Paranoid Schizophrenia Is The Psychological Condition In Which A Loss Of Contact

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Term Paper Title	Paranoid Schizophrenia Is The Psychological Condition In Which A Loss Of Contact
# of Words	1249
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	5

Paranoid Schizophrenia is the psychological condition in which a loss of contact with the environment, by noticeable deterioration in the level of functioning in everyday life, and by disintegration of personality expressed as disorder of feeling, thought (as in hallucinations and delusions), and conduct characterized especially by persecutory or grandiose delusions or hallucinations or by delusional jealousy  .  Edgar Allen Poe was aware of this condition, as the narrator goes through all of the symptoms in "The Tell-Tale Heart."  This is especially intriguing according to the fact that the mental state did not have a formal title until fifty years after his story.  In the article "'Moral Insanity' or Paranoid Schizophrenia: Poe's 'The Tell-Tale Heart'" by Brett Zimmerman, Zimmerman addresses this fact.  This article observes and comments on "The Tell-Tale Heart" from a psychological point of view.
     Was Poe so intelligent that he, a writer and a poet, knew the symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia before any of the medical doctors even knew it existed?  Is it possible that it is just a coincidence that Poe described another one of his insane maniacs with the same characteristics as a schizophrenic?  The characteristics of a paranoid schizophrenic is not scientifically described in the character of the narrator in Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart"
     "According to current psychological theory, the 'active' phase of paranoid schizophrenia is preceded by a 'prodromal' phase during which premonitory symptoms occur…" (Zimmerman p.39).  With this quote, the author tries to compare the actions of the narrator, "The Tell-Tale Heart," in the week before the murder to the actions of a schizophrenic.  What Poe actually does in the beginning of the story is known in the literary sense as an 'introduction' and 'character development.'  The narrator tries to convince the reader that he is not insane.  "You fancy me mad.  Madmen know nothing.  But you should have seen me.  You should have seen how wisely I proceeded-with caution-with what foresight-with what dissimulation I went to work!" (384).  The actions might resemble that of a schizophrenic, but Poe is only using the narrator's insanity to build character.
     A large section of the article was devoted to what the author believes is the most convincing evidence of schizophrenia, the auditory hallucinations.  He states, "A major symptom of the active phase of schizophrenia involves hallucinations, and it is here that Poe critics...

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