It's not just that, it's simply that most people are ignorant. They don't think for themselves and they don't bother to research things. TV portrays schizophrenics as violent? ---> Schizophrenics are violent. The media say muslims are an uncivilised mess of barbaric arabs whose sole purpose in life is to destroy the USA? ---> Muslims are dangerous. In action movies you see the hero running out of a building with a fireball chasing him and exploding as soon as he's 2 meters away from the entrance? Well, I'll bet money if you ask the average person about it, they'd tell you that why, of course you can run faster than a developing explosion

It sucks, but most people are prejudiced against not just schizophrenia but mental illness in general. And not just that. In a way I envy them. Their world and their lives must be so simple, devoid of the ruinous effort of thinking too hard

I'm sorry you were treated this way by your friends I know the feeling. What I do when a conversation like that starts, is I up and leave. Why bother.