For those who don't already know, schizophrenia is an illness that attacks the human mind. It often causes someone to become delusional or think they're in their own little world. This is sometimes referred to as psychosis. That's the basic information on schizophrenia. It's NOT multiple personality disorder! I can't help but notice that these two illnesses are often confused or interchanged as though they're the same. Some individuals afflicted with schizophrenia will obsess over things. They simply can't help it. Now, what can we do to remedy this nasty mental disorder? Well, there are some current methods used in health care facilities. Research is often updated and new additions to past treatments arise. It's basically the same old routine as it is with most mental disorders. There is no miracle cure. Prescription medications are often the link to coping with mental disorders.
Schizophrenia is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a mental disorder characterized by impairments in the perception or expression of reality and by significant social or occupational dysfunction.
Schizophrenia is a brain illness that affects one percent of people all over the world.
The person can be young or older, women or men, it doesn't matter. Its diagnosis can be more difficult than it might seem because the symptoms of schizophrenia can be similar at times to other major brain disorders such as bipolar disorder or even major depression.
Diagnosis is based on the self-reported experiences of the patient, in combination with secondary signs observed by a psychiatrist, clinical psychologist or other competent clinicians.
The term "schizophrenia" translates roughly as "shattered mind," and comes from the Greek (schizo, "to split" or "to divide") and ("mind"). Despite its etymology, schizophrenia is not synonymous with dissociative identity disorder, also known as multiple personality disorder or "split personality"; in popular culture, the two are often confused.
Although schizophrenia often leads to social or occupational dysfunction, there is little association of the illness with a predisposition toward aggressive behavior.
There is no objective biological test for schizophrenia, though studies suggest that genetics, neurobiology, and social environment are important contributing factors.
Current research into the development of the disorder often focuses on the role of neurobiology, although a reliable and identifiable organic cause has not been found. In the absence of objective laboratory tests to confirm the diagnosis, some question the legitimacy of schizophrenia's status as a disease.
Schizophrenia is characterized by a disruption in cognition and emotion, affecting the most fundamental human attributes: language, thought, perception, affect, and sense of self. The entire sense of self is changed when a person is schizophrenic.
Schizophrenia symptoms are divided into three categories: positive symptoms, disorganized symptoms, and negative symptoms.
The most common symptom is delusions - patients think that they are somebody other than themselves, often someone famous.
Hallucinations follow close behind in frequency. These can be hearing things nobody else does, seeing things that aren't there, or even smelling and feeling something that nobody else does.
Disorganized thinking and disorganized speech are also present in people with schizophrenia.
Other disorganized symptoms are difficulty understanding, poor concentration, poor memory, difficulty expressing thoughts, difficulty integrating thoughts, feelings, and behavior.
Catatonic behavior is characterized by stupor/inactivity. The person with this can stand still for a long period of time, staring at something, and nothing will disturb him or cause him to change position.
Negative symptoms include:- lack of emotion, the inability to enjoy activities as much as before, low energy (the person sits around and sleeps much more than normal) lack of interest in life and low motivation.
Schizophrenia is one of the more serious mental disorders. It can, with proper treatment, be controlled. The main thing is to make sure medication is not discontinued. This so often happens in schizophrenic patients who do not have anyone keeping track of things like medication.
Patients diagnosed with schizophrenia are highly likely to be diagnosed with other disorders. The lifetime prevalence of substance abuse disorders is typically around 40%. Co-morbidity is also high with clinical depression, anxiety disorders, social problems, and a generally decreased life expectancy is also present. Patients diagnosed with schizophrenia typically live 10-12 years less than their healthy counterparts, owing to increased physical health problems and a large suicide rate.
