INFORMATION FOR WOMEN WHO HAVE SCHIZOPHRENIA DURING PREGNANCY OR BREASTFEEDING

What is schizophrenia?

Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder, meaning a disorder in which the biggest feature is psychosis, disruptions in thoughts and emotions such that the person is out of touch with reality. Symptoms include delusions and hallucinations. A delusion is a belief or idea that a person maintains, even in the face of evidence that the belief is false, or when it is different from what is accepted by people as a whole. There are different categories of delusions. Paranoid delusions, for instance, are delusions in which the belief is that everyone else is part of a conspiracy organized against them. Hallucinations are perceptions within a person’s mind of things that are not really there and they can involve any of the senses. Visual hallucinations, for instance, are the person thinking they see something that is not there. Auditory hallucinations are the person thinking they hear something that isn't there, for instance a voice. Typically in schizophrenia, hallucinations are auditory. Other psychotic features include disorganized speech and disorganized behavior.