Myths and Misconceptions about Schizophrenia & Psychoses…

1. Schizophrenia is split personality or Multiple Personality Disorder.

FACT: Schizophrenia and split personality are NOT the same thing. The word schizophrenia comes from two Greek roots meaning “split mind.” The splitting or fragmentation referred to is the breakdown of an individual’s thinking and feeling processes, not a division of the person into two separate personalities.

2. People with schizophrenia are likely to be violent.

FACT: People with mental illness in general are no more dangerous than healthy individuals from the same population. In fact,  40 to 50 percent of people with schizophrenia attempt suicide; ten percent succeed.

3. Schizophrenia could not happen to me or anyone I love.

FACT : About 1 of every 100 people develops schizophrenia; prevalence is 1 percent.

4. Educated people will understand they are ill and should not be bothered by hallucinations or delusions.

FACT : The hallucinations and delusions in people with schizophrenia  regardless of their intelligence or rational evidence to the contrary, the person believes this idea, or this perceptual experience, to be true. The illness can affect anybody.