"Living in Hell": Experiences of Iranian Families Living with Patients with Schizophrenia

Abstract Background: In addition to bearing on the patients and public, schizophrenia has a tremendous impact on families and caregivers. Its negative consequence has been studied as a burden. In this study, by doing qualitative analysis, we examined the experiences of Iranian families within the Ardabil, Iran, living with patients with schizophrenia. Method: This research was a qualitative study, and data collection was done through an in-depth, unstructured interview. Twenty family members of patients with schizophrenia were interviewed, and data were analyzed by the conventional qualitative content analysis. Results: The major themes of the interviews were classified into 3-level codes. Six subthemes were found in the experiences of patients with schizophrenia families, namely stigma, sense of shame, isolation, need for support, and lack of awareness, and poor quality of life, which were combined and classified into one main category named "living in hell".Conclusions: The findings showed that schizophrenia has an impressive negative effect on the families' welfare; thus, it highlights the necessity to provide interventions to help them adapt to this disorder. The results also highlight that caring is more demanding for families of long-term disease patients.