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Schizophrenia
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Schizophrenia is a severe disorder of the brain in which reality is skewed and there are symptoms like delusions, hallucinations or disordered thinking. Behavior is affected as well. People with schizophrenia tend to deteriorate over time so they can't take care of themselves after awhile. Schizophrenia, despite its name, is different from multiple or split personalities. It is a mental disorder that requires lifelong management and caregiving.
There are various symptoms of schizophrenia including positive, cognitive and negative symptoms. It takes a cluster of symptoms to result in a diagnosis of schizophrenia, which often begins in the teens or early twenties. It can start in the early thirties in women. It is rare to be diagnosed after the age of forty years.
The positive symptoms of schizophrenia include those things that are visibly seen in schizophrenia including delusions or misperceptions of reality, hallucinations or seeing and hearing things that aren't there, thought disorder, which is difficulty speaking or organizing one's thoughts and behavior that is inappropriate or disorganized.
The negative symptoms refer to a lack of normal functioning. They can occur before the positive symptoms become obvious and include loss of interest in everyday activities, lack of emotional feelings, neglect of hygiene, social withdrawal, problems planning or carrying out actions or activities and motivational neglect.
The cognitive problems associated with schizophrenia include thought process disruption and are quite debilitating. The schizophrenic has difficulty making sense out of things he or she is supposed to learn, memory difficulties and problems with attention to surroundings. There can be associated affective problems, such as depression, mood swings and suicidal thoughts. There tends to be a great deal of social isolation with schizophrenia.
Suicidal thoughts and suicidal behavior are a big problem with schizophrenia. On some deep level, the individual knows he or she is having severe problems with living and often wishes to die instead of dealing with the thought disorder. There can be delusions related to suicide as well.
The cause of schizophrenia is believed to be related to genetics more so than environment. There are problems with the glutamate neurotransmitter as well as with dopamine. When doctors do neuroimaging studies, they find evidence of problems with brain structure and functioning. There are a number of risk factors for schizophrenia, including having a positive family history of the disease, having exposure to viruses or malnutrition in the womb, especially in the first and second trimester of the pregnancy, having an older father, undergoing stress and taking psychoactive illicit drugs during the teen years or during early adulthood.
The complications of schizophrenia can be severe and can affect all facets of the individual's life. This can include the high risk of suicidality, depression unresponsive to medications, self injurious behavior, drug or alcohol abuse, poverty, family difficulties, homelessness and difficulty working or going to school. There can be health problems associated with taking antipsychotics and there can be problems with the sufferer partaking in violent crime or being a victim of a violent crime.
Schizophrenia is diagnosed by conducting multiple psychological tests and examinations. Lab tests can be done to rule in or out drug or alcohol abuse. MRI scans or CT scans can be done to see what's going on inside the brain. Doctors can use the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual or DSM to see if the individual's behavior meets the criteria for schizophrenia. The individual must have delusions or hallucinations, disorganized speech, catatonic behavior or some of the negative symptoms of schizophrenia. They must have had the symptoms for at least six months and be unable to participate in work or school activities.
There are several different types of schizophrenia. Some people fall into more than one category. The categories include: paranoid schizophrenia, in which there are delusions that the person is being hurt by others; catatonic schizophrenia, in which the individual stares into space or doesn't interact with others; disorganized schizophrenia, in which the individual has disorganized thoughts and behaviors; undifferentiated schizophrenia, that involves being in more than one of the other categories; and residual schizophrenia, in which the person has no or few positive symptoms but has a great many other symptoms.
Medications for schizophrenia can usually tackle the positive symptoms. There aren't any medications that work well on the negative symptoms. Agitation is usually handled via the use of benzodiazepines. Antipsychotics like Clozaril, Zyprexa, Invega and Geodon work on the positive symptoms of schizophrenia. There are several older antipsychotics in use as well, including chlorpromazine and haloperidol.