From: Smigrodzki, Rafal (SmigrodzkiR@msx.upmc.edu)
Date: Tue Jan 15 2002 - 08:46:41 MST
From: E. Shaun Russell [mailto:e_shaun@extropy.org]
Dr. Smigrodzki wrote:
### As a neurologist rather than a psychiatrist I am not quite sure about
the persistence of schizophrenic delusions, but I have the impression they
might be more disorganized than the relatively simple ones in the movie. I
guess the director wanted to surprise the viewers with the sudden revelation
of the true nature of the events shown.
I'm no expert on the subject, but I can attest to the apparent reality of
schizophrenic delusions.
### I should have phrased my statement differently - schizophrenic
hallucinations (and the delusions which build up on their basis) are
frighteningly real to the patient, yet they usually lack persistence - the
exact subject of the hallucination tends to vary, they are "disorganized",
less likely to present as images of persons stable in time and behaving in a
reasonable manner.
------
What I have always found fascinating is how one's perspective of reality can
be so obviously skewered, yet the vast majority of the mind still works as
it should. They know left from right, know sunshine from clouds, can do
complex mathematical equations or create great works of art.
### Creation of works of art and advanced math is as far as I know rather
impaired - one of the main features of schizophrenia is cognitive
dysfunction, due at least in part to frontal lobe damage (I was once
peripherally involved with a gene-chip exploration of the cortical areas 9
and 44 in schizophrenics). The result is alogia, poverty of speech,
disorganized thinking, inability to multitask or to solve problems with
multiple competing subtasks, helplessness in daily life. Only a minority of
patients is able to function independently and hold a job (it's not a
coincidence that the initial name for schizophrenia was "dementia preacox").
Rafal
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