Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder. The term psychosis implies that the dysfunction is global involving significant cognitive, behavioral, emotional and interpersonal disturbances, as well as significantly impaired reality testing.
Therefore, schizophrenia is a disorder of thinking where a person’s ability to recognize reality, his or her emotional responses, thinking processes, judgment and ability to communicate deteriorates so much that his or her functioning is seriously impaired. It exists in all countries and cultures and is more prevalent than people might think.
Schizophrenia is caused by a complex interaction between biological, neurological and environmental factors. Thus, both nature and nurture are involved in the disorder. The ‘nature’ side has been supported by hereditary studies.
The symptom most commonly reported in all major surveys is that of experiencing auditory hallucinations. These will occur in approximately 70-80% of patients at some time in the course of their illness.
Other symptoms include: disorders of thought, disorders of attention, disorder of perception, motor disorders and emotional disorders.
What is schizophrenia?
