Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a particular type of psychosis (that is, a mental disorder caused by some inherent dysfunction of the brain). It is characterized by delusions, hallucinations (often in the form of voices), and thinking or speech disturbances. This mental disorder is a common affliction, occurring in about 1 percent of the population. The illness often initially affects people during late adolescence or early adulthood and is a chronic and disabling disorder. Schizophrenia has a strong genetic component and probably reflects some fundamental biochemical abnormality, possibly a dysfunction of the mesolimbic or mesocortical dopaminergic neuronal pathways.