7 myths about schizophrenia you shouldn't believe in for a long time

1. Schizophrenia is a split personality

Jack Nicholson's exhausted and creepy hero in Kubrick's "The Shining", from which - just yesterday an intelligent writer and a responsible father - suddenly begins to climb a psychopathic killer. The superhero Hulk is now a shy smiling nerd, now a dumb green giant. You look at these "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and you think that everything is clear with schizophrenia. No, not everything.

Schizophrenia is not a split personality (for literalists: a mental breakdown that divides a person's personality into several is called dissociative personality disorder, this is a completely different disorder). It's about splitting consciousness.

The person feels himself, the only and indivisible. But at the same time, for example, despite his education, he believes that at night his brain is reprogrammed by aliens. Or that relatives who loving and caring for him have been pouring poison into his food every day for many years. In the mind of a schizophrenic, logical connections are broken, therefore, conflicting ideas easily coexist in his head.

2. Schizophrenics are violent and generally dangerous

For such a stereotype, I must also say thanks to mass culture.

In fact, schizophrenics are mostly indecisive and passive in nature. This is due to the violations of logical connections mentioned above. It is difficult for a sick person to build even a short plan of aggression.

No, schizophrenics (as, indeed, absolutely all people) are capable of unpredictable actions and outbursts of rage. However, these are short-term episodes that are most often associated not with a mental illness, but with concomitant disorders (for example, alcohol or drug abuse) or deep mental trauma.

3. Schizophrenia can develop due to severe stress

Not really. Schizophrenia is a mental illness that results from not one, but many overlapping causes of Schizophrenia:

genetic predisposition;
exposure to viruses;
individual characteristics of the brain and some disruptions in its development;
lack of nutrition before birth;
problems during childbirth;
psychosocial factors.

Maltreatment in childhood, like stress in adulthood, is not an independent trigger for mental illness. Only those who are predisposed to this can get sick.

4. Schizophrenia is inherited

Although genetics plays a role in the development of the disorder, scientists have not yet established which one. Indeed, schizophrenia is sometimes passed down from generation to generation. But this is not a hard and fast rule.

It happens that schizophrenia is diagnosed in a patient with no family history of mental illness. Or, on the contrary, the disease bypasses a seemingly doomed person who has numerous schizophrenic relatives.

Researchers believe Schizophrenia that there are genes and their combinations that, under certain conditions, can increase the risk of developing schizophrenia. However, there is no specific gene that is unambiguously associated with the disease.

5. People with schizophrenia are dumber than others

Sufferers of this disorder really have certain problems with logic, concentration, memory. So their classic IQ may (but not necessarily will) be low. However, the level of mental development is not limited only to the rational part. There are many types of intelligence, and in terms of the totality of talents, schizophrenics can give odds to many healthy ones.

Suffice it to recall, for example, the Nobel laureate, mathematician and economist John Forbes Nash - the creator of the legendary game theory. Or the outstanding dancer and choreographer Vaclav Nijinsky. Or the artist Vincent Van Gogh. Or Philip K. Dick, the science fiction writer, based on whose books the blockbusters Blade Runner and Total Recall were filmed. The diagnosis did not prevent them from achieving success and making an impressive contribution to the development of science and culture.

6. People with schizophrenia are lazy and untidy

Yes, among schizophrenics there are those who find it difficult to take care of themselves: to maintain hygiene or, for example, to choose a rational wardrobe. However, this does not mean that such people are lazy. They just sometimes need help with things that others find mundane.

7. Schizophrenia is untreated

Indeed, science has not yet come up with a cure for schizophrenia. But quite effective therapeutic and medical methods of correction have been developed.

According to 9 Schizophrenia Myths and Facts, an authoritative medical Internet resource WebMD, with competent and timely therapy, about 25% of those diagnosed with schizophrenia fully recover. Another 50% see significant improvement in symptoms, allowing them to live a normal, fulfilling and productive life.