Schizophrenia and its treatment

Schizophrenia, in medical terms is an illness which affects the normal function of the brain, interfering with the thinking, feeling and acting ability of the person. Some tend to recover quickly while others undergo a prolonged illness which may take more time resulting in distressing symptoms and disability.

At the onset, schizophrenia is a gradual deterioration which takes place in early adulthood. During pre onset phase, the person suffering from schizophrenia may become eccentric and unmotivated without any goals in life. They may even feel like isolating themselves from family and friends and may also stop engaging themselves in activities which otherwise were enjoyable.

The causes of schizophrenia are not really understood, but it is a possibility of a combination of hereditary and other factors or probably some are born with a predisposition which may lead to the illness. The use of drugs like marijuana, LSD or stress would be the first signs of this ailment. Schizophrenia victims may tend to experience persistent symptoms known as psychosis which may be confused thinking.

The victim may lose the ability to rationally evaluate the surroundings and their interaction with others and tend to believe in things which are not there and have difficulty in accepting the things in reality. They have hallucination and delusions reflecting the distortion in interpretations and perceptions of the realities of life. They often hear, see, smell or taste something that is not present.

The types of Schizophrenia may differ from person to person and may change year after year as the disease progresses and the different types of subtypes of schizophrenia can be identified according to the characteristics in each person and the result can be that a person can be diagnosed with different subtypes during the course of the illness.

 Paranoid Subtype or paranoid schizophrenia is auditory hallucination or delusional thinking related to persecution or conspiracy. Paranoid schizophrenia victims tend to lead a normal life successfully managing their disorder and may be more functional in their ability to work than people with other subtypes of schizophrenia. Paranoid schizophrenics often come to the attention of mental health professionals when they face some major stress which may cause their illness to get worse and the victim then recognizes the need for help or action from others.

Disorganized subtype features disorganization of thought process where delusions and hallucinations are less though there may be certain evidence of the symptoms. The victim may have significant impairments in maintaining daily living activity and the more routine task of daily living can be lost or impaired. They may also face impairment in emotional process where they may appear to be emotional unstable and their emotions may not seem proper and show ordinary emotional responses which may evoke responses in normal healthy person.

Schizophrenia diagnosed patients with this subtype may also have impairment in the ability to communicate properly and their speech may tend to be incomprehensible and this could be due to disorganized thinking. Schizophrenia victims can be treated with a combination of medication and support. Medication can help the brain to restore the chemical balance and eliminate the symptoms while support could help by way of finding suitable work, training, education, psychosocial rehabilitation and support groups where understanding and acceptance takes priority for best results.