Bryce Eastman, Age 14, of Riverton, Utah, for his question:

WHAT IS PARANOIA SCHIZOPHRENIA?

A mental illness in which the patient believes other persons are persecuting him and he behaves accordingly is called paranoia schizophrenia.

A paranoid schizophrenic often thinks people are talking about him all the time and that they wish to harm him. He even suspects members of his own family. He may accuse others of trying to poison him or of following him.

Schizophrenia itself is a mental illness in which there is a "splitting" of the personality. The patient's intelligence may often remain normal, but his emotions do not fit real life situations.

A patient with schizophrenia does not have more than one personality, but he may be emotionally disturbed, aggressive and destructive. Sometimes he may revert to childish behavior and be unable to care for himself.

Paranoia itself is a mental illness that many doctors consider a type of schizophrenia, although some consider it a separate problem.

A person with paranoia will show megalomania, or an exaggerated degree of self love. He believes other people are acting hostile and persecuting him. However, unlike the paranoid schizophrenic, a person suffering from simple paranoia seems to be able to behave properly.

A similar mental illness is called hebephrenic schizophrenia. A person with this problem may talk and act in an irrational manner. He may behave childishly. These patients often suffer rapid mental deterioration and often must remain in mental hospitals throughout their lives.

A person with catatonic schizophrenia may become completely inactive and immobile and not seem to respond to reality. His muscles may become rigid and he may stay in one position for hours. Often he must be fed. The patient doesn't seem to know what is going on around him, even though he can hear, see and understand.

Mental illness is, of course, a sickness of the mind. It sometimes involves a mental breakdown so serious that the patient must have special care or enter a mental hospital.

Doctors tell us that about 20 million people in the United States suffer from some type of mental illness and that about 550,000 of them enter hospitals each year. About one third of all hospital beds in the United States are occupied by mental patients.

Medical science has not been able as yet to determine the specific causes of all the various types of mental illnesses or specific ways of preventing them.

The experts believe, however, that early family life influences the development of some mental illnesses. A happy home life during the first years of life may do more than anything else to prevent many types of mental illnesses.