All bodily racks and torments are nothing compared with certain states of the human mind. People often do the idlest acts of their lifetime in their heaviest and most anxious moments. Insanity is a legal term that refers to an inability to manage one’s affairs or foresee the consequences of one’s actions.

Persons who are declared insane are not legally responsible for their actions. If necessary, they can be involuntarily committed to a mental hospital. An example is Mark David Chapman, who was declared insane after he killed former member of a band, called the Beatles, John Lennon. Mark David Chapman claimed that devils forced him to kill John Lennon.

Ye are worse than brute beasts in your actions, and will you imitate them in their very dumbness? Legally, insanity is established by testimony from expert witnesses (psychologist and psychiatrists). An expert witness is a person recognized by a court of law as being qualified to give opinions on a specific topic. In practice, those who are involuntarily committed are usually judged to be a danger to themselves or to others (I supposed of the things one has seen and knows could qualify them as a threat), or they are severely mentally disabled.

Schizophrenic delusions can be bizarre. They often include the idea that the person’s thoughts and actions are being controlled, that thoughts are being broadcast (so that others can hear them), that thoughts have been “inserted” into the person’s mind, or that thought have been removed.

Does a schizophrenic person have two personalities?

Schizophrenia does not refer to having more than one personality. Recall from our earlier discussion that multiple identity is a non-psychotic, dissociative disorder. For instance, Ryan was so warm and friendly yesterday, but today he is as cold as ice. He is so schizophrenic sometimes that I do not know how to react. This statement shows how often the term schizophrenic is misused. As you know, even a person who displays two or more personalities (a dissociative disorder) is not “schizophrenic.” Neither, of course, is a person like Ryan, who behavior is merely inconsistent.

On a more technical level, schizophrenia is often confused with a personality disorder that resembles it somewhat. Recall that personality disorders are maladaptive personality patterns. One such pattern is the schizotypal personality, a non-psychotic disorder involving withdrawal, social isolation, and odd behavior, but no break with reality. Starting in adolescence, affected persons slowly become isolated, emotionally withdrawn, listless, and apathetic, and many are considered odd, shiftless, or eccentric. Their behavior, at times, may be markedly peculiar (collecting garbage, leaving used cigarette on someone’s property, talking to oneself, pretending to be someone else, and so forth).

Problems of this type do resemble some aspects of schizophrenia. However, the schizotypal personality, like other personality disorders, does not involve a psychotic break with reality. Many individuals with schizotypal personality simply live colorless and isolated lives on the fringes of society as vagrants, eccentrics, derelicts, or prostitutes.

Disorganized schizophrenia (sometimes called hebephrenic schizophrenia) comes close to matching the stereotyped images of madness seen in movies. In disorganized schizophrenia, personality disintegration is almost complete: Emotions, speech, and behavior are all highly disorganized. The result is silliness, laughter, and bizarre or obscene behavior, as shown by this intake interview of a patient:

Doctor: I am Dr. Harris. I would like to know something more about you.

Patient: You have a nasty mind. Lord! Lord! Cat’s in a cradle.

Doctor: Tell me, how do you feel?

Patient: London’s bell is long, long dock. Hee! Hee! (Giggles uncontrollably, also known as the Clown Haha Virus).

Doctor: Do you know where you are now?

Patient: Damn! Shit on you all who rip into my internals! My gaydar will take care of you all! (Shouting) I am the Queen, see my magic, I shall turn you into demons forever.

Doctor: Your family is concerned about you. Do you know who they are?

Patient (Stands, walks to and faces the wall): Who am I, who are we, who are you, who are they, (turns) I….I….I…I am the Great one! (Makes grotesque faces.)

Kenny was placed in the men’s ward where he proceeded to masturbate. Occasionally, he would scream or shout obscenities. At other times he giggled to himself. He was known to attack other patients. He began to complain that his anus was attached to a pipeline and Santa Barbara and that he was being infernally invaded by Communism.

Disorganized Schizophrenia typically develops in early adolescence or young adulthood. It is often preceded by serious personality disorganization in earlier years. Chances of improvement are limited, and social impairment is usually extreme.

Disorganized  Schizophrenia is denoted by incoherence, grossly disorganized behavior, bizarre thinking, and flat or grossly inappropriate emotions.

Catatonic type Schizophrenia is marked by stupor, rigidity, unresponsiveness, posturing, mutism, and sometimes, agitated, purposeless behavior.

Paranoid type Schizophrenia is marked by a preoccupation with delusions or frequent auditory hallucinations related to a single theme, especially grandeur or persecution.

Undifferentiated type Schizophrenia in which there are prominent psychotic symptoms, but none of the specific features of catatonic, disorganized, or paranoid types.

The causes of Schizophrenia: An increased risk of developing schizophrenia may begin at birth or even before. Women who are exposed to the influenza virus during the middle of pregnancy have children who are more likely to become schizophrenic. Malnutrition during pregnancy and complications at the time of birth can have a similar impact. Possibly, such events disturb brain development, leaving people more vulnerable to psychosis.

Early psychological trauma (a psychological injury or shock) may also ass to the risk of developing Schizophrenia. Often, the victims of schizophrenia were exposed to violence, sexual abuse, death, divorce, separation, or other stresses in childhood. Living in a troubled family is a related risk factor.

In a disturbed family environment, stressful relationships, communication patterns, and negative emotions prevail. For example, a 15 year study found that the chance of developing schizophrenia is related to deviant communication within families.

Deviant communication patterns cause anxiety, confusion, anger, conflict, and turmoil. Typically, disturbed families interact in ways that are laden with guilt, prying, criticism, negativity, and emotional attacks.

Although they are attractive, environmental explanations alone are not enough to account for schizophrenia. For examples, when the children of schizophrenic parents are raised away from their chaotic home environment, they are still more likely to become psychotic.

Does that mean that heredity is a factor in schizophrenia?

Evidence for heredity as a factor is in schizophrenia has grown stronger in recent years. It now appears that some individuals inherit a potential for developing schizophrenia. They are, in other words, more vulnerable to this disorder than others are. Researchers are even starting to identify specific genes related to schizophrenia. Apathy is a vice more hateful than all the errors of sensibility. An offense cannot be wiped out by an apology. If it could, we would substitute apologies for hangings.