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What is schizophrenia?
Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder or group of disorders thataffects the normal functioning of the brain and severely impairsthinking, emotion, and behavior. Doctors do not… know the specificcause of schizophrenia, but both environmental and genetic factorsdo play a role. The symptoms of schizophrenia are delusions(strongly held false beliefs), hallucinations (false perceptions),flat affect (not showing emotion), and disorganized speech,thinking, and behavior. About 1% of the population worldwide has schizophrenia, even thoughschizophrenia is one of the top ten causes of disability worldwide. Schizophrenia is not the same as multiple personality disorder or"split personality." The confusion arises in part due to themeaning of Bleuler's term schizophrenia (literally "split"or "shattered mind"). The "voices" that people with schizophreniahear may have distinct personalities, but schizophrenia does notinvolve a person changing among distinct multiple personalities. (MORE)