In 2003, a study of public attitudes in rural Turkey towards those living with schizophrenia revealed that half of the 208 adults in a village near Manisa believe that persons with schizophrenia are aggressive and should not be free in the community. Manisa is 30 km North-east of Izmir on the Aegean coast. An even greater number said they would be irritated knowing that a neighbour had schizophrenia (61.5%). A similar number (61.1%) said that they would not rent their home to a person with schizophrenia and 85.6% said they would not marry someone with schizophrenia.

At the same time this study was being conducted, Dr Alp Üçok, head of the Local Action Group in Istanbul, was conducting another survey on the attitudes of psychiatrists towards those diagnosed with schizophrenia. Questionnaires were distributed to 100 members of the Schizophrenia Section of the Psychiatric Association of Turkey. Sixty psychiatrists (40 men and 20 women) from five cities responded. Twenty-three of the respondents worked in a university hospital, 22 in a general state hospital and 15 in a psychiatric hospital. The mean age of the psychiatrists was 37 and the mean duration of practice in psychiatry was 9.8 years.

While the sample size may at first seem small, it represents 5% of all psychiatrists (including residents) in Turkey. World Health Organization (WHO) statistics currently place the number of psychiatrists in Turkey at 1 per 100,000.