How to determine schizophrenia from pictures
One of the most well-known signs of schizophrenia is the splitting of consciousness, which is subjectively experienced as a plurality of one’s own “me.” However, the feeling of a split personality can also occur in the mentally healthy, especially in a situation of making a difficult decision. Therefore, often concerned people are interested in how to recognize schizophrenia. Only a psychiatrist can figure this out with a high degree of accuracy, but there are some simple methods that can be used for initial diagnostics. These include, for example, the analysis of drawings.
How to find schizophrenia
Figures are the product of our figurative thinking and are largely related to the activity of the subconscious. Their plots, features of images, forms and lines can tell a lot about the character and mental state of a person. Scientists have proven this long ago, and now many so-called projective techniques, or drawing tests, are used in the study of the psyche.
How to determine the picture of schizophrenia
Psychologists and psychiatrists also studied the graphic activity of people with mental illness, including schizophrenia. Studies have revealed a number of features characteristic of schizophrenic figures:
randomness, lack of plot and complete images of even individual objects. The face of a person without a nose, and the nose separately aside, a house, one of the walls of which is depicted in another corner of the sheet;
a combination of images (eyes, palms, sun, monsters), signs (letters, numbers), symbols (for example, infinity signs, spirals, male and female symbols), geometric shapes, etc. in one picture;
very complex and confusing symbolism of pictures, understandable only by the patient himself;
images of the eyes and palms are often found;
strange, unusual colors and their combinations;
drawing is almost always accompanied by speech activity, which at this time is also incoherent and chaotic;
the more pronounced the disease, the harder it is for a person to draw and easier to speak.
It may seem that the drawings of people suffering from schizophrenia resemble pictures of some areas of avant-garde art: cubism, symbolism, abstract art, and psychedelic painting. This is not an accident. Many artists, creating their works, deliberately provoked a state of consciousness similar to schizophrenic nonsense. Both drugs and special meditation techniques were used for this.
Answering the question of how to define schizophrenia is not easy, as it is a complex mental disorder, and it has various symptoms. The causes of schizophrenia are not completely clear. Therefore, if there is a suspicion of the presence of this disease in you or your relatives, it is better to contact a specialist.