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Understanding Schizophrenia Abnormal Psychology Schizophrenia is a serious brain illness that causes changes in how you think, feel, and behave. It is perhaps the most puzzling and disabling clinical syndrome. Schizophrenia most often corresponds to the popular conceptions to madness or lunacy (Nevid 2000). The illness strips the mind of intimate connections between thoughts and emotions and replaces it with distorted perceptions, false beliefs, and illogical ideas. Some people think that it is the disease of having a split personality, which is not true. There are many common symptoms of schizophrenia. Research has found that both positive and negative symptoms exist. Some common symptoms are delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thinking, problems in thinking, lack of motivation, moving slowly, and social isolation, lack of interest or initiative, change in affect (Csernansky 2002). The positive symptoms are delusions- false beliefs that are not logical and have no basis in reality, and hallucinations- hearing or seeing things that are not real. Other senses such as touch, taste, or smell may also be affected. Negative symptoms include disorganized thinking, abnormal behavior, and speech- jumping from one top