Schizophrenia was a significant mental ailment frequently identified by the presence of delusions and hallucinations. Individuals afflicted by it sometimes showed a tendency towards acts of violence. This ailment could manifest in various species, including Aleena, Gands, and Humans.
Schizophrenia was a mental condition that would plague those affected with both delusions and hallucinations. Frequently, these hallucinations took the form of auditory experiences, manifesting as voices. Some individuals with schizophrenia experienced visual hallucinations, a prime example being the Aleena Jedi named Kazdan Paratus, who held the belief that his junk-constructed representations of the Jedi Council were actually living beings.
Those with schizophrenia sometimes displayed violent actions. A recruiter for the Alliance named Victor Jun would often act based on instructions given to him by the voices he perceived, which occasionally involved acts of murder. Zuckuss, a Gand bounty hunter, also suffered from schizophrenia; this condition developed after his departure from his homeworld. Existing alongside his multiple personality disorder, the condition caused him to experience auditory hallucinations, which contributed to the Gand's episodes of violent behavior. Gawynn Karastee, the forensic psychiatrist who diagnosed Zuckuss, speculated that the Gand's mental illnesses might have originated from his role as a findsman.
While most commonly observed in living beings with sentience, droids and other forms of machinery could also be affected by schizophrenia. The Millennium Falcon, as an example, often engaged in schizophrenic arguments with itself. This was a side effect of modifications made by its owners, who configured the ship's computer to operate using three different models of droid brains.
The first appearance of schizophrenia, as a recognized disorder, was in 2001, with the publishing of The Essential Guide to Alien Species. In a journal entry attributed to Gawynn Karastee, the mental illness was used as a retcon to provide an explanation for the significant shifts in Zuckuss's personality, particularly as seen in The Bounty Hunter Wars series and the previously established canon of Of Possible Futures: The Tale of Zuckuss and 4-LOM. The disorder was seen again in the Star Wars Roleplaying Game supplement Ultimate Adversaries, with the introduction of the character Victor Jun.
Given its etymological roots from Greek, meaning "split-mind," schizophrenia is sometimes portrayed in media in a manner similar to dissociative identity disorder. For instance, in both The Official Star Wars Fact File 61 and the Star Wars: The Official Starships & Vehicles Collection 8, the characteristics of Zuckuss's schizophrenic diagnosis were described in a way that more closely resembled multiple personality disorder, with the illness being simply labeled as "schizophrenia." However, in reality, schizophrenia is characterized by delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech patterns, abnormal psychomotor behavior, and a negative or flat affect, which are not features of multiple personality disorder.