Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia Research

Schizophrenia is a long term mental illness that causes a range of different psychological symptoms including:

• Hallucinations - hearing or seeing things that do not exist
• Delusions - unusual beliefs not based on reality that often contradict the evidence
• Muddled thoughts based on hallucinations or delusions
• Changes in behaviour

Doctors call schizophrenia a psychotic illness, this means sometimes a person wont be able to distinguish the difference between their own thoughts and reality. Most experts believe schizophrenia happens because of certain genetics and environmental factors.

Brain Development

Studies of people with schizophrenia have shown there are subtle differences in the structure of their brains. These changes aren't seen in everyone with schizophrenia and can occur in people who don't have a mental illness, but they suggest schizophrenia may partly be a disorder of the brain. Stress and drug abuse can also be a factor.

Pregnancy and Birth Complications

Research has shown that people who develop schizophrenia are more likely to have experienced complications before and during their birth, such as a low birth weight, premature labour, or a lack of oxygen (asphyxia) during birth. It may be that these things have a subtle effect on brain development.

Does our Protagonist have Schizophrenia?
 Our idea of our protagonist fits schizophrenia much better than anti-social personality disorder, as he displays all of these symptoms, and almost all at once. He sees hallucinations such as talking trees and judgmental dog walkers, the delusion that he needs to escape from the mental hospital, muddled thoughts through flashbacks and hallucinations, and changes in behaviour when he sees the noose in the woods.