What is Schizophrenia?

Schizophrenia is a clinical syndrome characterized by a collection of mental and behavioural phenomena. It affects roughly 1 in 100 people and is equally prevalent in men and women.

This website is designed to inform readers about the nature of schizophrenia and provide a source of information for anyone who may be interested.

The term “schizophrenia” is often associated with violence and disturbance. The media regularly portrays the disorder as threatening and dangerous, leading many patients to feel stigmatised by the label when it is applied to them. Once you've taken a look around you'll hopefully agree that understanding schizophrenia separate from it's reputation is the first step in helping patients and family deal with this complex state of mind.

Symptoms usually appear in the first half of adult life. Schizophrenia is most common between the ages of 15 and 35, but can occur at any point after puberty. It is very rare before adolescence, possibly reflecting the level of connectivity that the brain requires to generate the characteristics of such a complex and clinically fascinating disorder.

One of the most frequent misconceptions about schizophrenia is that it involves the creation of a new personality, or alter-ego. This is in truth Dissociative Identity Disorder (also known as Multiple Personality Disorder), which is a pyschiatric condition characterised by the display of multiple unique identities with identifiably distinct personalities and traits. Symptoms can closely resemble those seen in schizophrenia.

Everything will become much clearer once you've had a chance to explore the site! If you have any questions or concerns, please get in touch by sending an email to the address in the Contact box.