Schizophrenia is a psychological disorder. It is a serious mental illness affecting one in about a hundred. Schizophrenia usually develops in the late teens to early twenties, sometimes later on in life (Royal College of Psychologists). If developed early on in life it can be more devastating. It can be more damaging to the person's personality and their ability to lead a normal life when they are affected early on. A person who is suffering from this disorder has a hard time functioning properly. Working and interaction with others is very difficult. It is a frightening and lonely experience for the person suffering from this illness.
The term literally means "split mind," but the disease is not that of a split personality. There are many symptoms of schizophrenia. Symptoms, only some of which are present in any one individual, occur in thoughts, perceptions, feelings, movements, and interpersonal relationships. Persons suffering from this disorder may experience hallucinations. Hallucinations are the experience of hearing, smelling, feeling, or seeing something that is not really there to hear, smell, feel, or see (Royal College of Psychologists). The most common hallucinations are where the person hear voices. They believe these voices are real. The rest of the hallucinations are not as common, but do occur. Delusions are another symptom. These are false beliefs that are unusual. The person with these delusion is not able to explain them. There are persecutory delusions, where the person thinks everyone is out to get them. Delusions may also be fantastic where they believe they are very important, or famous people. There are also delusions where the person feels they are being controlled maybe by an alien or some kind of evil spirit. Both these hallucinations and delusions are positive symptoms. Positive symptoms are abnormal experiences. Positive symptoms involve the presence of .