Schizophrenia

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Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a chronic, severe mental disorder that affects the way a person thinks, acts, expresses emotions, perceives reality, and relates to others. Though schizophrenia isn’t as common as other major mental illnesses, it can be the most chronic and disabling.

People with schizophrenia often have problems doing well in society, at work, at school, and in relationships. They might feel frightened and withdrawn, and could appear to have lost touch with reality. This lifelong disease can’t be cured but can be controlled with the proper treatment.

Contrary To popular belief, schizophrenia is not a split or multiple personality. Schizophrenia involves psychosis, the type of mental illness in which a person can’t tell what’s real from what imagine. At times, people are psychotic disorders lose touch with reality. The world may seem like a jumble of confusing thoughts, images, and sounds. Their behavior may be very strange and even shocking. A sudden change in personality and behavior, which happens when people who have it lose touch with reality, it’s called a psychotic episode.

How’s severe schizophrenia is varies from person to person. Some people have only one psychotic episode, while others may have many episodes during a lifetime but lead relatively normal lives in between. Still others may have more trouble functioning over time, with a little improvement between full-blown psychotic episodes. Schizophrenia symptoms seem to worsen and improve in cycles known as relapses and remissions. Source

Symptoms

Schizophrenia involves a range of problems with thinking cognitive, behavioral or emotions. Signs and symptoms may vary, but usually involve delusions, hallucinations or diss organize beach, and reflect an impaired ability to function. Symptoms me include:

Delusions. These are false beliefs that are not based in reality. For example, you think that you’re being harmed or harassed; certain gestures or comments are directed at you; you have exceptional ability or fame; Another person is in love with you; or a major catastrophe is about to occur. Delusions occur in most people with schizophrenia.

• Hallucinations. These usually involves seeing or hearing things that don’t exist. Yet for the person with schizophrenia, they have the full force of an impact of a normal experience. Hallucinations can be in any of the senses, but hearing voices is the most common hallucination.

• Disorganized thinking (speech). 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.

• Extremely disorganized or abnormal motor behavior. This may show in a number of ways, from childlike silliness to unpredictable agitation. Behavior isn’t focused on a goal, so it’s hard to do tasks. Behavior can include resistance to instructions, inappropriate or bizarre posture, a complete lack of response, or useless and excessive movement.

• Negative symptoms. This refers to the reduced or lack of ability to function normally. For example, the person may neglect personal hygiene or appear to lack emotion (does it make and I contact, doesn’t change facial expressions or speaks in a monotone). Also, the person may lose interest in everyday activities, socially withdraw or lack the ability to experience pleasure.

Symptoms can vary in type in severely overtime, with periods of worsening and remission of symptoms. Some symptoms may always be present.

Inman, schizophrenia symptoms typically start in the early to mid 20s. In women, symptoms typically begin in the late 20s. It’s uncommon for children to be diagnosed with schizophrenia and we are for those older than the age 45.

Symptoms in teenagers

Schizophrenia symptoms in teenagers are similar to those in adults, but the condition may be more difficult to recognize. This may be in part because some of the early symptoms of schizophrenia in teenagers are common for typical development during teen years, such as:

• Withdraw from friends and family

• A drop in performance at school

• Trouble sleeping

• Irritability or depressed mood

• Lack of emotion

Compared with schizophrenia symptoms in adults teens may be:

• Less likely to have delusions

• More likely to have visual hallucinations                                                                                                      Source

Risk Factors

There are several factors that contribute to the risk of developing schizophrenia.

Genes and environment. Scientists have long known that schizophrenia sometimes runs in families. However, there are many people who have schizophrenia who don’t have a family member with the disorder and conversely, many people with one or more family members with the disorder who do not develop it themselves.

Scientists believe that many different genes may increase the risk of schizophrenia, but that no single gene causes the disorder by itself. It is not yet possible to use genetic information to predict who will develop schizophrenia.

