Abnormalcy in behaviour is a great handicap in the smooth development of a society. Psychologists have found that there are various characteristics of abnormal persons, some of them are hereditary and some of them are acquired. Psychologists have tried to devise correctional methods also. Consider these facts: Schizophrenia is a major social problem of our times. It is very likely that every reader of this book has watched at least one of his school or college classmates become nervous and “queer†and has subsequently heard that his individual has suffered a “nervous breakdown†and has been sent to the “asylum.†In many cases no more has been heard from him. The chances are that this individual has developed schizophrenia. Schizophrenia will be dealt with in all its aspects in the course of this book. for the present it will suffice to point out that more hospital beds are occupied by individuals suffering from schizophrenia than by persons suffering from tuberculosis and cancer combined. In the United States over 15,000 new cases of schizophrenia enter the state-supported hospitals each year and these by no means include all the cases in the population. Furthermore, these are mostly people in the first flush of youth. And schizophrenia is not a disease like mumps or chicken pox or even tuberculosis, having a relatively short and definite course. Schizophrenia are among the youngest admitted to the hospitals and have an average hospital life of over sixteen years.
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