Schizophrenia
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Schizophrenia is a horrible mental illness, and is probably the most distressing and disabling of the severe mental disorders. My ex-wife was diagnosed with schizophrenia and I know from first hand experience that the effects are often very shocking and confusing to families and friends of the person affected. The first signs of schizophrenia usually show in childhood or in young adults with males tending to show symptoms earlier than females. People with schizophrenia suffer from difficulties in their thought processes, which leads to hallucinations, delusions, disordered thinking, and unusual speech or behavior. Schizophrenia is characterised by both positive symptoms and negative symptoms. Positive symptoms are grouped under the term psychosis and generally include delusions, hallucinations, and thought disorder. Negative symptoms may include inappropriate or lack of emotion, poor speech, and lack of motivation. Other symptoms may also include reduction or impairment of memory, attention, problem solving, and social cognition. Many famous people have been affected with schizophrenia including Brian Wilson (songwriter and member of the Beach Boys) and Zelda Fitzgerald (painter and wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald) to name a few...