Reviewed by Tara Rastelli

Thanks to the film, A Beautiful Mind, schizophrenia was brought into the full view of the general public.  While Russell Crowe did an outstanding job as John Nash, for which he was a Golden Globe, many false impressions were given off during the course of the movie about schizophrenia.  For this reason, and for many others, the disease is a highly misunderstood one with a lot of prejudices and stigmas attached to it.

Schizophrenia is not split personality disorder.  It is not caused by bad parenting or personal character flaws.  It is not an isolated condition, afflicting about 1 out of every 100 people in the United States each year.  Lastly, people affected with the disorder are not automatically violent criminals.

It is one of the most debilitating mental illnesses there is, affecting not only the schizophrenics, but also their friends and family.  This is due to the stigmas attached to it, as well as the severity of the disorder.  It occurs with equal frequency in men and women, and factors such as race and socioeconomic status seem to make no difference whatsoever.

While it is not curable, schizophrenia can be treated.  It varies in severity from person to person, and the symptoms for each schizophrenic are not the same.  Depending on the severity of the disorder, a combination of medications as well as supportive therapy is often the best and most effective course of treatment.  Learn the truth about schizophrenia, what it is and what it does to those affected by it. There are remarkable stories about schizophrenics achieving great accomplishments, such as John Nash. But the more remarkable stories are the ones about people who can handle this illness with the strength it takes to treat it, and their families who support them along the way.