Paranoia Schizophrenia is a type of psychosis in which a person suffers from logically consistent delusions (fixed, false beliefs) of persecution or grandeur. In the late 1890s, Sigmund Freud postulated that paranoia is an intellectual disorder in which the primary symptom is extreme distrust of others; the paranoid person may believe that people are out to kill him or her (Fuller, 2001). In addition, in paranoid schizophrenia the patient may have hallucinations in which famous persons from history or mythology appear and communicate messages; this manifestation is related to the patient's delusion of grandeur. The American Psychiatric Association applies the term delusional disorder to paranoia to distinguish between paranoid symptoms of other mental disorders (schizophrenia, depression, organic mental disorder) and paranoid disorders whose primary manifestation is paranoid delusions without other symptoms such as hallucinations.
Schizophrenia, severe mental illness characterized by a variety of symptoms, including loss of contact with reality, bizarre behavior, disorganized thinking and speech, decreased emotional expressiveness, and social withdrawal. Usually only some of these symptoms occur in any one person. The term schizophrenia comes from Greek words meaning “split mind.” However, contrary to common belief, schizophrenia does not refer to a person with a split personality or multiple personality. To observers, schizophrenia may seem like madness or insanity.
Perhaps more than any other mental illness, schizophrenia has a debilitating effect on the lives of the people who suffer from it. A person with schizophrenia may have difficulty telling the difference between real and unreal experiences, logical and illogical thoughts, or appropriate and inappropriate behavior. Schizophrenia seriously impairs a person’s ability to work, go to school, enjoy relationships with others, or take care of oneself. In addition, people with schizophrenia frequently require hospitalization because they pose a danger to themselves (Ken, 2002). About 10 percent of people with..........
