Undifferentiated Type of Schizophrenia

Question

I've got a question about a certain kind of schizophreniac.

Say somebody is completely out of it, he* lives inside his head and he isn't even aware of the world around them. He thinks he's living in the real world. He's got layers upon layers of this made-up world, and he is interacting with hundreds of imaginary people with made-up biographies and made-up history. The people are mostly made-up, but some could be based on relatives, friends, celebrities, etc.

*It could be a guy or a girl; for this example, I'll just say it's a guy.

Anyway, here is my question: Somehow, this schizophreniac realizes it's not real, and he wants to "wake up". The imaginary people don't want to "die", so they'll do or say anything to keep this guy "sleeping". Is it possible for one of the imaginary people to know something that the real guy doesn't? What if an imaginary person was in the imaginary Olympics as part of her biography. Would the real guy know she was in the Olympics, or would the fake person have to tell him about it? (Does the real guy know everything, or does he need to learn about it through interaction?)

*confusing*

Answer 1

I saw the episode of buffy you are talking about.  It only brought to mind that a lot of entertainment is derived from psychosis, but you must also consider that a lot of creative license is used to build on that.  If Buffy was a real person and was a schizophrenic who believed that she was a vampire slayer, then it wouldn't be as detailed as the tv show.  It would be a matter of believing that things are going on around her that she possibly can't even see, but that she interacts with nevertheless.  It would probably be an interaction with voices and sometimes a few other sensations.  I can relate to Buffy very much because I credit that show with helping me to fight demons fearlessly.  I have had schizophrenia for 19 years and I'm always fighting demons.  I believe that they took this idea from schizophrenia and added other characters to the story.

Answer 2

Does the guy with schizophrenia actually have control (even if it's limited) over these characters in his made-up world, or are they freely acting entities?  If he does have some control over this land that he has created (and is aware that he created the place), then I'd say he may have something beyond schizophrenia.  It may be some sort of depersonalization disorder or a delusional issue, but it doesn't sound quite... it IS rather confusing.

What goes on in his imaginary world and how much he understands about it would totally depend on whether he "created it" as a defense mechanism or a way to get away from other people, or "fell into it", like something that sort of overtook him.  If he created it, on some level, he must know everything in it.  If it is more like a colossal hallucination that plays out before him, then he would have to learn through interaction.  

All in all, if this is a hypothetical question posed because you need information for some video game you're engineering, book you're writing, or movie you're developing, you should really hit the drawing board, because it doesn't sound plausible as a mental illness (let alone schizophrenia).  

Answer 3

You might check out these websites:



http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publicati...

http://www.nami.org

http://www.schizophrenia.ca/files/Rays_o...

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/schizop...



They have a lot of very good information on schizophrenia.  The first three websites have booklets in pdf format that you can download and save for future reference.



There is also an excellent book, "Surviving Schizophrenia: A Manual for Families, Patients, and Providers" by E. Fuller Torrey, Fifth Edition.  I know Barnes & Noble has it.  Amazon.com only has the 4th edition.  That is very good reading and tells a lot about schizophrenia.