Schizophrenia

[seal!]

I know there are a lot of myths about this illness, but what is it? What are the symptoms? What does it do to you?

[amarillis]

Schizophrenia is a very difficult disease to quantify - this link takes you to a website with very comprehensive answers:

http://www.schizophrenia.com/family/sz.overview.htm#schiz1

 

[andy hughes]

Superb answer - reading this information will go towards dispelling the popular myth that this illness produces a 'split personality' which is one, but by no means the only symptom of this distressing condition. It also points out clearly the sheer nonsensical notion of 'care in the community' for the mentally ill - people who need specialist care, not being cast out into a 'community' that neither understands, nor cares, about what patients endure.

[Diablod666]

it is some sort of disease/condition that affects your brain, making it harder to think etc.

there are many myths about all schizophrenics being murderers etc. but i do not believe them. however, there was recently a schizophrenic boy that suffocated a young girl, and my mother was raped by her schizophrenic half brother when she was younger :( so i tend to be slightly prejudiced against them.

[gypsy]

schizophrenia is a psychotic condition which may be genetic..the sufferer has a disturbed body changing the way a person thinks ,feels hears smells also emotionally disoriented.an immature personality ,also paranoid..the disorder may run in familys emerging at puberty..also a critical event in life such as bereavement or even divorce can precipitate onset.causing withdrawal from the real world into a private personal world..according to dr carl pfeiffer an international psychiatrist their is a missing link with sufferers which he says is zinc but also people exposed to excessive levels of copper,,people born after the 1957 flu epedemic also show an 88 percent increase in this illness,also pregnant mothers increase the risk of having a schizophrenia child if they develop flu whilst pregnant..anyone that thinks they may have the illness need medical help...gypsy 

[incuriam]

Schizophrenia is a blanket label used mainly by shrinks, the police and the media. It's a way of neatly packaging someone who doesn't conform to society's expectations into something society can understand.

 

This is especially helpful when someone with schizophrenia commits a violent crime. Everyone can say, "Oh, that's why it happened," and then get back on with life. The fact that someone with schizophrenia is statistically less likely to commit a violent crime than someone without schizophrenia is suitably ignored.

[veritysims]

incuriam, i appreciate what your saying but you cannot dismiss schizophrenia as an invention, to do so o would undermine the symptoms and the anguish experienced by someone who has schizophrenia. im sure that most schizphrenics would tell you that the experiences they have are very real to them and to dismiss the condition as as an excuse for societies ills is inconsiderate to say the least..i am also interested to know where you obtained the statistic about schizophrenics being less likely to commit violent crime. i have read that schizophrenics are more likely to commit violent crime but only slightly more likely than general population.