Unlike virtually every other mental illness, schizophrenia is fairly unique in that its first onset is nearly always in young adulthood — not childhood or as a teen, and rarely after one’s 30s. Most people who are diagnosed with schizophrenia have their first symptoms and episode in their 20s — early to mid-20s for men, a little later (late-20s) for women.
This is, in part, what makes it such a devastating disorder. Just as a person is finding their way in the world, exploring their personality and relationships with others, schizophrenia strikes.
Unlike other disorders, too, its symptoms can be especially scary and troubling to the person’s loved ones.
If ignorance is bliss, then delusion is even better — if you’re in a new marriage, anyways.