This week is Schizophrenia Awareness Week, which aims to dispel the “harmful” misconceptions surrounding the illness.

Aidan Conway, the general manager of local mental support service RichmondPRA, said the myths people with schizophrenia are violent, have split personalities or are less intelligent than others form a misleading stigma of fear.

“A person with schizophrenia is a real person, with real feelings,” Mr Conway said.

“They were a person before they developed schizophrenia and they are still simply a person after they develop schizophrenia – they didn’t do anything to bring this on themselves.”

Mr Conway said although different for each individual, an accurate description of schizophrenia was an illness that compromises someone’s ability to do regular “everyday things”, look after themselves, form relationships or plan ahead.

“This whole week is allaying people’s fears and bringing some clarity about the illness,” he said.

RichmondPRA provides a range of support services to people with schizophrenia that are customised to meet an individual’s needs.

“It could be a couple of hours a week or several times a day, and it can range from giving them options to tackle a particular problem that pops up that day, to helping them accomplish tasks many of us would consider straightforward,” Mr Conway said.

Mr Conway said support was key for those with schizophrenia, particularly from the community.

“Traditionally, all the focus has been on clinical support, and only now the community side of it is coming into the spotlight,” he said.

“All the data out there suggests a person who has a stable home environment, friends, relationships and a type of meaningful act, such as a job, have much fewer hospital admissions and a much better quality of life.”