Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a psychotic illness (a psychosis is a disease where there is loss of contact with reality) involving hallucinations, delusions and disordered thoughts, which commonly makes its first appearance in late adolescence. Hallucinations are abnormalities of perception, where the patient hears voices or sees things that are not there. Delusions are falsely held beliefs that are contrary to rational argument, such as thoughts of persecution. Thought disorder involves, for example, bizarre statements in response to questions, or the invention of words, called neologisms, or the mixing up of words (word salad). There may be strange postures, or stupor, or lack of emotional contact with the outside world.
Both genetic and environmental factors are involved in schizophrenia. There are a number of different subtypes which may reflect differences in causative factors. There are antipsychotic drugs available, which variably affect the chemical messengers dopamine and 5-hydroxy tryptamine (serotonin).
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