schizophrenia

Noun

schizophrenia (countable and uncountable, plural schizophrenias)

1. A psychiatric diagnosis denoting a persistent, often chronic, mental illness characterised by abnormal perception, thinking, behavior and emotion, often marked by delusions.
   • Increasing data suggests that regular marijuana use in adolescence may also be a risk factor for developing very serious psychotic disorders, especially schizophrenia.2014 January 24, Dr. Charles Raison, “Here’s what to do about your anxiety”, in CNN, archived from the original on 29 May 2022
   • In 1995, 2% of schizophrenia diagnoses in the country were associated with cannabis use disorder. In 2000, it increased to around 4%. Since 2010, that figure increased to 8%, the study found.2021 July 22, Katie Hunt, “Schizophrenia linked to marijuana use disorder is on the rise, study finds”, in CNN, archived from the original on 29 Jun 2022
2. (proscribed) A condition in which a person is supposed to have several distinct personalities; dissociative identity disorder.
   • You have enough money to afford schizophrenia for a while. Especially if the personality B dreams up things that personality A makes practical, financially advantageous use of.1946, George O. Smith, “Trouble”, in Astounding Science-Fiction
3. (figuratively, informal) Any condition in which disparate or mutually exclusive activities coexist; a lack of decision between options.
   • [O]ne can understand how the cultural disorientation which beset the African Continent has confused Africa's political behaviour, creating a political schizophrenia that made nation-building impossible.2006, Bertus Praeg, Ethiopia and Political Renaissance in Africa, page 213
   • Nevertheless, a certain amount of schizophrenia pertains to the study of World Englishes as New Englishes, for while new Englishes are regarded as valid varieties in their own right, the description and delineation of them in linguistic terms is conducted through the gaze of native-speaker norms.2012, James Lambert, “Beyond Hobson-Jobson: A new lexicography for Indian English”, in World Englishes, page 305