Schizophrenia is not split personality or multiple personality disorder. It is an illness that impairs a person s ability to think clearly and relate to others. Multiple personality disorder, now known as dissociative identity disorder, is a very rare illness. The vast majority of people with schizophrenia are not violent and don t pose a danger to others. In fact, people with mental illness, including those with schizophrenia, are more often victims of violence than perpetrators of it.
Schizophrenia is a real and serious illness that affects one out of every hundred people.
While there is no known cure, new and powerful medications are available to help individuals manage their illness. However, because of lack of treatment fed by stigma, the suicide rate among people with schizophrenia remains high. It regularly confuses schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder. The film also reinforces the exaggerated perception that people with mental illness are violent. Most troubling, the movie portrays schizophrenia, its symptoms and treatments as a joke.