Over the past year, I've done a fair amount of reading and research over Paranoid Schizophrenia. Various people I worked around in the past....showed signs of the problem. Some in minor ways.....some to the more extreme ways. So I've come to the typical ten ways that you can see or ID an individual with the issue:
1. Sleeping to extremes or lacking sleep in extremes. This is typically the person who can sleep 12 hours straight, or you find they are surviving off four hours of sleep nightly for months. At some point, they demonstrate their inability to concentrate or focus to accomplish any type of in depth problem.
2. There is a continued focus on suspicions. An example is that they think they are being watched at work, or while driving around. They suggest that such-and-such cop is following them. They think that their wife or girlfriend is spying upon them. They talk about suspicions on an hour-by-hour basis.
3. Disorganized. We aren't talking about a single desk with things littered around it. In this case....it could be a person who has a personal records method of a shoebox for each single year. Or it could be the person who shops in a disorganized method, where 30 minutes of shopping takes 90 minutes (routinely). This could be a guy with twenty shovels in their garage, but they are all spread out and spaced in the four corners of the garage.
4. Hallucinations. Typically, the person will realize that some inner voice is the one talking but they seem to want to listen to the imaginary voice and be told something. The voice might be often critical and telling the person they shouldn't have done this, or they need to improve themselves.
5. Dresstyle and hygiene slack off. Sometimes (in the more rare situations)....the guy just starts to avoid showers or brushing his teeth. They might go to some routine....like only showing/brushing on Tuesdays and Saturdays. They might go to one single style of clothing (flip flops, t-shirt and shorts 365 days a year). They might choose to only wear black for a color option.
6. Neologisms become a daily chore. A Neologism is where you invent a term that explains something but it's only needed or used by you alone. Sometimes, the term gets out into the public and then reused to a great extent by others. The term 'butterfingers' was created in such a way....to mean an individual who often clumsy, and it got out into the public.....to later be accepted. A Schizophrenia person will have dozens of these phrases to use and throw at people.
7. Lack of motivation. We aren't talking about the normal typical lack of motivation....this is more like the guy who has stated 100 goals for the year, and 365 days later.....not a single one has been accomplished. This is the guy who has a job and function at work, but just seems to sit there in a daze and not interested in the work. This could be the guy who has forty head of cattle but never feeds them or checks the herd. It could be the guy with two acres of yard around their house, with a $8,000 lawn-mower.....yet only mows the lot maybe three times a year.
8. Impulse orientated. This is where the guy is at the checkout line and notes screw-driver kits on sale for $3, and every single month.....buys another kit. It might be the person who has seen a travel documentary last night on Aruba, and out of the 'blue'.....they've gone to the travel agent today to book tickets to Aruba. A lot of people show impulse purchases....but this is typically a person who is a die-hard enthusiast, and impulses occur every single day.
9. Delusions. This is where the individual has imagined that they sit and have coffee each morning with 'Daniel', and often refer about Daniel to their wife or co-worker....maybe for years. Then you come to realize one day.....Daniel never existed, but the guy imagined these meetings (so he's not lying). You can hook a lie detector up to the guy, and he'll pass each and every time. The guy might actually write about a four-year degree they got via such-and-such university, but the reality is that they attended a community college for one single year. It might go to the extreme of them being convinced that the angel Gabriel came and visited them in the backyard....giving them advice and suggesting that they pursue passions in life. None of this is a lie....it's just a piece of their imagination. The angel Gabriel might even suggest they start a religion and write a Bible-like document to establish the 'truth'.
10. Persecution. This person will cite others are against him, or working to harm them. It might go to the extreme where they are checking for vehicle bombs everyday, or inspecting their house each night upon their arrival.
