Schizophrenia
Another common cause for hallucinations is schizophrenia, a long-term psychiatric condition that forces people to experience reality distortions. Its symptoms usually present themselves as hallucinations or delusions. Misconceptions surrounding the mental state are relatively common. For example, some people believe that it creates a kind of split personality. However, split personality and schizophrenia, considered dissociative identity disorders, aren’t the same. In reality, they’re different.
Schizophrenia may occur in all ages and both genders. Usually, men tend to develop the symptoms associated with the condition in their early twenties. On the other hand, women show signs and indicators by their late twenties. Some early symptoms include isolation, changing social groups, lack of concentration and focus, agitation and irritability, anxiety, vague suspiciousness, and indifference. The more advanced symptoms are generally categorized into different groups: disorganized, positive, and negative symptoms.
Positive symptoms refer to added actions or thoughts to one’s experience. Negative symptoms are those where typical behaviors are absent from bouts of schizophrenia. While its exact cause is unknown, medical experts believe the risk factors of schizophrenia are environmental, biological, or genetic. Additionally, those with the condition might also show brain structure abnormalities, although further research is required.
