Schizophrenia

Many people think that schizophrenia means that the person has several personalities, and this isn’t correct. Rather, it means that the patient can’t deal with reality.

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a mental illness that affects the brain and makes it unable to correctly deal with thoughts, memory, senses, and behaviors. That leads to the inability to distinguish between reality and imagination, and this is a form of psychosis.

Schizophrenia mostly manifests in the early and mid-twenties in men and in the late twenties and early thirties in women.

Causes and risk factors leading to schizophrenia

There isn’t a specific reason for schizophrenia. The illness occurs due to a brain disturbance, such as an imbalance in the chemical signs between the brain cells, problems in brain development before birth, and loss of connections between brain areas.

Risk factors that increase the risk of schizophrenia include:

• Environmental factors, such as some infections and disorders, smoking, childhood traumas, malnutrition, vitamin D deficiency, and stress.
• Problems in child development during pregnancy and birth, such as having some common problems in pregnancy, malnutrition, or low birth weight.
• Using recreational drugs.
• Family history.

Symptoms of schizophrenia

Positive symptoms

This means that the main symptoms of schizophrenia exist, which include:

• Delusions, which means believing that something existed or happened despite the evidence against it.
• Hallucinations, which means that the patients see, hear, smell, touch, or taste things that don’t exist.
• Uncoordinated speech.
• Uncoordinated movement, such as excessive movement or catatonic behavior.

Negative symptoms

This means that the patients lack normal behaviors, which include:

• Lack of empathy.
• Being isolated.
• Lack of talking.
• Being unmotivated.
• Apathy.
• Decreases personal and public hygiene.

Cognitive symptoms

• Difficulty focusing and understanding information.
• Memory problems.
• Not understanding the normal things that everybody does.

Symptoms in teenagers

• Not doing well in school.
• Sleeping problems.
• Being isolated.
• Lacking motivation.
• Irritation or depression.

Complications of schizophrenia

• Depression and anxiety.
• Heavy alcohol consumption and taking drugs.
• Not being able to study and work.
• Aggressive behavior.
• Suicide attempts, which do occur sometimes.

Diagnosis of schizophrenia

• Mental health evaluation.
• Brain activity testing.
• Imaging tests.
• Lab tests.

Management of schizophrenia

There isn’t a cure for schizophrenia, yet the symptoms can be managed by:

• Psychological therapy.
• Specific medications.
• In some cases, electroconvulsive therapy.
• Psychological support from family and friends.
• Some cases might require hospitalizations due to severe symptoms.