Coping with Schizophrenia
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Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is one of the most dreaded psychological disorders in the world. One in one-hundred people will develop this debilitating psychological disorder. It normally affects young people developing into adulthood. Although men tend to be hit more severely than women, schizophrenia has no boundaries as to who it’s victim will be.
Symptoms of Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia means “split mind.” The signs of schizophrenia are disorganized thinking, disturbed perceptions, and inappropriate emotions and action.
- Disorganized Thinking- The person with schizophrenia has irrational thought processes. Their thoughts are delusional and bizarre. They will jump from one idea to another in the same sentence. This is called “word salad.” The disorganized thinking is caused from a malfunction with selective attention. The person that suffers from schizophrenia can not give their undivided attention to one thing and filter out competing stimuli.
- Disturbed Perceptions- The schizophrenia sufferer does not perceive things the way they really are. They have auditory hallucinations that cause them to hear voices. The voices normally insult the person and tell the suffer to do things such as; burn themselves, harm someone, or other horrible things. The voices seem real to the person and the person responds to the hallucinations. The person may also see things that are not there. In most cases the images are bad things such as; demons.
- Inappropriate Emotions and Actions- The person suffering with schizophrenia does not have appropriate emotions. For example, they may laugh at the funeral of a loved one, or become angry for no apparent reason. Furthermore, their personality can be very emotionless. The person with schizophrenia may not exhibit any emotion to anything.
The Subtypes of Schizophrenia
There are four different subtypes of schizophrenia. They are paranoid, disorganized, catatonic, undifferentiated, and residual.
- Paranoid- The paranoid type is always consumed with delusions and hallucinations.
- Disorganized- The disorganized type always has inappropriate emotions
- Catatonic- The catatonic type always has a lot of negative thoughts. They may be immobile and will repeat things in a manner such as a parrot does.
- Undifferentiated- The undifferentiated type will have all the symptoms
- Residual- The residual type will have withdrawal after the hallucinations disappear.
What Causes Schizophrenia?
Schizophrenia has been linked to brain abnormalities and genetic predispositions. There is an increase in dopamine in the brain of the person that suffers with schizophrenia. This triggers the hallucinations and paranoia. If a person with schizophrenia uses drugs such as cocaine, it will cause an increase in the hallucinations.
The person with schizophrenia has abnormally low brain activity in the frontal lobe. It is thought that schizophrenia is due to prenatal problems. Low birth weight and birth complications like oxygen deprivation are known causes to schizophrenia. Schizophrenia can also be passed down genetically.
Treatment for Schizophrenia
There is not currently a cure for schizophrenia. The focus for the schizophrenia suffers is to reduce the symptoms and to lessen the chances of the symptoms returning. There are some drugs used to relieve the hallucinations and other symptoms of schizophrenia. These drugs are called antipsychotic drugs. If the sufferer uses these drugs as the doctor had prescribed them, they can function more normally and live a better quality of life.
Another treatment for schizophrenia is rehabilitation. In the rehabilitation, the sufferer learns things such as job training and money skills. The rehabilitation treatment centers help the individual be prepared to live in society.
Psychotherapy is also available to help the individual that suffers with schizophrenia. This type of treatment allows the individual to talk to a therapist and learn how to cope with the disorder.
It is important that the family of the schizophrenia suffer becomes educated on the disorder. The person who has schizophrenia will often need to be cared for by family members. Therefore, the more educated the family is, the better they can help their loved one cope with the disorder.
A Person Who Suffers with Schizophrenia
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Comments
Thank you for your comment fortunerep.
very well written, a terrible affliction...
It is a horrible disorder. However, the symptoms can be managed. Thanks for the comment Brenda.
Very nicely done. I did (almost)same kind of article on Split Personality Disorder a few ago. Strange how brain mal-functions sometimes. This was a good read. :)
You cover these with compassion. I cannot fathom having someone I care about wrestle with this. Thank you!
Candi, it is a difficult thing to deal with. I have a sister that lives with schizophrenia. There have been times that she did not even know who I was. She is only 23 and it is hard to watch her suffer.
However, she does take the medication and goes to therapy. When she takes her medications properly, she lives a better life.
Thank you for your comment.
Hello Useful Knowledge. Your user name is very appropriate for you, given the useful knowledge you provide here.
In reading through the internal experience of schizophrenia as well as the systems/behavior manifestations, it's hard not to be compassionate. But it's also so easy to see why schizophrenics are the most "feared" of all mentally ill people. Their behavior just seems bizarre to others. Unless you understand what is going on inside and you only judge from what is being exhibited, I can see how (ignorant) people would blame, dismiss, avoid, etc. So sad.
But I'm glad your sister is doing better and I wish you both serenity. MM
Good job on this hub! I definitly think the key with schizophrenia is to stay on medication. I believe so many times people with mental illness get to feeling better and think that they can go off of their medication; unfortunately, this "usually" isn't met with much long-term success. Alot of times the side-effects of the medication, or the thought of wanting to be "normal" like everyone else also makes a person want to not take their medications.
Thank you Mighty Mom and Katie for your comments. Most people do "judge" someone with a mental illness. I look at it as if it is no different than having a heart condition or cancer. We have to have compassion for those who are sick in any fashion.
As for staying on the medications, Katie, you are correct. I have noticed that it is a constant battle to keep my sister on her meds. She says they make her feel worse when she takes them. However, when she does take them properly, she is more like herself.
This disorder is very disruptive, not only to the person that has it, but also to the family that has to watch the person they once knew turn into a stranger.
Well written information as all the others have already noted. While the meds help on the one hand, they have side effects only the user can understand. The compassion of those surrounding anyone who has this disorder makes all of the difference.
