Schizophrenia explained

Many illnesses affect the way we think and experience things. Influenza and other illnesses involving high fevers may cause delirium, but nobody would describe these fevers as mental illnesses. Such illnesses also have physical symptoms and can often be diagnosed from abnormal functioning of some part of the body.

Mental or psychiatric illnesses do not have specific physical symptoms and the abnormal state of mind and bizarre behaviour are usually prolonged. This makes it difficult for the doctor, who can only diagnose his patients from the unusual experiences and behaviour they describe.

Schizophrenia is the most common serious mental illness. A quarter of a million people in Britain have schizophrenia today, although many of these have the illness under control.

What are the symptoms?
People often misuse the word schizophrenia and there are many common misconceptions about the illness. However schizophrenia is not a 'split personality' or 'Jekyll and Hyde' condition, nor is it a label to be pinned on anyone who commits violent crimes. Schizophrenia has many different symptoms and these are divided into positive symptoms, which are abnormal experiences, and negative symptoms, which are more an absence of normal behaviour.

Positive symptoms can make people feel that they are not in control of their thoughts and actions and include hallucinations and delusions. Someone with these symptoms may hear voices that demand they take certain actions or feel that their body has been taken over, like a puppet or a robot under outside control. Modern medicines will usually control positive symptoms, however alarming they appear.

Negative symptoms come on much more slowly and don't respond to treatment so well. These affect interest, energy, emotional life and enthusiasm. Someone with these symptoms will withdraw, give up their friends and be unable to communicate effectively with others. Relatives often blame negative symptoms on laziness and lack of effort instead of recognising that they are due to an illness.