Schizophrenia is described as and translates to 'split mind.' What does this mean?

Question

I did a paper about schizophrenia so I read quite a bit of material. This bit of info never made complete sense and I never got around to asking my professor.
Split mind...
I know it is not a split that equates to multiple personalities.
I think it is a split within the mind or between functions of the mind. The best I can determine is that 'split-mind' refers to a lack of continuity between emotions, intellect, and behavior. Such a split would cause a person with schizophrenia to experience irrational or erratic emotions and behavior due to the lack of regulation of the intellect, and so on. Basically, a person with schizophrenia might think of the right thing to do at a situation, such as show compassion and reverence at a funeral, but may not experience such emotions or be able to behave in such ways because of the 'split.'
Is this wrong? If yes, why/how?

Answer 1

Think of schizophrenia as a 'disconnect' between one's senses and one's perceptions.

The 'split' term comes from the fact that, due to the combination of emotional, psychological and chemical disturbances, the processing centers of the brain have been short-circuited or 'split' off from the direct-control mechanism.

In other words, a schizophrenic could hear the sound of people talking, but the disconnect would cause that memory experience to not be under conscious control. As such, the memory could randomly be played later by the processing center with no sensory inducement (stress can induce it.) Because the person did not 'consciously' induce the brain to search for the memory, the 'sudden' appearance of it, with no identifying tag, would register within the person as 'hearing voices'.

Depending upon the degree and severity of the deformity, the length of time allowed to progress, and the presence (or lack thereof) of professional competent intervention within the process, a person with schizophrenia can be very lucid and rational or extremely deranged and lost in the cycle of stress-induced random memory/perception creation, or some combination of the two.

Also, a relatively lucid schizophreic can be driven to the more extreme ends by the amount of stress induced in their lives (since their brains are chemically fragile due to the disruption) and unless they are taught how to handle stress (rational diagnostic tools) in addition to being provided counseling and insight into what caused it, can digress into the more self-perpetuating forms of it.

So it is a disconnect, but a disconnect whose complexity requires a plodding delicate reconfiguring in order to repair.

Answer 2

I'm feeling a bit of blue proper now. Chilled out, laid-again...a bit of glum that it is cloudy, wet and bloodless at my finish at present... As a ways as the colours pass...I've honestly taken a few curiosity within the temperament colours today. ^_^ You realize, the 4 that kind of pass like this: Orange--lively, severe. Golden/Yellow--Rules Person, orderly, neat. Green--Cerebral, technical. Blue--Emotional, passionate. It's bought me to considering that the colours are not on a sliding scale, such a lot as they're on a 3-factor method.... Things towards Green or Yellow--the 2 colours our eyes are so much touchy to--are approximately issues of the Brain, or what we feel. Things towards Orange or Red--These are what I'd name your "intestine" emotions, the particularly primitive, primal stuff. The "er" drives: anger, starvation, terror. Things that make you *Move* or Go. Then matters towards Blue or Violet--These are what I'd name your "center" emotions. They're kind of the in-among, among your intestine and mind, matters like: pleasure, love, sorrow. I'd say those are the matters that make you *Reflect* or Stop. ^_^ But hiya, what do I realize? I admit I shouldn't have these things down one hundred%....if I did I'd be a Jedi or anything, you understand? Hope this is helping. ^_^ *lol*

Answer 3

I think you've got it right. I've seen "split mind" described as a split between thinking and feeling and as a split between the mind and reality. But given the group that Bleuler was working with, the split between emotion and reason makes the most sense. Bleuler seems to have believed that the incongruity between thoughts and emotions led to the withdrawal from reality.

Answer 4

correct the way in which your brain functions is split.the right hemisphere competes with the left hemisphere for control so in other words the way you function is unbalanced causing you to get confused and use two different ways to evaluate things.for example:you have to fuel monitors reading the same amount of fuel, one reads one measure the other reads a different one but the fuel in the tank is unaltered.

Answer 5

I think it is an archaic term, with reference to "reality" vs. "non-reality" (or delusion)....often a core problem in schizophrenia.