Perhaps the most dangerous mental deterioration in today's societies is not in individuals, but in the minds of entire societies. Not in the psychiatric sense, but as a metaphor. “social schizophrenia” we can say. That is, there is a deep gap between what individuals and institutions say and what they do, between the values they stand for and the behavior they exhibit. This contradiction is not only an individual inconsistency, but also a split in social conscience, political discourse and cultural morality.
Social schizophrenia is partly the art of self-deception. People know the truth but ignore it because it does not suit their interests; they defend justice but become silent when it comes to their own environment. Politicians talk about honesty but legitimize corruption; citizens want democracy but cannot tolerate criticism. What emerges is a state of false consciousness, producing lies that look like the truth in order not to face the truth. This is a defense mechanism at the individual level and the infrastructure for moral decay at the social level.
The roots of this state of mind lie in the structure of modern society based on speed, self-interest and perception. When being seen becomes as valuable as being, people learn to use their thoughts as window dressing rather than turning them into action. Social media is the most visible example of this. There people are conscientious, sensitive, egalitarian, but in real life they are silent, selfish and indifferent. This is the depersonalization not only of individuals but of an entire culture.
The most obvious scene of social schizophrenia is politics. Because politics is where values and interests intersect. In the struggle for power, the understanding of “all means are permissible for the sake of the goal” gradually becomes entrenched. On the one hand, leaders claim to defend the interests of the people; on the other hand, they manipulate the feelings of the people to protect their own power. Democracy is praised in rhetoric, but in practice it produces repression and polarization. It does not occur to almost all politicians to be democratic in their jurisdiction.
This breaks the moral bonds of the political institution. Lies, propaganda and perception management become legitimized tools. Politicians present their own contradictions as a necessity, and the public mistakes this for realism. Thus, the boundary between truth and lies disappears. This disappearance affects the level of consciousness of the society. People no longer know what to believe; suspicion rather than trust, self-interest rather than solidarity become the determining factor.
This hypocrisy of politics leads to ruptures in the moral values of citizens. “If everyone lies, why should I be honest?” The feeling becomes socially widespread. The individual, forgetting his or her own moral values, becomes a compliant spectator. He merges into the voice of the majority by silencing his own conscience. This is the psychological projection of the schizophrenic split: One both knows it is wrong and becomes part of it.
Another source of social schizophrenia is the dissolution of norms and values. In traditional societies there were common moral codes that guided behavior. In modern society, these codes have been replaced by personal preferences. While this may seem liberating, the dislocation of values has created an ethical vacuum. Now everyone creates their own truth, but no one believes in a common truth.
In this case, society drifts into a state of normlessness, anomie. Anomie means that there are no common criteria to guide the behavior of the individual. In such an environment, people can be religious and manipulative at the same time, both pacifists and hate-speakers. This contradiction damages the integrity of the individual's identity, and the psychological balance of society is disrupted.
Social schizophrenia, like in individuals, is a kind of “mass ego fragmentation” creates. People may believe in an idea in their private lives, but may defend the opposite in the public sphere. This is because social pressure, belonging and interest concerns override individual truthfulness. This leads to a kind of role-playing obligation.
In this situation, the individual oscillates between two different selves: The true self is the one who listens to the voice of conscience and knows the truth inwardly, and the social self is the conformist, quiet, majority-like mask. Living constantly between these two identities creates mental exhaustion. In society at large, there is a fatigue that carries despair, cynicism and loss of trust. These symptoms are not signs of individual depression but of collective depression.
The way out of social schizophrenia is to re-establish unity between thought, word and deed. This requires not only individual but also institutional moral reform. Unless honesty in politics, conscience in society and integrity in the media become valuable again, this division will deepen.
Change begins with the courage to tell the truth. Because no order built on lies lasts long. Societies cannot be liberated unless they confront their own contradictions. When each individual rebuilds coherence even in his or her own small space, the hypocrisy of large systems begins to unravel.
Social schizophrenia, the gap between thought, word and deed, is neither a medical phenomenon nor an inevitable fate. It is the result of people turning away from their own morality, their own words. The beginning of recovery is therefore the will to face the truth again. Returning to the truth is a society's greatest therapy, while honesty is its most effective medicine.