In the general population about one percent of the people in the world develop schizophrenia. In families with a person who has schizophrenia if one parent has schizophrenia, about twelve percent of his/her children develop schizophrenia. If both parents have schizophrenia, about forty percent of their children develop schizophrenia. Also if a person has schizophrenia, about eight percent of his/her brothers and sisters develop schizophrenia.
Experts yet do not know the exact cause of schizophrenia, but they do know that the brains of people diagnosed with schizophrenia are different than the brains of people without schizophrenia. For instance, researchers know that when performing a simple task, such as reading a list of words, the brains of people with schizophrenia are less active in some areas than brains of people without schizophrenia. People with schizophrenia develop these symptoms early, even before life, but might not show up until later in life.
Dealing with schizophrenia in daily life is complicated. There has to be a living situation that can accommodate the needs of the schizophrenic. Most of the time the schizophrenic is housed with another schizophrenic or with their immediate family. The schizophrenic might want to get a job to get the feeling of being freer.
Positive symptoms, which are the most recognizable symptoms of schizophrenia, are mental experiences that most people don't have. Not everyone with schizophrenia has exactly the same symptoms but most people have a combination of both positive and negative one.
Hallucinations occur when a person senses things that aren't really there' however, they seem very real to the person experiencing them. The most commonly experienced hallucination is hearing voices. Often a person hears more than one voice at a time. Many times, the voices tell him/her what to do or comment on what she/he is doing. People also have hallucinations where they see, feel, smell or taste something that is not there.