What Is Schizophrenia

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Schizophrenia
What is Schizophrenia? While many of us are not aware of what exactly it is, one out of every hundred person in America has it. The reason why I chose to write a paper on this topic is because my cousin is suffering from this disorder. Although the word Schizophrenia comes from the Greek words ‘split’ and ‘mind,’ Schizophrenics do not have split personalities. This misunderstanding has caused many people to misuse the term schizophrenia. The "split mind" refers to the way that schizophrenics are split off from reality; schizophrenics cannot tell what is real and what is not real.
Schizophrenia affects men and women in equal numbers; although on average, men appear to develop schizophrenia earlier than women. Generally, men show the first signs of schizophrenia in their mid 20s and women show the first signs in their late 20s. Schizophrenia has a tremendous cost to society, estimated at $32.5 billion per year in the US. (Keefe 104) The behavior of people with schizophrenia is often very strange and shocking. This change in behavior, when people cannot tell the difference between what is real and what is not, is called "psychosis" or a "psychotic episode." The American Psychiatric Association has published guidelines that are used to classify people with mental disorders. There are a lot of symptoms associated with schizophrenia. Some of the symptoms are as follows:
1. Delusions, bizarre, false beliefs
These beliefs seem real to the person with schizophrenia, but they are not real. For example, a person may believe that aliens or spies are controlling his or her behavior, mind and thoughts. Sometimes these delusions can be paranoid in nature. People with paranoia have an unreal fear or suspicion that someone is "out to get them." Delusions may also be of grandiosity. In these cases, people believe that they are someone important like a president, king or prime minister.
2. Hallucinations:
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