The
Signs
- Disordered or jumbled thinking which makes it hard to concentrate
and to remember things.
- Hearing voices. One or several voices are heard definitely
and regularly. The voices are so real that the person may often
talk back to them.
- False beliefs that can't be shaken.
- Some people are convinced that they are living a completely
different life from the life they are actually living - they
may think they are very rich, very powerful, very intelligent,
or that they are somebody else. Some people believe that others
are trying to harm them.
- A person's emotions may change. They may show inappropriate
emotions - laughing at something sad, or appear not to have
any emotions at all.
- The loss of a sense of bodily boundaries.
- Inability to experience pleasure.
- Lack of motivation.
- High anxiety.
The Myths
- Schizophrenia is not split personality or multiple personality
disorder.
- Treatments now available for schizophrenia only control some
of the symptoms.
- Schizophrenia is a persistent, long term brain disorder.
- People have the impression that those with schizophrenia are
looked after by "government" as a matter of course. This is
a mistaken impression. Many people with schizophrenia find it
difficult to get treatment, and those who refuse treatment because
of the confusion in their minds more often never get treatment
at all.
- People with schizophrenia are not necessarily violent, but
left untreated a minority may become so. People with schizophrenia
are more likely to be reclusive and retiring.
- People with schizophrenia are more likely to do harm to themselves
than to others.
- Any anti-social behaviour shown by a person with schizophrenia
is usually not willful but rather a result of this brain disorder.
The Statistics
- In a city of 3 million, 30 thousand people will have experienced
schizophrenia.
- One in 4,000 NEW cases of schizophrenia occur each year anywhere
in the world.
- The incidence of schizophrenia is the same throughout the
world: 1 in 100.
- Your likelihood of getting schizophrenia is one in a hundred.
- It appears to strike men and women equally.
- The usual onset is between the ages of 15 and 30.
- In most developed countries people with schizophrenia occupy
eight percent of hospital beds.
- One in ten people with schizophrenia commits suicide.
- One in four people with schizophrenia attempts suicide
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