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Schizophrenia
The 1st thing to remember is that it is not a split personality or multiple personality disorder. In the disorder patient is not able to differentiate what is real and what is not real. Its symptoms can be grouped as
1. Abnormalities of thought
2. Abnormalities of perception
3. Abnormalities of behavior
Problems of thoughts.
Patient develops firm believes that are sometimes understandable and sometimes not.
Let me elaborate this with example
Example 1
Patient starts believing that other persons are against him, they are trying to kill him, they follow him through hidden cameras, they poison his food, etc. but actually there are no such threats. As a result patient become fearful and usually refuses to take food, sometimes patient start keeping weapons as a self-defense against the assumed threat
Example 2
Patient starts believing that the some other person or party is controlling him. They can control his thoughts actions and feelings
Problems of perception
Let’s start with an example
I am sitting in a room. Two other persons are also there. They are talking and I am hearing them off course. OK! But what will you say if there is no other person in the room and still I am hearing their voices as clear as real ones. This means that patient can perceive the things but actually they are not.
Similarly patient can see the objects or persons in absence.
Sometimes you observe that patient is talking to himself (self-talking), but actually he may be talking to the voices that are only heard by him.
Behavioral problems
These problems also vary from patient to patient. Some can be abusive and violent, other isolate them totally. These also depend upon underlying believes. For example patient may refuse to take food with the belief that someone has poisoned the food.
All these symptoms results in marked decline in functioning, at work, at school or at home