Schizophrenia

 

 

Schizophrenia is a serious brain disorder that distorts the way a person thinks, acts, expresses emotions, perceives reality and relates to others. People with schizophrenia -- the most chronic and disabling of the major mental illnesses -- often have problems functioning in society, at work and at school, and in relationships. Schizophrenia can leave its sufferer frightened and withdrawn. It is a life-long disease that cannot be cured, but usually can be controlled with proper treatment.

Contrary to popular belief, schizophrenia is not a split personality. Schizophrenia is a psychosis, a type of mental illness in which a person cannot tell what is real from what is imagined. At times, people with psychotic disorders lose touch with reality. The world may seem like a jumble of confusing thoughts, images and sounds. The behavior of people with schizophrenia may be very strange and even shocking. A sudden change in personality and behavior, which occurs when people lose touch with reality, is called a psychotic episode.

Schizophrenia varies in severity from person to person. Some people have only one psychotic episode; others have many episodes during a lifetime but lead relatively normal lives between episodes. Schizophrenia symptoms seem to worsen and improve in cycles known as relapses and remissions.

Schizophrenia is a term given to a complex group of mental disorders. However, different types of schizophrenia may have some of the same symptoms. There are four basic subtypes of schizophrenia:
•Paranoid schizophrenia: People with this type are preoccupied with false beliefs (delusions) about being persecuted or being punished by someone. Their thinking, speech, and emotions, however, remain fairly normal.
•Disorganized schizophrenia: People with this type often are confused and incoherent, and have jumbled speech. Their outward behavior may be emotionless or flat or inappropriate, even silly or childlike. Often they have disorganized behavior that may disrupt their ability to perform normal daily activities such as showering or preparing meals.
•Catatonic schizophrenia: The most striking symptoms of this type are physical. People with catatonic schizophrenia are generally immobile and unresponsive to the world around them. They often become very rigid and stiff, and unwilling to move. Occasionally, these people have peculiar movements like grimacing or assume bizarre postures. Or, they might repeat a word or phrase just spoken by another person. People with catatonic schizophrenia are at increased risk of malnutrition, exhaustion, or self-inflicted injury.
•Undifferentiated schizophrenia: This subtype is diagnosed when the person's symptoms do not clearly represent one of the other three subtypes.
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What Are the Symptoms of Schizophrenia?

People with schizophrenia may have a number of symptoms involving changes in ability and personality, and they may display different kinds of behavior at different times. When the illness first appears, symptoms usually are sudden and severe.

The most common symptoms of schizophrenia can be grouped into three categories: Positive symptoms, disorganized symptoms, and negative symptoms.

Positive symptoms

In this case, the word positive does not mean "good." Rather, it refers to obvious symptoms that are not present in people without schizophrenia. These symptoms, which are sometime referred to as psychotic symptoms, include:
•Delusions: Delusions are strange beliefs that are not based in reality and that the person refuses to give up, even when presented with factual information. For example, the person suffering from delusions may believe that people can hear his or her thoughts, that he or she is God or the devil, or that people are putting thoughts into his or her head.
•Hallucinations: These involve perceiving sensations that aren't real, such as seeing things that aren't there, hearing voices, smelling strange odors, having a "funny" taste in your mouth and feeling sensations on your skin even though nothing is touching your body. Hearing voices is the most common hallucination in people with schizophrenia. The voices may comment on the person's behavior, insult the person or give commands.

Disorganized symptoms

Disorganized symptoms reflect the person's inability to think clearly and respond appropriately. Examples of disorganized symptoms include:
•Talking in sentences that do not make sense or using nonsense words, making it difficult for the person to communicate or engage in conversation
•Shifting quickly from one thought to the next
•Moving slowly
•Being unable to make decisions
•Writing excessively but without meaning
•Forgetting or losing things
•Repeating movements or gestures, such as pacing or walking in circles
•Having problems making sense of everyday sights, sounds and feelings

Negative symptoms

In this case, the word negative does not mean "bad," but reflects the absence of certain normal behaviors in people with schizophrenia. Negative symptoms include:
•Lack of emotion and expression; or emotions, thoughts and moods that do not fit with situations or events (for example, crying instead of laughing at a joke)
•Withdrawal from family, friends and social activities
•Reduced energy
•Lack of motivation
•Loss of pleasure or interest in life
•Poor hygiene and grooming habits
•Problems functioning at school, work or other activities
•Moodiness (being very sad or very happy, or having swings in mood)
•Catatonia (a condition in which the person becomes fixed in a single position for a very long time)

 

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