Originally posted by Theresa
In response to the poster's original question (In relation to the schizophrenia aspect, anyway)
It isn't possible to induce schizophrenia by opening your mind too far- schizophrenia can be brougt on, but it's usually by a specifically large or unsettling event (such as the witness of a death or loss of someone close to you.) Even this is not the most common cause of schizophrenia, not by far. It's a genetic disease, so I wouldn't worry too much about it, anyway.
I would imagine that you can convince yourself that something is true when in reality it is not- I just don't think it would go so far as to be regarded as a mental illness.
As for the other aspects of your post (or other forms of mental illness), I don't know.
You make a very interesting point.
Well, what I was thinking in terms of schzophrenia wasn't just in having an open mind... How to illustrate my point...

Alright, using the example of Lycanthropy. (For those who don't know, this is the ability to transform oneself into a wolf, physically and/or mentally.) There are people out there that believe in this, and that they have this ability. Here's the theory:

The person wants to succeed at this so badly, their mind fabricates an alternate personality to satisfy the need. Then, the person goes through whatever experience as their fabricated wolf-counterpart. Afterwards, they believe they have "transformed" themselves. If this is possible, would it not result in a schizophrenic sort of condition? Would they not have intentionally forced this mental condition upon themselves, not knowing what they were doing?

I don't know all that much about these mental conditions, but it is a concern for me. Do you think my theory on it is plausible?