Schizophrenia – A Misinterpreted Myth

Schizophrenia is a mental illness which is mostly misinterpreted. It is generally misunderstood with violent nature or split personalities but it isn’t so. Schizophrenia is a brain disorder which influences a person’s thoughts, feelings and behaviour. This is a pure myth when people with Schizophrenia are termed as split personality or multiple personalities,  as people with schizophrenia have unorganized thought processes, delusions or hallucinations which can be cured.Schizophrenia creates distress, confusion and creates trouble in spending the day. Schizophrenia is a very challenging disorder but it is treatable with medication, therapy and support of loved ones.

 Causes of Schizophrenia

• There is no single cause of schizophrenia, there can be multiple causes like genetics as having a family member suffering from Schizophrenia increases the risk of getting it. However someone with no family history can also suffer from Schizophrenia.
• Any past trauma, abuse or daily life stress can be suspected as causes of schizophrenia.
• Chemical imbalances in the brain can also cause schizophrenia but that should be consulted first with a doctor.
• Delivery or pregnancy complications such as malnutrition or infection can slightly hamper the development and can cause Schizophrenia.
• There can be many other causes of schizophrenia like big changes in lifestyle, going through a rough phase in career or having family issues etc.

Symptoms of Schizophrenia

• The positive symptoms or we can say added experiences are typically not found in healthy people.

            1. Hallucinations generally mean smelling odors, seeing things or hearing voices that do not exist.

            2. Delusions are the beliefs that are extremely false like believing that someone is watching or  believing to have some kind of special powers.

                        3. Having this disorganized behaviour like difficulty with daily activity, behaving in a disobeyed manner, creating very strange or unusual moments.

• The negative symptoms are the signs of unusual functioning like losing interest or motivation, low emotional expression, difficulty in enjoying life, avoiding social contact or social withdrawal.
• Having thinking difficulties like memory problems like not being able to memorize or retain things, difficulty in focusing on things, having trouble in organising or planning work.

Happens to whom

Men :- 18-25 age

Women :- 25-35 age 

Late adolescence or early adulthood is when Schizophrenia usually begins and is uncommon in children but early warning signs may be seen several years before full symptoms.

Types of Schizophrenia

1. Paranoid Schizophrenia :-

Paranoid Schizophrenia can be specified as hallucinations and delusions.It is a pattern of behaviour where a person feels suspicious of other people and acts accordingly. It is a phase where the mind is not able to agree with reality. Even when there is strong evidence about the delusion of a person suffering from paranoid schizophrenia that person is not able to believe the evidence also. When it comes to hallucinations one can hear voices of people making fun of them or insulting them, one might also see things that aren’t really there.

2. Catatonic Schizophrenia :-

Catatonic Schizophrenia is a disturbance of movement like odd movements or excessive stillness. Catatonic schizophrenia symptoms can include things such as not moving, not blinking or staring for a very long time, if someone touches your palm then grabbing their hand, not making eye contact, repeatedly feet tapping, odd behaviours like suddenly running or taking off clothes. Catatonic Schizophrenia symptoms are grouped into 12 features and when doctor makes his  diagnosis there are at least three of them, these are – 

• Stupor
• Mannerisms
• Negativism
• Posturing
• Waxy flexibility
• Grimacing
• Echolalia
• Echopraxia
• Agitation
• Catalepsy
• Mustim 

3. Disorganized Schizophrenia :-

Disorganized Schizophrenia is disorganised thinking,behavior and speech. People with disorganised schizophrenia might have trouble organising their thoughts which can lead to unusual behaviour or reactions to situations that are like feeling out of place or laughing at a sad moment. It also makes it harder for others to understand the person suffering with disorganised schizophrenia. This is more understood as a person with disorganised schizophrenia for instance talking about one topic and suddenly switching to an unrelated topic.

4. Residual Schizophrenia :-

Residual Schizophrenia has constant but well known symptoms. It is a schizophrenia where the symptoms remain after the severe episodes of hallucinations and delusions have reduced or diminished. People with residual schizophrenia seem more stable but they don’t face challenges of emotional symptoms. There are very reduced emotional expressions, difficulty in initiating conversations, reduced hallucinations and delusions, difficulty in concentration and thoughts, lack of motivation to work or even self care.

Diagnosing Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is something which is hard to detect as schizophrenia symptoms are often misinterpreted so there is a need for a doctor’s examination.

• Psychiatric examination involves discussing daily life difficulties, changes in behaviour, history of issues and symptoms which one person is experiencing.
• Physical examination and testing includes checking out for brain damage, drug abuse or thyroid disease, once the risk of these diseases are eliminated, then examination for schizophrenia starts.
• Observations are taken into consideration as the active symptoms like hallucinations or delusions should last more than a month and these symptoms should be persistent for at least six months.

Conclusion

Schizophrenia does not define someone’s life, it is a severe mental illness which is treatable with proper treatment and support of loved  ones. Schizophrenia is seeing things that are not in reality which makes it more scarier. There could be disorganized speech, unusual behavior or reactions. Hallucinations and delusions can exhaust a person at extreme level and it does hamper daily life of a person rather it  disturbs daily routine of a person such a level that the person starts lacking motivation and drive to do any work as people will misunderstand them and use the stigma terminology for them and not treat them as normal. So if you know someone suffering from schizophrenia do try to understand them, learn more about the facts of schizophrenia and don’t become a hurdle in their struggles as schizophrenia needs great tolerance and understanding of nearby people to cure. There is a need for a more empathetic world so the people suffering from disorders can take fresh breath without embarrassment of being suffering from something which is not even their fault.