Living with Schizophrenia

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Living with Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a complex and serious mental health condition which affects men and women from all walks of life and social backgrounds.

It is caused by physical and chemical changes within the brain. In the UK at the moment almost a quarter of a million people are being treated for this condition by the NHS. It is usually life changing and can often be life threatening. Although the condition is widely misunderstood, particularly by the popular media, modern treatments are highly effective and most people who suffer from the condition will make a substantial recovery although it may take some time. Founded in 2013, Living with Schizophrenia is a mental health project based in the South West of England which provides a platform for people living with schizophrenia in the broader sense including sufferers as well as carers and relatives. Our aim is to provide hard evidence-based information about this often cruel and enigmatic condition about which there is often so much mythology.

26/09/2026

Many of us who live in the metropolitan areas of our nation are acutely aware of the increase in rough sleeping in recent years. What has also become clear is that a large proportion of rough sleepers are suffering from mental illnesses like schizophrenia. Official numbers for this problem are difficult to come by but some homeless charities think that over half of their clients have some sort of mental health condition. In the US, where more research has been done, some studies have concluded that up to 10% of the rough sleeping population there are suffering from schizophrenia.

It should not surprise us that the mentally ill are ending up on the streets. In parallel with the increase in rough sleeping we have also seen the National Health Service progressively closing mental health inpatient beds for many years now.

Whilst the romantic notion of the rough sleeper as the idealistic “man-of-the-road” rejecting society’s comforts and mores for an independent free spirit lifestyle may appeal to some, the reality is that rough sleepers have appallingly high death rates exacerbated by inadequate living conditions and poor access to health care. Rough sleeping is inevitably accompanied by inadequate diets and poor living conditions. Drug and alcohol abuse, accidental death and hypothermia are common and living on the streets is far from conducive to managing long term physical conditions like diabetes or epilepsy.

With the high su***de rate and higher risk of physical illness like heart disease that people with schizophrenia already face the rough sleeping issue only adds to the enormous burden of suffering that people living with schizophrenia have to bear.

The problem of rough sleeping amongst people living with schizophrenia is critical. We must wake up to the enormous amount of suffering that rough sleeping imposes on people with schizophrenia for whom we must provide the highest quality of psychiatric care.

You can read more about the mental health condition that we call schizophrenia on our website at https://livingwithschizophreniauk.org/what-is-schizophrenia/ .

Contact us on email at: [email protected]

(Image: Photographee.eu on Shutterstock)

18/09/2026

Autumn sees the anniversary of the death in 1941 of the great Canadian poet Émile Nelligan who lived with schizophrenia.

Born in December 1879 in Montreal, Canada, Émile Nelligan was a Quebec poet and writer who was considered by some scholars to be the foremost French Canadian poet of his time. He was said to have had a precocious talent and was publishing work from a very early age.

At around the age of 20 the clouds of psychotic illness started to close over him. He began to behave oddly to strangers in the street. He experienced hallucinations and attempted self-harm. As so often happens with schizophrenia it was his family who realised that something was going wrong and as a result of their intervention he was admitted to the Saint-Jean-de-Dieu psychiatric hospital in Montreal. This was a relatively new hospital, one of two built at the time in Canada which introduced many new and pioneering methods of treatment. For instance, it was the hospital’s practice to hold daily case conferences with all the staff on the ward and the doctors actively sought out feedback from the patient’s family. But unfortunately it was to be another half century before the antipsychotic medicines that have become the mainstay of treatment for schizophrenia nowadays became available. Sadly, after his breakdown, Émile wrote very little new poetry.

Following his death Nelligan’s poetry became much more popular and his reputation increased. Several schools and buildings in Quebec have now been named after him.

Like so many famous people with schizophrenia, Émile Nelligan’s was a story of what might have been. Had he been born a decade later he may have had access to the new antipsychotic medicines that we have today. But it is clear that in him we have another fine example of a person living with schizophrenia who left an indelible impression on his society.

You can read more about the mental health condition that we call schizophrenia and the struggles of some of the famous people who have suffered with it on the Living with Schizophrenia website at: https://livingwithschizophreniauk.org/

(Image: Laprés & Lavergne, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Contact us on email at: [email protected]

31/08/2026

The Royal Academy of Arts in London is currently hosting a highly acclaimed exhibition of over 100 works by the famous Victorian artist Richard Dadd. Called Richard Dadd: Beyond Bedlam, this major exhibition will, we think, prove to be the most significant of his work for over half a century. Dadd suffered from paranoid schizophrenia for most of his life.

Born in Chatham, Kent Dadd was one of seven children. In his adolescence Dadd had a prodigious talent and became the rising star of the London art scene.

