About Beyonce’s ‘schizophrenia’

In her review of Beyonce’s split-personality tendencies on the “Sasha Fierce” album [“Beyonce Tries to Have It Both Ways,” Nov. 13], Ann Powers criticizes the singer for accepting an outdated notion of what is “real” for a woman. She then makes a thoughtless remark about Beyonce and T.I. as being the only hip-hop stars “who recently tried this schizophrenia thing.”

Wow. Powers might be in touch with real women’s issues, but she obviously knows nothing about the real issues of people who suffer from schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a disease of the mind characterized by hallucinations and hearing voices. It is not characterized by having split or multiple personalities, as in the case of Beyonce/Sasha Fierce.

Having one’s condition misunderstood in the public imagination is difficult. It is a common mistake to confuse schizophrenia and multiple-personality disorder, but I am surprised to see it made by an L.A. Times journalist.

D. Willwerth

Altadena