A question about Schizophrenia?

Are schizophrenics concious of their condition? Do they know they are sick?

Schizophrenia, to my knowoledge, develops, you are not born with it (even though you may be prone). Those that develop it, are they aware that they are sick?

I'm asking because most schizophrenics are not concious of their condition, but why not? If you were normal before, won't you notice a difference or a change? Or does the condition also effect judgement and memory?

One of the characteristics of schizophrenia is lack of insight, or awareness, of the condition. What they may hear/think/believe is utterly realistic and true to them. If you challenge their thoughts it'd like challenging me to accept that red is actually blue. It's just against everything they know.

No one really knows exactly why this occurs, what causes it, or when insight is first loss as schizophrenia does tend to occur over time, with a minority of cases being a sudden acute episode. I have seen some patients who were aware that something was wrong, they were confused why others did not think the way they did. These patients are often those with strong family/social ties so are more frequently challenged by family and made to really question what they are thinking. Still it is very hard to ask a person to alter their 'reality' to match yours. That's why treatment of schizophrenia is so difficult and relies mostly on medications. It's extremely difficult to get around their delusions, any logic you may offer will be thwarted by their logic.

I know one who is now about 40 and has been affected 25 years or a little more. He is fully aware of it. I have known him 10 years.

There are probably as many forms of it as there are sufferers, but the auditory illusions seem to be the most common thing. There is a suspicion that it is caused by excessive oxidising agents in the brain and the form of the illness depends on just exactly which parts of the brain are affected. However this is quite recent and may not be correct.

The man I know has no paranoia but is slightly phobic. When I first knew him he was very reluctant to get in a car or a bus, but is much less worried by it now. He said when it first hit him he was terrified and ran away from home. He was in an mental hospital for a while but has been out for many years and he has managed to keep in part time work for most of that time.

He is on medication, I do not know what but is probably on one of the "atypical" drugs.

Do the numerous boozed-up young ladies I see fighting, shouting and screaming in the city centre when the clubs kick out know that they are making a fool of themselves - or does the alcohol make whatever they are kicking-off about seem so real and important to them at the time?

Schizophrenia is probably best imagined as a really bad LSD trip that never ends.

Have a look at the entry for Delirium on wikipedia - you will see that there really is nothing that distinguishes it from psychosis. Neither group understands where reality lies (if you believe that they are two different things - I personally don't).

i did an essay on it before. yea its hard

You should watch the Russel Crowe film A Beautiful Mind. Some of them are aware, some of them are not. It depends on the type of schizophrenia, as many types do affect judgment. For example, a paranoid schizophrenic who thinks that someone (or everyone) is out to get them would never believe you if you told them they were schizophrenic...you can't be trusted. It takes a lot of therapy and medication to convince most of them.

I've also met a schizophrenic who said to me "You know, I'm a completely normal guy. I would be no different than you, except I hear voices inside my head that aren't real." It was actually kind of disturbing.