As is so often the case, schizophrenia arrived into Dadd’s life in his early twenties. Following a trip to Egypt he became increasingly mentally disturbed and stabbed and killed his father with whom he was very close.

Dadd was subsequently confined in the Bethlem Hospital in London and then later in the new state-of-the-art asylum at Broadmoor in Berkshire. In both of these institutions he was encouraged by his doctors to paint. A new and enlightened approach to mental ill health had inspired the Victorians who believed that, with rest and useful occupation, people with even serious mental illnesses could eventually recover. However, Dadd was to spend the remainder of his life in confinement and he died in Broadmoor in 1886 of tuberculosis for which, at the time, there was no cure.

Following his death, interest in his work waned but in recent years it has seen a resurgence. Like so many stories of schizophrenia from that era, Dadd’s life was a story of what might have been. Had he been alive when the new antipsychotic medicines became available then perhaps his story would have turned out very differently. And yet, even through that tragedy, he left us with a rich body of work and a life story that still has relevance to us in modern times.

Richard Dadd: Beyond Bedlam runs from 25th July 2026 to 25th October 2026 https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/ .

The full story of Richard Dadd’s struggle with schizophrenia can be found on the Living with Schizophrenia website at https://livingwithschizophreniauk.org/richard-dadd/

Contact us on email at: [email protected]

Image: Portrait of a Young Man, Richard Dadd, 1853, From Wikimedia Commons now in the public domain. In the Tate collection.

27/08/2026

August sees the anniversary of the birth of Ivor Gurney, one of England’s greatest war poets of the Great War and a renowned composer described by some as an “English Schubert”. Sadly, in his later years Gurney’s health was severely impacted by mental illness. Some scholars have suggested that Gurney suffered with schizophrenia whilst others have argued that bipolar disorder would be a closer diagnosis. However, from the contemporary descriptions of his symptoms it is clear that his troubles lay somewhere on the psychotic spectrum.

Gurney was born in Gloucester, England on 28th August 1890. He was educated at the Kings School, Gloucester. In 1906 he became an assistant organist at Gloucester Cathedral and in 1911 won an open scholarship to the prestigious Royal College of Music in London where he was to be taught by Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, one of the greatest English musicians of the day.

The First World War then intervened and Gurney joined the British Army. He saw action at Ypres, The Somme, Passchendaele and Arras. In April 1917 he was shot in the arm during the Battle of the Somme and then, in September of that year, was gassed at Passchendaele after which he was sent back to the UK for convalescence.

Following his return to the UK, Ivor Gurney’s mental health deteriorated. He described hearing voices and developed beliefs that his brain was being controlled by the police using radio waves. At this time he also made attempts to take his own life. Gurney ended up in the City of London Mental Hospital at Dartford in Kent (also known as Stone House Hospital).

During his confinement in hospital Gurney continued to compose but his output declined progressively. He was to spend the last 15 years of his life in Stone House. Whilst still confined in the Dartford hospital Gurney contracted tuberculosis (TB), a chronic infection of the lungs not uncommon at that time and which some have said may have been a long-delayed effect of his gassing at Passchendaele. This was the time before antibiotics when there were no effective treatments for TB available and consequently Gurney died on Boxing Day, 1937.

You can read more about Ivor Gurney’s struggle with mental ill health on the Living with Schizophrenia website at https://livingwithschizophreniauk.org/ivor-gurney/

(Image: Richard Hall, Ivor Gurney Estate/Gloucestershire Archives)

Contact us on email at: [email protected]

28/07/2026

Recent research published in both the mainstream press and the academic literature has strongly indicated that people with schizophrenia are at an increased risk of death from heat-related illness during heat waves and other periods of excessive hot weather. And, with another heat wave now being experienced in the UK people living with schizophrenia should be aware of this risk.

Why people with schizophrenia are at higher risk is complex: there are a number of factors. Schizophrenia can affect the part of the brain that regulates body temperature and some antipsychotic medicines can affect the way that the body regulates its temperature as well. In addition, schizophrenia often causes a condition called anosognosia which reduces the person’s awareness of their ill health. Conditions like diabetes and alcohol use, which often occur alongside schizophrenia, can also contribute to the risk from heat-related illness and social isolation and homelessness can make it more difficult for people with heat -related illness to get timely help.

