clients diagnosed with schizophrenia. This should help the sufferers of schizophrenia to live their lives to their own satisfaction and as normally as possible.

“An Ongoing Struggle With the Self and Illness”: Α Meta-Synthesis of the Studies of the Lived Experience of Severe Mental Illness

“…The reasons for that lie not only in the pathophysiology of severe mental illness but in the stigma and labeling as well. In particular, the isolation following the symptoms of SMI may be further enlarged by the effects of stigma and labeling, which frequently lead to the loss of self-esteem (McCann & Clark, 2004;Moreira & Coelho, 2003;Sanseeha et al, 2009) and subsequently to withdrawal. However, interpersonal relationships and connectedness to others are necessary throughout a person's life, since the ability to develop and maintain interpersonal relationships is a key component of mental health (Liberman et al, 2002).…”

“…However, most of these studies do not shed light on the core of these experiences, and help us further understand the phenomenon of severe mental illness (SMI) and suffering in its essence (Andersen & Larsen, 2012;Borg & Davidson, 2008;De Maynard, 2007;Hirschfeld, Smith, Trower, & Griffin, 2005;Jönsson et al, 2008;Lee, Kleinman, & Kleinman, 2007;Liu et al, 2012;McCann & Clark, 2004;Moreira & Coelho, 2003;Nyström, Dahlberg, & Segesten, 2002;Nyström & Nyström, 2007;Pollack & Aponte, 2001;Sanseeha, Chontawan, Sethabouppha, Disayavanish, & Turale, 2009;Schön, 2009;Thompson et al, 2008;Wang, 2011;Ward, 2011). Overall, prior literature, theoretical explanations and historical perspectives present a variety of data regarding the lived experience of mental disorders, depending on the diverse study objectives, culture and backgrounds and structures of the health care systems (Andersen & Larsen, 2012;Borg & Davidson, 2008;De Maynard, 2007;Hirschfeld et al, 2005;Jönsson et al, 2008;Lee et al, 2007;Liu et al, 2012;McCann & Clark, 2004;Moreira & Coelho, 2003;Nyström & Nyström, 2007;Nyström et al, 2002;Pollack & Aponte, 2001;Sanseeha et al, 2009;Schön, 2009;Thompson et al, 2008;Wang, 2011;Ward, 2011). Moreover, it is through metasynthesis that we can achieve greater understanding of the core of these experiences and shed some light on the phenomenon of ...…”

Individual factors that influence experiences and perceptions of stigma and discrimination towards people with mental illness in Ghana

“…Younger and more educated participants across multiple studies concealed their diagnoses in an effort to decrease the expected experiences of stigma and discrimination (Sanseeha et al . ; Üçok et al . ).…”

What is psychosis? A meta-synthesis of inductive qualitative studies exploring the experience of psychosis

“…Many studies (although not all) find medication helps this process by increasing feelings of reality and enabling clear thinking (Rofail et al, 2009;Usher, 2001). Praying and meditation are reported as helpful by some participants (Sanseeha et al, 2009). As part of this process confusing, senseless experiences may be transformed into understandable, meaningful experiences.…”