Sense of Self: Schizophrenia and I

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Sense of Self: Schizophrenia and I

In 1911, a Swiss psychiatrist named Eugen Bleuler coined the term "schizophrenia." It originated from the Greek words, schizo, which translates to "split" and phrenia, meaning "mind." When Bleuler conveyed the meaning of this term, it was not to label a person as a "split personality," but rather as a split between what is believed, what is perceived, and what is objectively real (1). Throughout history, the disorder has been confused and misunderstood by the general public. The idea of "split" has led people to equate schizophrenia with multiple personality disorder which is a psychiatric condition that is different and much less common. Bleuler did not want to label schizophrenia as the disorder where a person is split into two personalities; instead he wanted to explain that in schizophrenia, there is a splitting away of the personality from reality.

Schizophrenia is a disorder that affects about 1 in 100 people at different stages in their lives and is very difficult to diagnose. It has many symptoms that typically begin to appear around age 18-30 (2). Signs of Schizophrenia can be misread and sometimes overlooked due to the amount of other disorders that share many of the symptoms. Autism is one example. Symptoms can be classified into "negative" and "positive." Negative symptoms could be seen as those that are absent but should be present. Examples of negative symptoms include lack of motivation or apathy, blunted feelings, depression, and social withdrawal (1). Positive symptoms are those that should be present but are absent. Some examples of positive symptoms are hallucinations, delusions, thought disorder, and an altered sense of self (1). It is thought that hallucinations are the...

... middle of paper ...

...eflects their "character" and stands for the thing that makes a person "complete" and "separate," then does that mean that a person feels that who they are has changed when they have this disorder? This question leads to the way that this disorder alters one's "sense of self," by making the individual and those who are close to him or her question the one thing that makes each person unique, their self.

WWW Sources and Other Sources

1)Schizophrenia

http://www.mentalhealth.com/book/p40-sc01.html#Head_4

2)Schizophrenia

http://www.bixler.com/

3)Flexner, Stuart Berg. The Random House Dictionary: Concise Edition. New York: Random House, 1980.

4)Schizophrenia

http://www.mentalhealth.com/mag1/p5h-sc05.html

5) C-Sections Urged for Schizophrenia -prone Mothers

http://www.mentalhealth.com/mag1/p51-sc03.html

6)Schizophrenia

http://www.bixler.com/

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