Greater awareness of this risk is needed, particularly by community mental health teams and especially community psychiatric nurses who can check on patients with schizophrenia during periods like this of excessive hot weather and ensure that they have taken precautions. Carers and relatives can also play a part and should know how to cope with hot weather and what to do in case of heat-related illness. Sufferers of schizophrenia themselves should also be more aware of this risk and look at how they can take some simple precautions when the weather is too hot. There is good advice on the Gov.UK website at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/heatwave-plan-for-england/beat-the-heat-staying-safe-in-hot-weather
on how to cope with periods of extreme hot weather and the National Health Service (NHS) and Red Cross websites cover what to do in case of a heat-related illness. (https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/heat-exhaustion-heatstroke/ )
(https://www.redcross.org.uk/first-aid/learn-first-aid/heat-exhaustion)

Learn more about schizophrenia on our website at https://livingwithschizophreniauk.org/

Image: Guenter Albers on Shutterstock

Contact us on email at: [email protected]

22/07/2026

July sees the anniversary of the Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler who died 15 July 1939 aged 82 and who was the first psychiatric doctor to use the term schizophrenia.

Bleuler was born Zollikon in Switzerland in April 1857. After studying medicine in Zurich, Bleuler held a number of psychiatric posts in Switzerland eventually becoming Professor of Psychiatry at the Burghölzli, a university hospital attached to the University of Zurich during which time he conducted research into schizophrenia and is said by some scholars to have been one of the most influential Swiss psychiatrists of modern times.

Amongst his other achievements Bleuler will always be known as the doctor who gave schizophrenia (previously known as dementia praecox) its modern name. Eugen Bleuler also introduced the concept of positive and negative symptoms into the understanding and diagnosis of schizophrenia, a distinction that is still used routinely by doctors and sufferers today. Positive symptoms are those symptoms that represent something that was not present in the patient before the onset of the illness such as hallucinations or delusions and negative symptoms are those features of the condition that represent things that the patient used to have but have now lost for instance apathy or social withdrawal.

During his career Bleuler was closely involved with the diagnosis and treatment of the famous Russian ballet dancer, Vaslav Nijinsky who suffered from schizophrenia for a large part of his life. There is more on Nijinsky on our web page at https://livingwithschizophreniauk.org/nijinsky/ .

Eugen Bleuler was perhaps one of the most important of the 20th Century scientists who studied and sought to understand this enigmatic and complex condition that today we call schizophrenia. In a very real way he did the groundwork for the many able doctors who came after him.

Learn more about schizophrenia on our website at https://livingwithschizophreniauk.org/.

(Image: Clinique du Burghözli on Wikimedia Commons)

Contact us on email at: [email protected]

26/06/2026

Schizophrenia is a much misunderstood mental health condition so here are a few basic facts about this complex and enigmatic illness:

1. In the UK about 1 in 6 people will need treatment for mental ill health during their lifetime.
2. Schizophrenia is not a rare condition. At some time during their life about 1 in 100 people will suffer an episode of schizophrenia.
3. Schizophrenia occurs in all countries and societies of the world.
4. Schizophrenia affects men and women alike and sufferers come from all walks of life and social backgrounds.
5. Schizophrenia is a major illness. At any one time about 220,000 people are being treated for schizophrenia in the UK by the National Health Service.
6. Schizophrenia sufferers have a 5 to 10% chance of dying by their own hand within ten years of diagnosis; around two and half times higher than the general population.
7. Schizophrenia strikes most often in late teens and early twenties. Slightly later in women than in men. However late onset can occur as late as 70 years old.
8. Schizophrenia runs in families. If you have a parent or sibling with the illness you are more likely to suffer from it yourself.
9. There is now evidence that using street drugs especially cannabis will increase your chances of suffering an episode of schizophrenia.
10. About 25% of people who suffer an episode of schizophrenia will go on to recover completely without any further problems in the future.
11. Because of the higher risk of su***de and greater vulnerability to physical conditions like diabetes people with schizophrenia will die on average 10 – 20 years earlier than the general population.

You can read more about schizophrenia on the Living with Schizophrenia website at https://livingwithschizophreniauk.org/.

(Image: CLIPAREA l Custom media on Shutterstock)

18/06/2026

Schizophrenia has been around for a long time. References to people who were clearly insane appear in classical writings and the Bible. Descriptions of episodes of madness involving hearing voices, seeing visions and erratic and unruly behaviour start to appear in literature from about the 17th century.

In the medical profession schizophrenia was first described by Dr Emil Kraepelin pictured above in Estonia in the 19th century. He first used the term dementia praecox or premature dementia and he believed that the condition always had a steadily worsening course over time. We now know that that is not the case for most people.

Later the Swiss psychiatrist Dr Eugen Bleuler developed Kraepelin’s ideas on the diagnosis of the condition and first used the term schizophrenia. Significantly he believed that patients did indeed show a distinct improvement in time.

