Schizophrenia is a mental illness that has a continuous or paroxysmal course. It is accompanied by very characteristic personality changes (autism, disorders of the emotional and volitional sphere, inappropriate behavior, intellectual disorders and psychotic manifestations).
Some signs of schizophrenia
- Diversity. Various insignificant properties of everyday things acquire greater significance than the thing or situation itself. It also manifests itself in speech. The speech is detailed, vague and unclear.
- Disintegration. It is characterized by a gradual or sudden "jumping off" of the thinking process towards random associations. In thinking, concepts with direct and figurative meanings coexist in the same plane, which can cause confusion for an outside observer or for a schizophrenic interlocutor. Sudden transitions from one topic to another are also characteristic. The thought process is often interrupted. Comparison of the incomparable is also characteristic.
- Atrophy of emotional reactions or their paradoxicality, indifference to what is happening around, indifference, lack of interests, inactivity, lack of plans for the future.
- Ambivalence. In man, two opposite tendencies coexist, which refer to the same object, and these two tendencies coexist simultaneously. If the tendencies are equally strong, this manifests itself as the inability to make a decision or complete an action.
- The absurdity, pretentiousness and "eccentricity" of actions, lack of communication, paradox.
- Counteraction and resistance to any influence from outside without explanation.
- Non-purposefulness, impulsivity, chaos of actions and movements, pretentiousness of gestures, aggression, unmotivated exaltation, grimacing, paradoxical emotions and actions, lisping speech.
Schizophrenia myths
Many people find it much easier to accept existing stereotypes about reality than to try to figure out how things really are. The same goes for people's attitudes towards schizophrenia. Most believe that schizophrenics are psychos who chase everyone in a row with a large cleaver or ax at the ready. This is not true.
We have given a rather abbreviated description of the manifestations of schizophrenia, but it is also detailed enough to conclude that any of the public figures of politics or show business fits at least one point.
In addition, the listed qualities are in one way or another inherent in all people, and since this is inherent in all, we are talking about a variable, which in its extreme states is defined as a disease. The above qualities are not inherent in any way, except perhaps to complete idiots who are not capable of any kind of abstract thinking by nature.
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There is also such a thing as "schizophrenic character". There seem to be some signs of schizophrenia, but the person is generally normal. People with this character can often be found among modern creative get-togethers of all stripes and scales.
In fact, the "degree of schizophrenicity" is exactly the same parameter of a person as his height or weight, and just like a lack or excess of height or weight is considered a disease, an excess of "schizophrenicity" is considered a disease.
It is believed that schizophrenia is caused by nervous shocks. In fact, schizophrenia is genetically determined, and nervous shocks only lead to exacerbations. If there is nothing to aggravate, then as a person do not shake, he will not become schizophrenic.
Will, intelligence and schizophrenia
How complex abstract constructions a person can create determines his degree of intelligence. A person can be so carried away by such creativity that he will create a separate abstract reality in which he can live quite comfortably, not paying attention to the outside world, or paying minimal attention to it.
Some forms of schizophrenia can be viewed precisely as an increased ability to create complex abstractions. Moreover, this ability is so enhanced that it becomes stronger than human will. Thus, an overkill of intelligence is the same deviation from the norm as its lack.
Increased intellectual and creative abilities go skipping and by the hand with schizophrenia, because the more abilities of this nature a person is endowed with, the more relevant questions of self-discipline and a certain abstinent lifestyle become for him. It is already becoming just a matter of survival. On the other hand, if such people are addicted to various psychostimulants or banal alcohol, then everything ends very sadly.
It would be tedious to list here how many outstanding creative personalities committed suicide, mental insanity, or drug overdose. Anyone interested can find this information on their own.
As long as the will is stronger than schizophrenia, it is genius or giftedness, when schizophrenia becomes stronger than the will, it is a disease.
Schizophrenia and society
All geniuses were subject to schizophrenic conditions to one degree or another. All geniuses had a schizophrenic character. In this light, Western philosophy of the XIX-XX centuries. can be considered as a reader on not too pronounced pathologies of the schizophrenic plan. Genius is essentially nothing more than controlled schizophrenia.
By the way, that is why “nature rests on the children of geniuses”. If you cross two geniuses, you get not a super-genius, but a schizophrenic, because too much.
As for the society, it needs absolutely all people. A society consisting of geniuses simply could not find a common language and in the same way a society of "supernormal" people would turn into a musty swamp, in which nothing new would happen, no discoveries would be made and no masterpieces of art would be created.
Some especially radical thinkers are determined to destroy all suspected schizophrenia, but by doing so, we deprive society of a whole set of genes that are responsible for high intelligence and the ability to find new non-standard solutions.