Schizophrenia is not equal to having multiple personalities. People who suffer from multiple personalities are incapable of being aware of what the “split off” part is doing. Someone who is suffering from multiple personalities is not going to multibox like a King.
Schizophrenia is … interesting. It is fragmentation of ones personality and an interesting … let’s call it malfunction … of the brain’s ability to focus on something. The problem schizophrenics have usually is not what is going on, but the fact that they have no control over it. Unlike, for example, Actors who can use the brain’s ability to … uhm … schizophrenice … for their work. I made that word up, but it works. : - )
Schizophrenia is not the same as suffering from multiple personalities.
Really bad cases, who require medication, sit around for hours, staring into the nothing, while being stuck in the fantasy of their own minds without them even realizing. Talked to quite a few EVE players who have it in various degrees, including one guy who has it so bad, he has to watch out not to get stuck in fantasy-land while playing EVE. Imagination is really troublesome for him, because he can get literally lost.
It is an ability of the brain, which helps Actors and with problem solving. Requires training, of course.
Lots of people on the forums, here and probably many others, should actually let themselves be tested for symptoms of mild schizophrenia, simply based on their behaviour around here. They seem to be stuck in “online reality” and disconnect from things that are normal when it comes to “personal communication”.
Like, for example, it appears that the lack of a human face (which is replaced by a screen and text) causes people to dissociate with the fact that there are other human beings around and their behaviour shifts accordingly. The brain is trying to fill the holes, basically, with rather bad results, because most people are absolutely unaware of what is going on. They just think they behave normally, and they are literally all wrong about it.
I could name names, but that would not be okay.
I can say, though, that from my observations most of the whiny princesses out there definitely suffer from some form of schizophrenia. Their real lives must be pretty bad. They “escape” (like, you know, escapists do) into a virtual reality, believing it is real because “it affects my feelings, therefore it is real”, calling gankers sociopaths, evil people etc etc. That does not mean they sit around for hours, staring into the abyss. No, it just means a certain disconnection from themselves due to real life factors like being raised overly protected.
These people miss a heavy dose of painfull reality …
… (because physical pain slams people back into it… hello, lizard part of the brain!) …
… which apparently is nothing they ever really experience.
Go figure. vOv
Someone who is suffering from multiple personalities is different. That person has “split” certain personality traits, feelings, memories and behaviours associated with really bad experiences. The brain filtered them out from conscious experience, but - as it always does - saved it all. People who believe that “swallowing bad feelings” is a good way of coping with problems tend to go schizophrenic, and if the bad experiences are really bad and persist, they eventually split it off.
Please try to avoid making this mistake again.