Unintentional discrimination in the health system may be contributing to poor physical health and reduced lifespans for people with schizophrenia, a new mental health campaign has said.
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The Mental Illness Fellowship of Australia said the physical profile of people with schizophrenia was even worse than that of indigenous Australians.
Chief executive David Meldrum said people with severe mental illnesses lived on average 25 years less than the general population.
Mr Meldrum said most Australians knew there was a large life expectancy gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians but were unaware of the physical health problems commonly faced by people with schizophrenia.
''We intuitively understand immediately the closing the gap initiative as a worthwhile thing about trying to solve a problem,'' he said.
''But it's not something that people think about when they think of schizophrenia - people actually lose 25 years of their life on average.
Mr Meldrum said health professionals often focused on ensuring that clients with schizophrenia were on appropriate medication regimes but did not follow up their physical health problems.
The Mental Illness Fellowship is campaigning for more resources and support for people with schizophrenia and physical health plans to be developed for newly-diagnosed sufferers.
''People with schizophrenia are, by the time they get to their late 30s, early 40s, smoking well over 20 [cigarettes a day],'' Mr Meldrum said.
''They're drinking eight or 10 cans a day of full-strength sweet soft drink to get the metallic taste out of their mouth from medications.
''They're not exercising, they're on average 13 to 14 kilograms overweight.''
Mr Meldrum said the failure to raise physical health problems with mental health clients was an unintentional but serious form of discrimination.
Canberra resident Michael said the anti-psychotic medication he had been prescribed to control schizophrenia had given him weight problems and probably contributed to him developing type-2 diabetes.
''I got up to 130 kilograms in weight on anti-psychotics because they gave me massive doses,'' he said.
The 54-year-old, who lives in supported accommodation, said many people with schizophrenia had physical problems linked to alcohol use and smoking.
''Most of the other health problems come from smoking and drinking, which I don't do. When you have schizophrenia, the vast majority of schizophrenics smoke.''
