300,000 Moroccans suffer schizophrenia

About 300,000 out of 30 million inhabitants of Morocco suffer from schizophrenia, according to a psychiatric survey published Monday in Rabat.

Schizophrenia, which is still an unknown disease, remains more mysterious in the collective imagination of Moroccans, "from which the taboo must be removed as it leads to social rejection."

"In Morocco, people point at schizophrenics and their parents," says the survey, adding that professionals treating this "universal" are stigmatised.

According to the study, schizophrenia, which is a "democratic" pathology, as it affects all social and occupational categories in society, can be cured if it is treated very early.

Hence, patients suffering schizophrenia should be accompanied, their communication improved, and consultation and family support reinforced.

"The Moroccan society is still united compared to societies, where the family is increasingly nuclear," the study notes, adding however that late diagnosis may be the cause of the failure of treatment.