schizophrenic

person who has/with schizophrenia; never use "schizophrenic" as an adjective for a person. Identify someone as having schizophrenia only if it has been formally diagnosed and is relevant to your material. In addition, "Schizophrenia is not characterized by dual personality and to perpetuate this myth is a great disservice to those persons already suffering from a brain disorder" (Helen L. Klanderud, in Conscience). The National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression says, "Schizophrenia does not mean 'split personality...' Instead it is "an illness with a biological cause, like cancer or heart disease..." It is one of the most common mental illnesses—about 1% of the world population will develop it, according to the alliance. In the United States, more than 2 million people suffer from this disease in a given year. Schizophrenia causes more hospitalization than almost any other illness. Schizophrenia involves incoherent, hallucinatory, delusional thinking; never use it to denote a split, dual, binary, or otherwise divided personality, and avoid using it metaphorically in non health issues.See also disabilities, handicapped, mental illness.