Schizophrenia- A long-term mental disorder of a type involving a breakdown in the relation between thought, emotion, and behavior, leading to faulty perception, inappropriate actions and feelings, withdrawal from reality and personal relationships into fantasy and delusion, and a sense of mental fragmentation
Schizophrenia is a chronic and severe mental disorder that affects how a person thinks, feels, and behaves. People with schizophrenia may seem like they have lost touch with reality. Although schizophrenia is not as common as other mental disorders, the symptoms can be very disabling.
People with schizophrenia can have trouble distinguishing reality from fantasy, expressing and managing normal emotions and making decisions. Thought processes may also be disorganized and the motivation to engage in life's activities may be blunted. Those with the condition may hear imaginary voices and believe others are reading their mind, controlling their thoughts, or plotting to harm them.
Most people with schizophrenia experience symptoms either continuously or intermittently throughout life and are often severely stigmatized by people who do not understand the disease. Contrary to popular perception, people with schizophrenia do not have multiple personalities and most pose no danger to others. However, the symptoms are terrifying for those afflicted and can make them unresponsive, agitated, or withdrawn. People with schizophrenia attempt suicide more often than people in the general population, and estimates are that up to ten percent of people with schizophrenia will complete a suicide in the first ten years of the illness. This is particularly the case with young men who have the illness.
Schizophrenia affects men and women equally. It occurs at similar rates in all ethnic groups around the world. Most of the time, people do not get schizophrenia after age 45. Schizophrenia rarely occurs in children. It can be difficult to diagnose schizophrenia in teens. This is because the first signs can include a change of friends, a drop in grades, sleep problems and irritability aka behaviors that are common among teens.
It is a complex, long-term mental illness, affecting about 1% of Americans. Although schizophrenia can occur at any age, the average age of onset tends to be in the late teens to the early 20s for men, and the late 20s to early 30s for women. It is uncommon for schizophrenia to be diagnosed in a person younger than 12 or older than 40. It is possible to live well with schizophrenia.
It is not a split personality. It is not a character flaw. It does not necessarily lead to violence. People with schizophrenia can lead a "normal" life.
Some people with schizophrenia are disheveled and disorganized. Others look so well put together that you wouldn't think there was anything wrong.
