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Schizophrenia is a mental health disorder that affects a person's perception of what is real and imaginary. Nicola Hynds, a patient diagnosed with schizophrenia, spoke up about the condition to help break misconceptions and challenge stigma.

What Is Schizophrenia?

Nicola Hynds, the ambassador for See Change, the National Mental Health Stigma Reduction Partnership, said that since she was a child, she has been hearing voices that were not there. She added that she has seen motionless pictures hanging on the wall moving.

In an article in the Irish Examiner, Hynds said that she is sharing her experience to the world to challenge the stigma of schizophrenia and other mental health issues. In an interview, Hynds said that her psychosis, her condition, made her childhood hard and her adolescence tougher.

According to her, she was only four years old when all the weird things started happening to her but did not tell anyone for the fear of being called a freak. She said she saw shadows walking around at night, she had a constant noise in her head where people were talking, singing, shouting, whispering, and even arguing with each other.

Contrary to what most people believe, schizophrenia is not having a split or multiple personalities. The majority of schizophrenic patients are not violent and does not pose danger to others.

Also, schizophrenia is not caused by childhood trauma, growing year's experiences, and/or poor parenting from guardians. Schizophrenia is a disorder and symptoms for each person going through it are different, the Mental Health America sheds light.

What Causes It?

The cause of this mental health disorder is yet to be clear but theories explained that the disease is caused by genetics that runs in the families, abnormality in the biological chemistry or viral infections and immune disorders caused by environmental events.

Hynds will be talking about her condition on Apr. 27 during the See Change's launch of its fourth Green Ribbon Campaign.