Who/What/Where/Why/How

Schizophrenia is the most common psychotic disorder. It affects over 1% of the world’s total population, including more than 2.7 million people in America today.

Intelligence

Schizophrenia's victims span the full range of intelligence.  One study even reported that a higher than expected number of people who develop schizophrenia had been intellectually gifted children. However, research indicates that a decline in IQ scores during childhood may be a forewarning of psychotic symptoms in adults.

Cultural and Geographic Factors

No cultural group is immune, although the disease seems to be more severe in developed than in developing countries.  For example, one study found a similar percentage of positive (20%) and negative (80%) delusions in patients who lived in three totally different cities (Tokyo, Vienna, and Tubinger, Germany).  However, the content of the delusions varied - in Europe, patients were more apt to have delusions of poisoning or religious guilt while in Japan the delusions were most often related to being slandered.

Socioeconomic Factors

Schizophrenia occurs twice as often in unmarried and divorced people as in married or widowed ones, and people with schizophrenia are eight times more likely to be in the lowest socioeconomic groups. However, these statistics likely reflect the alienating effects of schizophrenia, rather than any causal relationship or risk factor associated with poverty or a single life.