Schizophrenia – A psychiatric educational and awareness programme
From the desk of Shraddha
Dr. Bharat Vatwani, MD. (Psychiatry)
Dr. Smitha Vatwani, MD. (Psychiatry)

Schizophrenia is a major mental illness as well as a major health problem worldwide, afflicting approximately 1–2 per cent of every nation’s population, and requiring immediate and definite medical attention. It may be defined as a functional psychoses characterized by disturbances in thinking and profound disorganization of behavior. While describing a psychoses, most lay people would probably use the word “Mad” or “Insane”, for this is the way the bizarre behavior of a psychotic would be perceived.

The term “Schizophrenia” has been derived from the concept of splitting. The patient is split off from reality. Thinking and emotion no longer move in co–ordination with reality, but instead are fragmented, bizarre, irrational and devoid of meaning. Neither the spoken word nor the emotional response are adequate or appropriate to the situation. This then would be a broad global concept of schizophrenia.