Lived Experiences of Persons with Chronic Schizophrenia Living in the Community

BACKGROUND: Each individual with schizophrenia experiences life uniquely, despite the sameness in their diagnosis. Understanding their experiences is vital for their better community integration and social work practice. METHOD: We used the interpretative phenomenological approach. Persons with schizophrenia seeking outpatient services at a tertiary care institute in Bengaluru, India, were recruited through purposive sampling. In-depth interviews were conducted with six participants. RESULTS: Some of the meta-themes and subthemes identified were as follows: (a) perception about self (struggling with the sense of self, desire for normalcy, wanting to be in control of self and desire to live independently), (b) relationship with others (feeling supported by others and feeling rejected by others), (c) coping with consequences of illness (coping with disruptions in personal life and coping with disruptions in family life), and (d) experience of seeking treatment (reasons for seeking treatment, being on medication, and behavior of mental health professionals). The participants tried to find meaning in their lives by making sense of their illness. Family and community can have a significant impact on how persons with schizophrenia perceive their lives. CONCLUSION: Mental health professionals need to encourage persons’ and their families’ greater participation in treatment planning and clinical interventions, which will enhance persons integration within the community and will help decrease the feeling of isolation commonly experienced when one lives with chronic mental illnesses.