Using Twitter to compare attitudes towards schizophrenia and psychosis: Investigating the prevalence of stigma

Introduction: Schizophrenia remains one of the most stigmatised psychiatric diagnoses. It has been argued that the condition requires renaming. Psychosis is often used as an alternative term in UK clinical practice. We explored the prevalence of stigmatising attitudes towards schizophrenia and psychosis using Twitter.  

Methods: Quantitative content analysis was used to analyse Tweets (n=423) containing the terms ‘psychosis’, ‘psychotic’, ‘schizophrenia’ or ‘schizophrenic’. Tweets were categorised according to the presence and type of stigma.  

Results: Both schizophrenia and psychosis were frequently stigmatised on Twitter. However, Tweets using the terms psychosis/tic were significantly more likely to contain stigmatising attitudes (70.9%, n=151) than Tweets using the terms schizophrenia/c (42.4%, n=89; p<.001). Adjective terms were significantly more commonly stigmatised (76.6%, n=164) than nouns (36.4%, n=76; p<.001). The term ‘psychotic’ was frequently used pejoratively.  

Conclusion: Both ‘schizophrenia’ and ‘psychosis’ are associated with high levels of stigma on Twitter. If schizophrenia is to be renamed, psychosis may not be a suitable replacement.