The enlightened leaders of the Victorian age built large institutional asylums into which people with schizophrenia were confined often for many years and sometimes for life. Although some of these asylums were later exposed as abusive, at the time they were built, they were seen as a compassionate alternative to confining “lunatics” (as they were then called) in prison or to life on the streets.

In the middle of the 20th century scientists developing new types of antihistamine drugs found that the new drugs were also effective in controlling the psychotic or positive symptoms of schizophrenia such as hallucinations and delusions. This was the first generation of the new antipsychotic medicines which were to make such a difference to sufferer’s lives.

With the development of the new antipsychotic drugs, which were effective at controlling the positive symptoms of the illness the concept of care in the community, which had already been born in the USA, evolved at a pace. The new practice would involve people being looked after in their own homes rather than in hospital, with hospital stays being reserved for people in crisis.

Today there are about 220,000 people being treated for schizophrenia in the UK by the National Health Service (NHS). Treatment with antipsychotic medicines remains the mainstay of treatment in the NHS. In the UK at least great progress was made in the treatment of schizophrenia during the 20th Century. However, there are still many gaps in our understanding and techniques. Consequently, schizophrenia still remains one of the most serious public health challenges facing humanity today.

You can read more about schizophrenia on the Living with Schizophrenia website at https://livingwithschizophreniauk.org/.

(Image: Wellcome Collection on Wikimedia Commons)

30/05/2026

Many people living with schizophrenia would like to get into work of some sort but find the process of job searching very challenging. After working out what sort of job you would like to do the next step is to ask if any of your existing abilities could be improved to make you better suited to getting the sort job that you would like. For instance, if you have poor literacy or numeracy skills then that would be a serious drawback and something that you will need to work hard on.

Similarly, if you want to move into a particular area of work, you may be able to find vocational training courses in your area available at a reduced rate or free for people on benefits. To find these courses you will need to ask at the Jobcentre or local library or search on the web.

In addition to vocational training there are two courses in particular in the UK that employers really value. These are, a First Aid at Work qualification and a Fire Warden course. Having these courses will greatly strengthen your CV.

If you can’t find a free course then you may be able to get help with your course fees from a charity. Most large industries such as construction, engineering, electronics, retail etc have benevolent charities which give grants to people who have worked in the industry and who now need help. Many will also provide support to close relatives of someone who has worked in the industry.

For men and women who have served in the armed forces, including the reserve forces, there are a number of ex-forces charities that can give help. The first point of contact is normally your local office of the Royal British Legion.

Try your local library or searching on the internet to find out if a charity exists that could help you. Most charities are very ready to help people who are disabled and trying get back into the workplace.

Looking for a job can be challenging enough and it is very beneficial to reinforce your qualifications and expertise so as to try to improve your chances of getting a job that you will enjoy doing. This is a very useful first step to getting on the job search ladder. You can read more about living and working this condition on the Living with Schizophrenia website at https://livingwithschizophreniauk.org/.

Contact us on email at: [email protected]

19/05/2026

After you have experienced a period of schizophrenia, particularly a prolonged one, it is often difficult to get into work. One of the biggest hurdles facing people in this position is knowing where to start. Often people who have suffered from schizophrenia have little or no experience of work and do not know what sort of work they can do. Answering the question, “what sort of work could I do?” is the starting point on your journey back into the mainstream.

You may not be able to develop a clear idea of what sort of job best suits you until you have spent a lot of time job-searching or even tried some work experience but it is a good idea to have some ideas before you begin your job-search and this involves taking a long hard look at your personal qualities.

There are a number of key questions that you will need to ask yourself when you start job searching in order to get a clearer idea of what sort of work you can do. These are:
1. What sort of things do you enjoy doing?
2. What sort of things are you good at?
3. How will your illness limit your ambitions?
4. What previous experience in work do you have?
5. What qualifications do you have?
6. External factors such as travel to work and family commitments?

By drawing these factors together you should now be able to draw some definite conclusions about the sorts of work that will suit you.

Try to be as realistic as possible. We would all like to have glamorous careers as celebrities and earn bucketfuls of cash but the reality for most people is a modest job doing something they are good at and enjoy and bringing home enough money to provide a comfortable existence for them and their family.

For many people with schizophrenia getting into work is a major challenge but if done well it will lead them into a new and highly promising period in their life. Job searching should be approached with great care and will require a lot of hard work and diligence if it is to be successful. But knowing where and how to start will bring great benefits.

You can read more about living and working this condition on the Living with Schizophrenia website at https://livingwithschizophreniauk.org/.

(Image: Basher Eyre on Wikimedia Commons).

Contact us on email at: [email protected]

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