Experience and the meaning of stigma in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders and their families: A qualitative study.

Patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders and their families have the unpleasant and upsetting experiences of stigma. This problem imposes pressures and extreme difficulties on them, besides the difficulties related to the nature and the symptoms of the disorder. The findings reveals the need to develop strategies to help patients and their families effectively encounter stigma.