What is Schizophrenia?
Schizophrenia is a serious mental disorder that affects the person’s ability to think, feel and behave clearly. It may result in combinations of hallucinations, delusions, and extremely distorted thinking and behavior which impact daily functioning. Schizophrenia requires lifelong treatment. It affects educational and occupational performance as well. People with schizophrenia are 2-3 times more likely to die early than the general population because of unpreventable physical diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, metabolic disease, and infections. People with schizophrenia have to suffer from stigma, discrimination, and violation of human rights.
Who Can Get Schizophrenia?
There are no particular conditions for getting Schizophrenia. Anyone can get it and it affects people all over the world, of all races and cultures. It can affect at any age, typically the symptoms first appear in the teenage years or early 20s. The disorder affects men and women alike, although symptoms generally appear earlier in men. The earlier the symptoms start, the more severe the illness tends to be. While it is rare but children over the age of 5 can have schizophrenia too.
Symptoms Of Schizophrenia
Hallucinations
Hallucinations mean seeing or hearing things that actually do not exist. The person with schizophrenia, they have the full force and impact of a normal experience. Hallucinations can be in any of the senses, but hearing voices is the most common hallucination.
Delusions
Delusions are false beliefs that conflict with reality. For example- a person thinks that they are being harmed or harassed. It occurs mostly in people with schizophrenia.
Extremely Disorganized Or Abnormal Motor Behavior
Schizophrenia leads to abnormal behavior, from childlike silliness to unpredictable agitation. The behavior makes it hard to do tasks. It can include resistance to instructions, inappropriate or bizarre posture, a complete lack of response, or useless and excessive movement.
Disorganized Thinking
Disorganized thinking is inferred from disorganized speech. Effective communication can be impaired, and answers to questions may be partially or completely unrelated. Rarely, speech may include putting together meaningless words that can’t be understood, sometimes known as word salad.
Negative Symptoms
It refers to a lack of ability to function normally. For example, the person with Schizophrenia ignores personal hygiene or appears to lack emotions. Also, the person may lose interest in everyday activities, socially withdraw or lack the ability to experience a pleasure.
Causes
The cause of Schizophrenia is not yet discovered, but researchers believe that a combination of genetics, brain chemistry, and environmental factors contribute to the development of the disorder. Problems with certain naturally occurring brain chemicals, including neurotransmitters called dopamine and glutamate, may contribute to schizophrenia.
I Want To Become Good Better Best In Life
Treatment
Well, Schizophrenia is a lifelong condition, but effective treatment can help a person manage the symptoms, prevent relapses, and avoid hospitalization. Some potential treatment options include
- Antipsychotic Drugs- These can be for daily use or less frequent use if the person opts for injectable medications, which can last up to 3 months between injections (depending on the medication).
- Rehabilitation- It focuses on social skills and job training to help people with schizophrenia function in the community and help them to live as independently as possible.
- Coordinated Special Care- This includes medication, family involvement, and education services in a holistic approach.
- Hospitalization- People with schizophrenia may be treated as outpatients. But hospitalization is the best option for people with Schizophrenia. Who have severe symptoms, Who might harm themselves or others, Who can’t take care of themselves at home.
Some Common Medications For Schizophrenia Include (Trusted Source)
- risperidone (Risperdal)
- olanzapine (Zyprexa)
- quetiapine (Seroquel)
- ziprasidone (Geodon)
- clozapine (Clozaril)
- haloperidol (Haldol)
Many of these drugs have side effects including neurological symptoms and weight gain. However, a person needs to continue with their treatment plan, even if the symptoms improve because if a person stops taking medication, the symptoms may return. Researchers are working on a procedure called deep brain stimulation (DBS) to treat schizophrenia. DBS is an established treatment for severe Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor, but it’s still experimental for the treatment of psychiatric disorders.
Can Schizophrenia Be Prevented?
Until now there is no known way to prevent schizophrenia. But early diagnosis and treatment of schizophrenia can help avoid or ease frequent relapses and hospitalizations, and help cut the disruption to the person’s life, family, and relationships.
