According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), schizophrenia is a mental illness affecting an estimate of more than 2 million adult American men and women. Its onset begins in mid to late teen years.
In line with NAMI's role and advocacy to help the public understand and learn more about the illness, a constantly updated information guide has been released to provide the necessary practical knowledge and understanding about schizophrenia.
Included in this advocacy material are empirically-based facts that debunks the myths surrounding the mental condition.
MYTH: Schizophrenia is the same as "split" or "multiple personality."
FACT. The origins of the word schizophrenia have contributed to this confusion. In an effort to describe the mismatch he observed between the feelings and thoughts of people experiencing this medical condition, Eugen Bleuler, a Swiss psychiatrist at the turn of the twentieth century, proposed the terms schizo (split) and phrene (mind) to capture this juxtaposition. Many people have confused this term with so- called "split" or "multiple" personality (now called dissociative identity disorder), but there is no relation between the two conditions.
MYTH: Schizophrenia is caused by bad parenting or personal weakness.
FACT. Schizophrenia is a medical illness caused by a variety of factors including genetics, stress, substance use and trauma, among others.
MYTH: People living with schizophrenia are violent.
FACT. Almost all people living with schizophrenia are not dangerous when they are engaged in treatment, although the behavior of a person living with schizophrenia can be unsettling or unusual. Violence is a noteworthy risk for some people living with schizophrenia who are not in treatment and who also have co-occurring alcohol or drug use problems.
WHAT IS SCHIZOPHRENIA - NAMI
Schizophrenia is a mental illness that interferes with a person's ability to think clearly, manage emotions, make decisions and relate to others. Many people living with schizophrenia have hallucinations and delusions, meaning they hear or see things that aren't there and believe things that are not real or true. Organizing one's thinking, performing complex memory tasks and keeping several ideas in mind at one time may be difficult for people who live with the illness. About one-half of people living with schizophrenia do not have awareness that their symptoms are part of an illness process. This neurological component to schizophrenia often complicates care efforts.
