schizophrenia

[skit-suh-free-nee-uh, -freen-yuh] /ˌskɪt səˈfri ni ə, -ˈfrin yə/

noun

Psychiatry.. Also called dementia praecox. a severe mental disorder characterized by some, but not necessarily all, of the following features: emotional blunting, intellectual deterioration, social isolation, disorganized speech and behavior, delusions, and hallucinations.

a state characterized by the coexistence of contradictory or incompatible elements.

Origin

1910-15; schizo- + -phrenia

Related forms

schizophrenic

[skit-suh-fren-ik] /ˌskɪt səˈfrɛn ɪk/ (Show IPA), adjective, noun

nonschizophrenic, adjective

unschizophrenic, adjective

Can be confused

neurotic, psychotic, schizophrenic, schizoid.

Examples from the web for schizophrenia

schizophrenia was thought to be due to poor mothering.
It's now being linked to the cause of autism, schizophrenia, and brain cancers.
Computer simulations of malfunctioning brains may be the key to understanding schizophrenia and other conditions.
Tells about his struggle with schizophrenia and his drug use.
The use of chlorpromazine as a treatment for schizophrenia soon followed.
Some of the work looks at illnesses such as cancer, schizophrenia and alcoholism.
Hoopla for new research on the genetics of schizophrenia is misplaced.
schizophrenia today is a chronic, frequently disabling mental disorder that affects about one per cent of the world's population.
One of the symptoms of schizophrenia is having sensory illusions such as hallucinations or hearing voices.
At their extremes, both autism and schizophrenia are debilitating disorders.

British Dictionary definitions for schizophrenia

schizophrenia

/ˌskɪtsəʊˈfriːnɪə/

noun

any of a group of psychotic disorders characterized by progressive deterioration of the personality, withdrawal from reality, hallucinations, delusions, social apathy, emotional instability, etc See catatonia, hebephrenia, paranoia

(informal) behaviour that appears to be motivated by contradictory or conflicting principles

Word Origin

C20: from schizo- + Greek phrēn mind + -ia

Word Origin and History for schizophrenia

1912, from Modern Latin, literally "a splitting of the mind," from German Schizophrenie, coined in 1910 by Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler (1857-1939), from Greek skhizein "to split" (see schizo-) + phren (genitive phrenos) "diaphragm, heart, mind," of unknown origin.

schizophrenia in Medicine

schizophrenia schiz·o·phre·ni·a (skĭt'sə-frē'nē-ə, -frěn'ē-ə)
n.
Any of a group of psychotic disorders usually characterized by withdrawal from reality, illogical patterns of thinking, delusions, and hallucinations, and accompanied in varying degrees by other emotional, behavioral, or intellectual disturbances. Schizophrenia is often associated with dopamine imbalances in the brain and defects of the frontal lobe and may have an underlying genetic cause.

schizophrenia in Science

schizophrenia

(skĭt'sə-frē'nē-ə, skĭt'sə-)
Any of a group of psychiatric disorders characterized by withdrawal from reality, illogical patterns of thinking, delusions, hallucinations, and psychotic behavior. Schizophrenia is associated with an imbalance of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain and may have an underlying genetic cause.

schizophrenia in Culture

schizophrenia [(skit-suh-free-nee-uh, skit-suh-fren-ee-uh)]

A form of psychosis marked by a strong tendency to dissociate oneself from reality. Schizophrenia is often characterized by hallucinations, delusions, and inappropriate reactions to situations. The word schizophrenia is often used informally as well as scientifically to indicate a split personality.