schizo

SCHIZOPHRENIA: WHAT TO DO?

Schizophrenia is a type of major mental illness which affects the way we think.  A person suffering from schizophrenia experiences changes in behavior and perceptions, hallucinations, a lack of drive as well as having distorted thinking that causes a person to lose sense of reality. He/she may also find difficult to understand what is real and what is imaginary. Schizophrenia usually strikes in individual in late adolescence or young adulthood (between ages 16 and 30). The rate of developing symptoms is more in men than women. People usually get schizophrenia at young age. Being a chronic disorder, the cure has not been discovered yet, but a variety of treatments may help the patient to get complete control over it.

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF SCHIZOPHRENIA?

Schizophrenic patients go through two types of categories namely:

·         Positive symptoms: delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech and disorganized thinking.

·         Negative symptoms: catatonic behavior, lapsed self care, paranoia, apathy and social withdrawal.

1.   Delusions

This is the most common symptom of schizophrenia.  A delusion is a false belief that has no identity in reality. It is one of the positive symptoms of schizophrenia. A person with this symptom feels that they are true and resist agreeing on true things. They resist arguments and evidence that they are wrong. A person may believe that someone is spying on him/her; someone is following him/her. Sometimes they may feel that a particular book (or a passage from a book), an article in the newspaper, song lyrics are specifically directed at him/her. They may also feel that the anchor appearing in the TV show is talking to them.

Following are the types of delusions:

·         Persecutory delusion

In this particular type of delusion, the patient fears that he/she is being tracked, spied upon, plotted against, harmed or harassed by an individual or group. They may also think that someone is going to kill them.

·         Delusion of grandeur

This is a false belief of affected person that he/she is superior to everyone. He/she thinks that they are genius and has some extraordinary talent.

·         Delusional jealousy

In this form of delusion, the sufferer develops a thought that his/her other half or sexual partner or spouse is disloyal. He/she may go to any extent to find such confirmation, spoiling the relationship. It is also known as morbid jealousy or pathological jealousy.

·         Erotomania or delusion of love

In this type of delusion, the patient is fully sure that a person, especially a famous person or a person with a high status is in love with him or her.

·         Somatic delusional disorder

It is a belief that there is some alteration in the body. For example – a person may feel some kind of sensation on their skin. They may also feel some parasite or insect crawling over their skin.

2.   Hallucinations

Schizophrenic patients mostly suffer from hallucinations. Some people think that hallucinations are just seeing things that don’t exist. But there’s more to it. The schizophrenic patients might see, hear, feel, smell or taste which normal folks don’t.

·         They (patients) hear voices talking to each other or with them.  This is known as ‘auditory hallucinations’.

·         They might feel at some point that someone is ordering or arguing with them. The patients see things which do not exist. This is also called ‘visual hallucinations’.

·         They smell things. This is also known as ‘olfactory hallucination’. The patient may think that the smell is coming around him/her.

·         After eating, they might feel the taste odd which is known as ‘gustatory hallucinations’.

·         The patient might feel or touch things which are actually not there. For example – they may feel that someone is tickling them. This is called’ tactile hallucinations’.

3.   Disorganized speech

Disorganized speech takes place from strange thought processes. A person suffering from this symptom talks illogically, may switch topics when talking, engage in confused ‘word salad’, making the listener utterly bewildered. He/she reiterates things what another person says to him/her. Usually the patient repeats last sentences or last 2-3 words. They make conversations which are difficult to understand.

4.   Disorganized thinking

This symptom of schizophrenia is also known as thought disorder. A person having this symptom cannot think clearly. Thoughts come and go rapidly in his/her mind. The sufferer is not able to focus on one thought or may not think straight which can make a conversation difficult.

5.   Catatonic behavior

Catatonic behavior is another sign of abnormal motor (human body) behavior in which a person may feel distracted or unfocused making tough for the person to carry out the simplest tasks. They may feel bothered, act childish or excited in unpredictable ways. In this behavior, the victim can hold their body in a fixed position and may remains in that position without any inconvenience. They repeat movements made by another person. They remain unaware of their surroundings and don’t respond to any stimuli even if you poke or touch them. They may show waxy flexibility, a symptom in which the sufferer remains in an immobile posture.

6.   Lapsed self care

This is another symptom in which the patients stop taking care of themselves. This should be pronounced as ‘normal for you’. The behaviors under lapsed self care are below:

·         The patient starts abusing substances like alcohol or drugs.

·         Sleep pattern changes. Duration of sleep varies, for example – 4 hours one night, 12 hours another day.

·         They feel (emotions & expressions) flat.

·         They don’t care about hygiene.

7.   Paranoia

One of the most familiar features of schizophrenia is paranoia. Paranoid beliefs include persecutory beliefs or beliefs of conspiracy. For instance, they may feel that a neighbor is playing loud music intentionally to exasperate the sufferer rather than just being insensitive. This may build up the sufferer’s mind that his/her neighbor is vigorously spying on him or her and purposely harassing him or her. Another example include, they start supposing that a group of people is conspiring against the sufferer to kill him/her.

8.   Apathy

The patient under this symptom shows lack of interest in daily activities, express little curiosity in the events surrounding him. They stop enjoying what they used to enjoy. They discontinue practicing work, studies or hobbies. An absence of emotion can also be seen.

9.   Social withdrawal

This is the biggest symptom of schizophrenia. The patient starts withdrawing him/her socially as they are afraid of being killed or harmed by someone. They feel danger around them and fear to come outside their homes. Moreover, they end contacting their friends and show no importance in talking with them instead they start spending time with themselves.

HOW TO TREAT SCHIZOPHRENIA?

Schizophrenic patients need a combination of treatments which include medications, psychological counseling, talk-therapies and social support. Medications include antipsychotic drugs that are used to improve patient’s positive symptoms (i.e. delusions, hallucinations). However, it lessens schizophrenia but don’t cure. Antipsychotic drugs bring changes in the chemicals of brain called dopamine, serotonin, noradrenalin and acetylcholine. These drugs will give relief in changes of mood, behavior and emotions. A person who suffered the disorder will feel less agitated and will recover from hallucinations within a few weeks after taking the drugs. Within 6 weeks, a person may feel better and delusions may also shrink.

There are two types of antipsychotic medications:

·         Typical/first generation (older)

·         Atypical/second generation(newer)

The newer can help in improving:

·         Emotion problems(difficulty in expressing emotions)

·         Interaction problems with others(less interaction due to fear)

·         Common symptoms of tension, depression, panic, guilt, anxiety and fear

However, both typical and atypical antipsychotics have some common side effects which comprise:

·         Drowsiness

·         Dizziness when changing positions

·         Skin rash

·         Blurry vision

·         Menstrual problems

·         Dry mouth

·         Problems with sex

·         Rapid heartbeat

·         Enlarged breasts

·         Sensitivity to the sun

Though, schizophrenia is not curable, but it can be treated and is a manageable recurring illness like diabetes. Revival is possible by medications and therapies. A calculation by NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) states that half of 2 million Americans can recover if gets proper treatment.

If your loved one or a close friend shows the mentioned symptoms, if they are in trouble, assist them in acquiring medical advice. They just need your support, physically and mentally.