Online destigmatization of schizophrenia: A Romanian experience

Introduction Mental illness stigma existed long before psychiatry, although sometimes the institution of psychiatry has not helped enough in reducing either stereotyping or discriminatory practices. Stigma of mental illness involves problems with knowledge, attitudes, and behavior and has important negative consequences for patients and their families. As new technologies become more reliable and accessible, mental health specialists are developing new and innovative methods through which they may provide services. Internet has an important role in the delivery of information because of its ability to reach a large number of people in a cost-effective manner. Objectives In order to reduce stigma an online platform with relevant information about schizophrenia was developed. Simultaneously a social media campaign to increase awareness was launched. Methods A multidisciplinary team of psychiatrists, web-developers, IT specialists and designers developed the platform www.schizophrenia.ro . The platform is intended to be simple and with a great visual impact and it gathers general information about schizophrenia. The social media campaign used emotional messages like “Diagnosis is not the end of the road” or “I’m a person not a diagnosis” combined with high impact images. Results From 1st January to end of September 2015 the platform had about 22,500 users and about 70,500 page views. The social media campaign had a reach of approximately 9700 people in just 2 months. Conclusions The World Wide Web is increasingly recognized as a powerful tool for prevention and intervention programs and could also play an important role in destigmatization campaigns. Disclosure of interest The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.