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Article: Fostering social support for women living with serious mental illness.
- Article from:
- Centres of Excellence for Women's Health Research Bulletin
- Article date:
- March 22, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Canadian Women's Health Network. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The people in a social support network can help someone find solutions to problems, validate an individual's identity, direct the individual to helpful information, and provide comfort when that is all that can be done. Because connections to others contribute to a sense of well-being and give meaning to life, social support has been identified as one of the determinants of health. For people living with schizophrenia, it is a painful irony that a vital support system is placed at risk by the very illness that needs the support of relationships.
Schizophrenia can cause disorganized thinking, hallucinations and delusions. It can cause depression, lack of ...