Do people with schizophrenia have two personalities?

Have you ever watched a film called "Love and Mercy"? One of the famous films of the 80s tells the story of a schizophrenic patient. Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that makes it difficult for a person to distinguish between the real world and the imaginary world.

When an attack occurs, people with this condition will see and hear something that is not there. Changes in the behavior of people with this condition at the time of the attack lead some to think that schizophrenic patients have two personalities.

Is it true that people with schizophrenia have two personalities?

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that causes a person to be unable to distinguish between fantasy and reality. In addition, people with this condition also have difficulty thinking clearly, have poor memory, and have difficulty understanding things.

A 2008 survey conducted by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) showed as many as 64 percent of people who experience schizophrenia symptoms feel that they have two or more personalities. Although they believe this, the fact is that this understanding is completely untrue.

Schizophrenia actually leads to problems with sensory receptors (senses) in the brain, not affecting a person's personality. Everything you see, touch, hear and feel is processed in the brain by special cells called sensory receptors.

These receptors receive information from the senses such as sight, hearing, and touch. Then, the information is transmitted to your brain in the form of signals. Unfortunately, people with schizophrenia experience incorrect reception of signals in the brain. As a result, hallucinations will occur and trigger someone to act or do something. The behavior change that occurs does not indicate that the patient has multiple personalities, but rather the body's response to hallucinations.

Multiple personalities lead to other conditions, not schizophrenia

Schizophrenia involves a variety of problems with thinking, behavioral, and emotional abilities. Symptoms of schizophrenia can be mild as well as severe, depending on the severity of the condition and the treatment received by the patient. Some of the symptoms of schizophrenia that may occur include:

• Hallucinations (seeing and feeling something that is not there)
• Delusions (having beliefs that are not based on reality)
• Distracted in expressing themselves and showing emotions
• Not able to think well and clearly
• Impaired motor skills, such as strange posture or excessive movement

Among all the symptoms that appeared, there was no sign that the patient would experience a personality change. Multiple personalities actually lead to more dissociative disorders (dissociative identity disorder).

Dissociative disorder is characterized by two or more personalities that in turn dominate a person's behavior. Usually the most susceptible occurs in people who have severe past trauma. Although multiple personalities are not a symptom of schizophrenia, the problematic brain condition can get worse.

Without treatment, schizophrenia can lead to other mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), and even dissociative disorders.

Although there are still many people who label schizophrenic patients as "crazy people", this should not hinder the patient's treatment process. All symptoms of schizophrenia can be managed by taking medication and following therapy. In addition, support from family and people around the patient is also needed to support the patient's recovery.