Scientist also think their interactions between genes and aspects of the individual’s environment are necessary for schizophrenia to develop. Environmental factors may include:

• Exposure to viruses

• Nutrition before birth

• Problems during birth

• Psychosocial factors

Different brain chemistry and structure. Scientists think that an imbalance in the complex, interrelated chemical reactions of the brain involving the neurotransmitters (substances that brain cells use to communicate with each other) dopamine and glutamine, and possibly others, play a role in schizophrenia.

Some experts also think problems during brain development before birth may lead to party connections. The brain also on there cause major changes during puberty, and these changes could trigger psychotic symptoms of people who are vulnerable due to genetics or brain differences.Source

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Helping Yourself

Coping with schizophrenia isn’t easy. If you have schizophrenia, the condition can exert control over your thoughts, interfere with functioning and if not treated, lead to a crisis. Here are some ways to help manage your illness.

• Manage stress. Stress can trigger psychosis and make the symptoms of schizophrenia worse, so keeping it on the control is extremely important. Know your limits, both at home and at school or work. Don’t take on more than you can handle and take time for yourself if you’re feeling overwhelmed.

• Try to get plenty of sleep. When you’re on medication, you most likely need even more sleep than the standard eight hours. Many people with schizophrenia have trouble with sleep, but lifestyle changes such as getting regular exercise and avoiding caffeine can help.

• Avoid alcohol and drugs. It’s indisputable that substance abuse affects the benefits of medication and worsen symptoms. If you have a substance abuse problem, seek help.

• Maintain connections. Having friends and family involving a treatment plan can go along way toward recovery. People living with schizophrenia often have a difficult time in social situations, so surrounding yourself with people who understand this can make the transition back into daily social life smoother. If you feel you can, consider joining a schizophrenia support group or getting involved with a local church, club, or other organization.

Helping a family member or friend

• Respond calmly. Do you love the one, the hallucinations seem real, so it doesn’t help to say they are imaginary. Calmly explain that you see things differently. Being respectful without tolerating dangerous or inappropriate behavior.

• Pay attention to triggers. You can help your family member or friend understand, and try to avoid the situations that trigger his or her symptoms or cause relapse or disrupt normal activities.

• Help ensure medications are taken as prescribed. Many people question whether they still need the medication when they’re feeling better,Or if they don’t like the side effects. Echoridge your love wanted to take his or her medication regularly to prevent symptoms from coming back or getting worse.

• Understanding lack of awareness (anosognosia). Your family member or friend one may be unable to see that he or she has schizophrenia. Rather than trying to convince the person he or she has schizophrenia, you can show support by helping him or her be safe, get therapy, and take the prescribed medications.

• Help avoid drugs or alcohol. These substances are known to worsen schizophrenia symptoms and trigger psychosis. If your loved one develops a substance use disorder, getting help is essential. schizophrenia symptoms and trigger psychosis. If your loved one develops a substance use disorder, getting help is essential. Source

The future of mental health disorders, their treatment and the possibility of finding a cure!

There are so many variables when discussing ‘Schizophrenia’ and other mental health illnesses. Shedding light on just a few to bring awareness to the possibility of newer, more advanced and better treatments and one day even cures is what… LifeInSight Biotherapeutics Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization has set out to do. More than bringing awareness, LifeInSight Biotherapeutics was established to fund collaborative research designed to optimize treatments for mental illness and substance use disorders.

 

In 2016, a team of elite scientists from some of the most prestigious medical universities in the country formed an alliance to develop such treatments. This alliance allows them to more closely collaborate and integrate their research efforts among each of their universities programs. The collaboration would greatly assist with their research efforts and speed the process of developing treatments, or cures, for these mental health disorders.

 

These universities have now achieved sufficient scientific and technological advancements to declare that within our lifetime, we will improve treatments for mental health disorders, and the only resources lacking are monies to fund their cooperative research and development.

 

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