Schizophrenia is a severe and debilitative mental illness that adversely affects a person’s thoughts, behavior, and interaction with their surroundings. In its advanced stages, people with this condition lose touch with reality. While the exact causes of this condition are not yet known, healthcare experts believe that a combination of altered brain chemistry, genetics, and one’s immediate environment are responsible for it. Here are some of the common signs of schizophrenia one should not ignore:

Withdrawal
People with schizophrenia prefer to stay isolated all the time. Typically, when someone enters a room with a person who has schizophrenia, it can provoke a negative reaction, such as anger, irritation, or fear. Essentially, this condition reduces a person’s capacity to relate to others. In one of its initial stages, known as the prodromal phase, people tend to have an abrupt preference to be left alone. This means that schizophrenic individuals will suddenly, in the middle of social interaction, feel the need to isolate themselves from a crowd. Schizophrenia brings about a feeling of vulnerability in people when they are around others. Many patients mention feeling like an outcast in the middle of a sea of people.

Hallucinations
This symptom is characterized by schizophrenic people hearing sounds, feeling things, or seeing sights that do not exist. It is not uncommon for a person with this condition to see dead people or historic figures standing in front of them or hear voices in their heads. Hallucinations result from schizophrenia affecting the brain to the degree that an individual’s five senses are distorted. Normally, auditory hallucinations, such as hearing someone miles away speaking in their ears is the most common occurrence in people with this condition.

Such visions or sounds are usually personal or deeply meaningful to those who see or hear them. For example, a person with schizophrenia may see and hear an angry parent yelling at them.