Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is the most common major psychiatric disorder, ocurring in three people per thousand in the UK. It happens differently for each person, but usually involves a dramatic disturbance in thoughts and feelings.

The features common to many cases of schizophrenia are:

• Delusions (abnormal beliefs not based on reality)

• Hallucinations (the sensation of an experience that isn't actually happening)

• Disordered thought based on the delusions and hallucinations

• Abnormal behaviour in response to the other three features.

Schizophrenia often starts suddenly and catastrophically (acute schizophrenia), and may go on to produce a chronic (ongoing) illness. Nearly 80% of those who have a first episode will recover, but 70% will have a second episode within five to seven years.

Two important points:

• Schizophrenia is frequently misunderstood as split personality or multiple personality. However, the split in schizophrenia refers to the discrepancy between thinking and feeling, not personality.

• People with schizophrenia are very rarely dangerous to other people. Most who have the illness are vulnerable and withdrawn and more likely to hurt themselves than others.