Mental Illness is a term used for a group of disorders causing severe disturbances in thinking, feeling and relating.
Mental illness can affect persons of any age, and they can occur in any family.
Mental illness is not the same as a learning disability. Those with a mental illness are usually of normal intelligence, although they may have difficulty performing at a normal level due to the illness. Schizophrenia affects approximately 1 person in 100. Symptoms include impairment of thinking, delusions and changes in behavior. Its onset is usually in the late teens or early twenties.