POVERTY AND THE COURSE OF SCHIZOPHRENIA - IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH AND POLICY

Interest in the relationship between social class and schizophrenia ha s diminished in recent years. However, these issues can usefully be re considered in light of increased recognition that schizophrenia has a protean course, that deinstitutionalization and community support of p ersons with schizophrenia are linked to welfare programs, and that con ceptualizations and measurements of social class and its impact on the daily life of persons with schizophrenia have been rudimentary. The a uthor examines the role that social class, especially poverty, plays i n the course and outcome of schizophrenia. He reviews literature on th e contributions of social structure and policy to the economic status of persons with schizophrenia, identifies variables associated with po verty that are found disproportionately among persons with schizophren ia, and examines the psychological significance of those variables. Th e overview is used to develop three approaches to research: examining the role of the chronic stress of poverty in the vulnerability model o f schizophrenia, using poverty as a point of departure for investigati on by considering persons with schizophrenia as primarily indigent rat her than primarily mentally ill, and delineating how poverty and eleme nts of schizophrenia influence each other.