NAMI is a great association to be involved with as it is not a group of doctors or practitioners, it is instead the families, friends and the diagnosed themselves.
Very useful information. A very sad disorder, one that needs attention drawn to it as often as possible. Thanks for doing that.
You catch my eye with the odds, 1 in 100. I don't like those odds. The brain is a fascinating thing and this disease show us how powerful it can be in a negative way.
Regards
Very informative. Mental health issues are always so difficult for the sufferer and family etc. If someone has a broken arm it is there for all to see.
Very informative Hub.
Back when I was in high school, my English teacher assigned our class to read Joanne Greeberg's "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden," which is one of the best books on schizophrenia as a work of fiction. The book turned out to be a real-life account to a certain degree, as a young girl fights to become healthy. I highly recommend reading it UK if you haven't already. Great article as usual.
I'm not sure if you heard, but I did win the Hubnugget Contest--I was tied for third place. I want to thank you personally for your support. You are a true fan!
I really liked this hub. My brother has Schizophrenia so i relate to alot of what this hub was saying. Its a very difficult illness to deal with and I hate that he got diagnosed with it
The first way to deal with schizophrenia is to go to a psychiatrist and get it thoroughly diagnosed. The doctor should help you find the correct medication to control your symptoms. But the degree to which you will be able to function depends on how severe your symptoms are or are you able to work and raise children. 2. The type of schizophrenia you have and 3 how well your symptoms respond to the medication you are prescribed. Unfortunately, some medications do not treat schizophrenic symptoms well at all. It depends on the individual. Seeing a psychiatrist on a regular basis is also key. You could have a relapse of your symptoms and not really understand why and have to be evaluated again to determine how to get the symptoms under control Also, having a lot of social and family support can really help a person cope with this mental illness.Let your doctor know about any changes in your symptoms, any difficulties with side effects of medication, or deterioration of you ability to function in your life.
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Anxiety therapy technique without medications
HI,
I came to your hub through your interview in a hubpages email. This was the first hub I chose from your profile. I only started my hubpages life a couple of days ago. One of my topics was schizophrenia. I suffer the symptoms of schizophrenia but currently have had no psychotic episode for four years and been unmedicated for two. I just wanted to qualify what I think about your blog, I don't mean to be rude in anyway. It has been a personal quest for me to understand the mind and its illness'. Schizophrenia is one of the most misrepresented and misunderstood of any human condition. The WHO (World Health Organization ranks schizophrenia a disability of more grave consequences than blindness). To my comment, good on you for trying to raise awareness, we need more people to care. However, it is common mistakes that will keep progress back. Schizophrenia does not mean split mind. More appropriate is the fragmented mind. Schizophrenia is not multiple personality and not split personality. I do not mean to pick at your hub just try inform someone who seems genuinely concerned for humanity. Schizophrenia affects the frontal lobe and neocortex sections of the brain. The frontal lobe responsible for our motivations, our volitions, it is our drive to succeed in whatever our desire. The neocortex(maybe typo, sorry, it is one of the cortex' anyway) is responsible for filtering sensory input and making sense of it. That said, neuroscientists still argue with research and there is no definitive answer about the biological nature of mental illness. Self reporting is the main form of diagnosis. Paranoid schizophrenia is the more mild of the different forms of the illness, however, in any of its forms, the person may have symptoms fitting accross the whole spectrum. I think you put it well, no real argument there. If people are really interested they can look further, it is quite a niche topic. Research released a couple of years ago suggested some major problems with our understanding of psychosis. Particularly, the ability to recover without medication, to a less or more extent and importantly, those whom did go off medication had a very similar prognosis to those whom did not. Living with schizophrenia does not mean a life with drugs. It was not much more than 30 years ago that frontal lobotomies were still considered humane. Modern psychiatric medicine acts on the frontal lobotomy, essentially, reducing dopamine to the effect of drowsiness, tiredness, weight gain and so on, important to note, there is a direct link between anti-psychotic medication and depression. I do not suggest anyone jump of medication, quite the opposite. I only want the academics to wake up and take notice of their consumers.
Cheers and good luck
Bovine-Thanks for your comment. I only know the "textbook" definition of Schizopherinia. Also, I know what my sister goes through. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Any time, thanks for the reply. It is a nervous topic to discuss and I am glad it was well recieved.
There is nothing better than to hear honest words from someone that knows first hand.
Thanks for bringing awareness to this illness, and thanks to Bovine Currency for those insightful, follow-up comments. I have a member of my immediate family who has suffered from this disease (the paranoid variety) for most of his life (he's 61 now) and recognize many of the symptoms described here. He's doing well with medication and has to have it, perhaps because he remained undiagnosed from about 13 to 25. No medication = a return of symptoms which prevent him from living a normal life. He has to be monitored on a regular basis because, when medicated, he believes he doesn't need it and would stop taking it if not for the monitoring by a psychiatrist.
PWalker281-Thank you for posting your comment. My sister who suffers with this illness is the same. She was diagnosed later in her life and has to have the medications. She often stops taking it and has really bad hallucinations.
Thank you for sharing your story. It is difficult to watch a loved one suffer. I know first hand.
Schizophrenai
- Internet Mental Health
- Schizophrenia Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, Treatment and Research on MedicineNet.com
Get information on schizophrenia symptoms (delusions, hallucinations), causes (genetics), diagnosis, treatment of schizophrenics (antipsychotic drugs) and types (paranoid). - Schizophrenia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Schizophrenia.com, Indepth Schizophrenia Information and Support
The Leading Independent Info Source on Schizophrenia Diagnosis, Treatments, News, Blogs, Support Groups and Education.
fortunerep says:
4 months ago
Very Well written hub, thanks for the info.
dori