Schizophrenia was a severe mental illness that was often characterized by delusions and hallucinations. Sufferers would sometimes demonstrate a proclivity to violent behavior. This condition could affect multiple species, such as Aleena, Gands, and Humans.

CharacteristicsEdit

Schizophrenia was a mental illness that would afflict its sufferers with delusions and hallucinations. These hallucinations were often auditory and would manifest as voices.^[1] Some schizophrenics would have visual hallucinations, as exemplified by the Aleena Jedi Kazdan Paratus, who believed that his junk constructs of the Jedi Council were actual living individuals.^[2]

Schizophrenics would sometimes exhibit violent behavior. Victor Jun, an Alliance recruiter, would often act on the orders given to him by the voices in his head, which sometimes involved murder.^[1] Zuckuss, a Gand bounty hunter, also suffered from schizophrenia,^[3] which developed after he had left his homeworld.^[4] Co-morbid with his multiple personality disorder, the condition caused him to hear voices^[5] and it contributed to the Gand's violent outbursts.^[6] It was speculated by Gawynn Karastee, the forensic psychiatrist who diagnosed Zuckuss, that the Gand's mental illnesses may have stemmed from his role as a findsman.^[3]

Behind the scenesEdit

Schizophrenia, as a disorder, first appeared in 2001, with the publication of The Essential Guide to Alien Species. In a journal entry attributed to Gawynn Karastee, the mental illness served as a retcon to explain the drastic personality changes in Zuckuss, most notably in his appearance in The Bounty Hunter Wars series and the previously-established canon of Of Possible Futures: The Tale of Zuckuss and 4-LOM. The disorder appeared again in the Star Wars Roleplaying Game supplemental Ultimate Adversaries, with the introduction of the character Victor Jun.

Due to its derivation from Greek for "split-mind," schizophrenia, in media, is sometimes depicted similarly to dissociative identity disorder.^[7][8] For example, in both the 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 as being more akin to multiple personality disorder, with the illness being termed as simply "schizophrenia". However, real-world schizophrenia is characterized by delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech patterns, abnormal psychomotor behavior, and a negative or flat affect,^[9][8] which are not present in a diagnosis of multiple personality disorder.^[10][11]

AppearancesEdit

• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed video game
• The Force Unleashed novelization
• The Mandalorian Armor (First appearance) (Retcon) (Symptoms only)

SourcesEdit

• The Essential Guide to Alien Species
• Ultimate Adversaries
• The Official Star Wars Fact File 61 (BOU15-16, Bounty Hunters - Zuckuss)
• Star Wars: The Official Starships & Vehicles Collection 8
• "Mon Mothma's 5 Facts"—Star Wars Insider 129

Notes and referencesEdit

External linksEdit

• Schizophrenia on Wikipedia