"Activity in the auditory cortex of the temporal lobe and the visual cortex of the occipital lobe during visual and auditory hallucinations shows striking similarities to the kind of brain activity that occurs when visual and auditory stimuli are present."

How do we know for sure that people with schizophrenia are actually perceiving something that is really there? Maybe they have a "sixth sense", something that the average person lacks. How confusing and horrible that would have to be, trying to make sense of something you hear and see every day, when everyone around you is telling you it isn't there. 

This is a fantastic article about paranoia in the modern age. Think the "Truman Show" Delusion.

In one case, the subject travelled to New York, demanding to see the ‘director’ of the film of his life, and wishing to check whether the World Trade Centre had been destroyed in reality or merely in the movie that was being assembled for his benefit. In another, a journalist who had been hospitalised during a manic episode became convinced that the medical scenario was fake and that he would be awarded a prize for covering the story once the truth was revealed. Another subject was actually working on a reality TV series but came to believe that his fellow crew members were secretly filming him, and was constantly expecting the This-Is-Your-Life moment when the cameras would flip and reveal that he was the true star of the show.

I went to a little get together at my friend/ex-boyfriend, Angelo's, mom's house today. He committed suicide three years ago. He had severe schizophrena, and none of us even really knew until after he died. He shut out most of friends towards the end of his life. His mom was telling us how truly bad he was tonight, and I couldn't believe it. My heart hurts for him. He believed that there were alien forms that were always watching him, so he would barely eat or even use the restroom. He thought that while he was driving if there was a red car in front of him or behind him that meant the alien form's were happy with him, and if it were a black car he thought they were mad at him. He also thought that everyone was lying to him and trying to poison him (even his mom). She finally figured out that if she ate first and then offered him some he would eat, because he knew that if she ate it, it wasn't poisoned. He told his mom that it was like living in hell everyday, but never seeing the devil.

The Angelo I knew....tryed to teach me how to drive a stick shift car, and I stalled it literally every ten seconds and only ended up making it about three feet after a half an hour...we finally stopped because I was laughing so hard I started peeing. Another night something happened, I forget what, but he ended up bringing me home after my curfew...and I told him my dad was going to kill me. By the time I got out of his car and into the house he was already on the phone with my dad apologizing and explaining what had happened. He's the only guy my parents trusted me with and actually liked when I was younger. The things his mom was telling me tonight painted a completely different picture of Angelo for me. It didn't even seem like we were talking about the same person. She told us that one day they were in WalMart together, and she noticed him staring at a child that was mentally handicapped, and she said "Angelo, quit staring!". And he said "no...I wish I could be like him...he's so happy, I would give anything to be him".