Excerted from a booklet produced by the BC Schizophrenia Society
FACTS:
- Schizophrenia is a disease that strikes young people in their prime.
- The disease distorts the senses, making it very difficult for the individual to tell what is real from what is not real
- Usual age of onset is between 16 and 25.
- Schizophrenia is a medical illness. Period.
- Treatment works!
- Early diagnosis and stabilization on modern treatment can greatly improve prognosis for the illness.
SCHIZOPHRENIA IS NOT RARE: NO ONE IS IMMUNE
- Schizophrenia is found all over the world -- in all races, in all cultures and in all social classes
It affects 1 in 100 people worldwide. That's approximately 40,000 of our B.C. neighbours -- or 290,000 fellow Canadians
MEN AND WOMEN ARE AFFECTED WITH EQUAL FREQUENCY
- For men, the age of onset for schizophrenia is often ages 16 to 20
- For women, the age of onset is sometimes later -- ages 20 to 30
WE ARE ALL AFFECTED
- More hospital beds in Canada (8%) are occupied by people with schizophrenia than by sufferers of any other medical condition
- The cost to Canadian society due to hospitalization, disability payments, welfare payments, and lost wages ranks in the billions of dollars annually
- Other costs -- such as loss of individual potential, personal anguish, and family hardships -- are impossible to measure.
