Schizophrenia
Description
Schizophrenia is a serious chronic mental illness that affects the behavior and cognition of the affected person causing disconnection from reality due to having different symptoms. It makes the patient unable to live his normal life and leads to unemployment in up to 90% of patients in addition to decreasing the normal life expectancy by 10-20 years.
It affects 1% of people around the world and this usually occurs in young adults and adolescents. Compared to women, men experience schizophrenia at an earlier age and with greater frequency and severity.
Symptoms
Contrary to portrayals of the illness in the media, schizophrenia does not involve a “split personality.”
Symptoms include :
- Delusions (Wrong beliefs that are not real. ex: thinking that someone needs to harm him).
- Hallucinations (Hearing or seeing things that don’t exist).
- Disorganized speech (Partially or completely unrelated answers to questions or saying meaningless words).
- Disorganized unusual movement (Making childish silly movements or moving excessively for no reason).
- Negative symptoms (Decrease in certain behavior. ex: Decrease in facial expressions while talking, loss of motivation to do something that he usually enjoys, and social withdrawal).
- Not caring about hygiene and appearance
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Having Suicidal thoughts
- Drug or alcohol abuse
Over time, symptoms might change in nature and severity, and they can also go through phases of worsening and remission. Some symptoms might always be present.
Visit a Psychiatrist to be diagnosed and treated properly, If you or one of your family have any of these symptoms
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View MoreCauses
The precise cause of schizophrenia is unknown, but it’s thought to be related to an imbalance in the brain neurotransmitters, and genetic and environmental factors.
Risk factors :
- Genetics (Having a family history of schizophrenia increases the risk of developing this condition).
- Environment (Childhood trauma which includes child abuse, and immigration).
- Pregnancy and birth circumstances (Maternal infections, intrauterine growth restriction, and nutritional deficiencies).
Diagnostics
Schizophrenia diagnosis depends on the symptoms, medical history, and mental evaluation by a psychiatrist as no specific laboratory tests or imaging can diagnose this condition, but they may be used just to exclude other conditions.
Treatment
Schizophrenia requires lifelong treatment even if symptoms disappeared. Antipsychotic drugs are the cornerstone for controlling and treating the symptoms.
Medications :
Medications can be used as a single agent or in combination.
- Second-generation antipsychotic drugs (ex : Aripiprazole, Clozapine, Quetapine, Olanzapine, Risperidone).
- First-generation antipsychotic drugs (ex : Chlorpromazine, Haloperidol, Fluphenazine).
Psychotherapy : To help patients to cope with their condition. Drama and art therapy may be used to aid in improving the negative symptoms of the disease and preventing relapse.
