| Summary: | Mental disorders that fall along the schizophrenia spectrum are often misunderstood or misrepresented in popular culture. Film and literature sometimes portrays individuals with schizophrenia as dangerous, sadistic and out-of-control, and can even perpetuate the misconception that they suffer from 'multiple personality disorder.'In fact, a 2008 study by the National Alliance on Mental Illness found that 64% of the general public thought that 'split or multiple personalities [were] symptoms of schizophrenia, 'while only 24% 'consider[ed] themselves familiar with the illness.'(National Alliance on Mental Health. http://www2.nami.org/SchizophreniaSurvey/SchizeExecSummary.pdf)The truth is that schizophrenia presents with a range of symptoms. Studies have shown that while some people diagnosed with schizophrenia can be violent, most patients with schizophrenia are at no greater risk of violence than the general population. In fact, patients with schizophrenia are far more likely to be the victims of violence than they are to act out violently against others. Unlike what is portrayed in some movies, the symptoms of schizophrenia do not involve multiple personalities or features similar to dissociative identity disorder, in which the person experiences two or more distinct identities. As advocates for patients, it is the job of healthcare providers to correct these types of misconceptions. Therefore it is especially important for healthcare providers to be familiar with the characteristics and symptomatology of schizophrenia, and to separate the myth from the fact.
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