Schizophrenia Characterization & Symptoms

Auditory hallucinations and attention problems do not allow the schizophrenic any peace of mind and they take away the ability to concentrate. When people report seeing something in the distance, that no one else sees, a joke is assumed, however, when someone claims to have heard something, sanity is questioned, because "man does not show concern about visual perceptual disturbances but does when auditory symptoms occur" (Siegel & West, 1975, p. 65). With auditory hallucinations, the schizophrenic constantly hears voices inside his head that talk to or about him. He is unable to shut them off unless he realizes that his experience with them is not based in reality. "When the schizophrenics are aware of this fact (that their experiences do not match reality) they are often able to 'ignore' the disruptive voices more or less suc

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im because they do not allow him to think quietly or to get any peace because they are always there talking, arguing, or discussing all of his actions. The auditory hallucinations can drive the schizophrenic to commit many different actions in order to shut them off or in order to run away from them. Some schizophrenics try to commit suicide for this reason, others seek therapy to try to at least learn how to control the voices if not actually stop them. Some are able to learn how to control the voices by learning how to ignore what they are saying. If the schizophrenic can learn that the voices are not real, he may be able to learn how to ignore them and then he will have a chance to lead a normal life. Auditory hallucinations are not the only problem that the schizophrenic faces, he must also face some attention problems. These attention problems are caused by the schizophrenic's distractibility factor. Schizophrenics are disturbed in their ability to concentrate as well as in their ability to organize their thoughts. This causes trouble in the schizophrenic's life because he cannot concentrate on anything, not even simple things such as telephone conversations, reading a book, or trying to listen to background convers
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