Schizophrenia? (my current disorder)

Schizophrenia is too ambiguous. It has no monogamous definition, and there are different description regarding this matter. But i do hope my research will help you to understand what a Schizophrenia is.



Schizophrenia - is a psychosis; 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 Schizophrenia can leave its sufferer frightened and withdrawn.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.

There are two groups of symptoms: the positive and negative. Positive symptoms refer to traits that are "added" to your personality and include a combination of disordered thinking (cognitive impairment) and psychotic symptoms (such as hallucinations). Negative symptoms are capabilities or aspects of your personality that are "lost" with schizophrenia (such as lack of emotion or expression) and usually develop first.

Positive symptoms include:

Hallucinations
These usually involve hearing voices, but they can involve all the senses—seeing, tasting, touching, hearing, or smelling something that is not there.

Delusions
These are firmly held but false beliefs. Some common experiences include thinking you are the President of the United States, or that you are being persecuted or chased by the CIA or by demons.

Disordered (confused) thinking and speech that does not make any sense.
Examples include abruptly responding to questions, not being able to respond with enough information, or always giving a one-word reply to questions.

Bizarre or disorganized behavior.
Usually the behavior involves being overly excited, angry, or unresponsive to other people. It may also include bizarre body movements, such as rocking back and forth or grimacing repeatedly.

Self-neglect
such as becoming isolated from other people, wearing dirty clothes, or neglecting living space until it becomes untidy or cluttered.

Inappropriate emotions
such as smiling when speaking of sad topics or laughing for no reason.

Negative symptoms include:

Inability to experience pleasure.
This is a common symptom in schizophrenia and includes difficulty enjoying activities that once brought pleasure, such as playing golf or visiting with friends.

Lack of emotion.
This can lead to few friendships or social contacts. Showing little facial expression, having poor eye contact, and slowed speech are characteristic.

Loss of motivation to succeed or accomplish goals.
Job or school performance problems are common and usually due to an inability to complete tasks or goals.

Problems focusing or paying attention, difficulty processing information, confusion, and fragmented thoughts.

Negative symptoms usually occur first and can be confused with other health problems such as depression or substance abuse. Substance abuse often occurs before the symptoms of schizophrenia become apparent.

There are Different types 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.

* Residual Schizophrenia:
In this type of schizophrenia, the severity of schizophrenia symptoms has decreased. Hallucinations, delusions, or other symptoms may still be present but are considerably less than when the schizophrenia was originally diagnosed.


WHAT ARE THE CAUSES OF SCHIZOPHRENIA?

There are many theories about the cause of schizophrenia, but none have been proved.

There is some evidence that genetics may play a role. Your chance of developing schizophrenia is 10 times greater if your parent or sibling has the disease. But having a relative with schizophrenia does not mean you will get this disease. Many people develop schizophrenia who do not have a relative with this condition.

Schizophrenia may also be related to problems experienced during pregnancy, including malnutrition or exposure to a viral infection, that can damage an unborn child's developing brain and nervous system.Recent evidence suggests that treating a pregnant woman who has high blood pressure with diuretics during the third trimester may put the baby at risk for later developing schizophrenia.

Another recent study suggests that a child is at greater risk for developing schizophrenia if the father is over the age of 50 when the child is conceived.Another possible cause is a head injury in a child who has a parent or sibling with schizophrenia—the head injury may trigger this brain disease if the child is genetically already at risk.

HOW IS SCHIZOPHRENIA TREATED?

The goal of treatment is to reduce the symptoms of schizophrenia and to decrease the chances of a relapse, or return of symptoms. Treatment may include:

* Medications:
The primary medications used to treat schizophrenia are called antipsychotics. These medicines do not cure schizophrenia but help relieve the most troubling symptoms, including delusions, hallucinations and thinking problems. Older medications used include: Thorazine, Prolixin, Haldol, Navane, Stelazine, Trilafon and Mellaril. Newer medications used to treat schizophrenia include: Risperdal, Clozaril, Seroquel, Geodon, Zyprexa, and Abilify.

* Psychosocial therapy:
While medication may help relieve symptoms of schizophrenia, various psychosocial treatments can help with the behavioral, psychological, social and occupational problems associated with the illness. Through therapy, patients also can learn to control their symptoms, identify early warning signs of relapse and develop a relapse prevention plan. Psychosocial therapies include:
o Rehabilitation,
which focuses on social skills and job training to help people with schizophrenia function in the community and live as independently as possible.
o Individual psychotherapy,
which can help the person better understand his or her illness, and learn coping and problem-solving skills.
o Family therapy,
which can help families deal more effectively with a loved one who has schizophrenia, enabling them to better help their loved one.
o Group therapy/support groups,
which can provide continuing mutual support.
* Hospitalization:
Most people with schizophrenia may be treated as outpatients. However, people with particularly severe symptoms, or those in danger of hurting themselves or others may require hospitalization to stabilize their condition.
* Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT):
This is a procedure in which electrodes are attached to the person's head and a series of electric shocks are delivered to the brain. The shocks induce seizures, causing the release of neurotransmitters in the brain. This form of treatment is rarely used today in the treatment of schizophrenia. ECT may be useful when all medications fail or if severe depression or catatonia makes treating the illness difficult.
* Psychosurgery: Lobotomy,
an operation used to sever certain nerve pathways in the brain, was formerly used in some patients with severe, chronic schizophrenia. It is now performed only under extremely rare circumstances. This is because of the serious, irreversible personality changes that the surgery may produce and the fact that far better results are generally attained from less drastic and hazardous procedures

Schizophrenia is not dangerous as what people knows. We, who suffer in this kind of psychopath is not violent as what you think of. I as an individual, who is under this disorder is currently undergoing a Psychosocial Therapy and also i am under medications in which i need to take up 2 - 3 kinds of medicines.


This disorder can't be treated but can be controlled.