With the of symptoms for schizophrenia and amphetamine abuse so similar, the possibility that schizophrenia is being misdiagnosed in people that abuse amphetamines is very likely. Schizophrenia is characterized by delusions; often paranoid in nature; hallucinations, and negative symptoms that include social withdrawal and apathy. What is intriguing is that drugs, such as cocaine and methamphetamines, can produce symptoms that mimic schizophrenia. Prolonged use of these drugs can produce psychosis, delusions, and often hallucinations in vulnerable people. These cocaine/amphetamine-induced delusions, called amphetamine psychosis, are easy to confuse with those that are characteristic of schizophrenia.
             Schizophrenia, a severe and chronic disease of the brain, affects approximately 1% of the population of the United States and more than 2 million people suffer from the illness in a given year (Speaking 4). This disorder is found throughout the world and in all races and cultures. Schizophrenia affects men and women in equal numbers, although on average, men appear to develop schizophrenia earlier than women. Generally, men show the first signs of schizophrenia in their mid 20s and women show the first signs in their late 20s.
             The behavior of people with schizophrenia is often very strange and shocking. This change in behavior, when people cannot tell the difference between what is real and what is not,
             is called "psychosis" or a "psychotic episode". The American Psychiatric Association has
             published guidelines that are used to classify people with mental disorders. The most recent guidelines are contained in a book called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (known as DSM-IV for short). The DSM-IV describes several symptoms that a person MUST have before he or she is classified as having schizophrenia. These symptoms include two or more of the following behaviors for dur...