Mental illnesses are a reality in our lives. No matter what causes them, it is something that many of us have to live with together, whether with friends, relatives, or acquaintances who often need some kind of help. One of the diseases that intensely affects not only the person, but also those around them, is schizophrenia, which is often misunderstood and subject to unkind remarks.
To better understand how to deal with a person suffering from this illness, what causes it, and how treatments are carried out, we first need to understand what schizophrenia is.
What is Schizophrenia?
Schizophrenia is one of the most complex psychiatric disorders known. The illness usually manifests itself in adolescence or early adulthood.
It is a brain alteration, where the person has difficulty judging what is real, as well as experiencing psychotic episodes, which can affect the individual’s ability to feel, think, and behave normally. In the most severe cases, the person creates a reality within their own mind, where they cannot distinguish what is real or not.
Symptoms of Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a disease that presents gradual symptoms, that is, symptoms are milder in the beginning and may worsen over time. Therefore, we can list the phases of symptoms as:
- Early Symptoms
- Positive Symptoms
- Negative Symptoms
Early Symptoms
As initial symptoms, we can list:
- Hyperactivity
- Anxiety
- Depressed Mood
- Learning Difficulties
As these early symptoms are very generic, they are easily mistaken for other illnesses such as anxiety disorder or even depression itself. It is necessary to see a specialist to be sure of what it is and then begin treatment as soon as possible.
Positive Symptoms
The phase of positive symptoms is characterized by the person’s first psychotic outbreak, that is, the first time the person experiences severe mental disorganization, where they cannot distinguish what is real and what is not. In this psychotic episode, or delusion, the person displays the following symptoms:
- Paranoia
- Creation of a Fantasy World
- Ideas of a Religious Nature
- Seeing and hearing things that do not exist
It is important to understand that the creation of these fantasies is not intentional and the person has no control over what they see or hear. This is a more severe state of the disease where extra attention is needed, since in some cases the person can even become dangerous.
Negative Symptoms
The negative symptoms appear in a stage where the illness begins to become chronic, even causing impairment in some brain functions, such as affectivity, for example. The main symptoms are:
- Lack of motivation to carry out everyday tasks
- Difficulty showing affection
- Lack of logic in speech
Although the disease as a whole affects the person’s social life, it is at this stage that the most acute consequences occur, mainly because of the loss of communication the patient has with others.
How is Schizophrenia Diagnosed?
Diagnosis of the disease is made through a consultation with a psychiatrist. There are no tests that can confirm the disease, so the process of finding out what is happening is delicate, based on interviews with the person and their family, to rule out the possibility of other types of mental illnesses and, consequently, other types of treatment.
Although there are no exams that diagnose schizophrenia, MRIs and CT scans can help rule out the possibility of other mental illnesses. Once the patient is diagnosed with schizophrenia, the psychiatrist must assess the severity of the case to be sure about the most appropriate treatment.
Causes of Schizophrenia
It is not exactly known how schizophrenia develops in a person’s brain, although it is already known that it is a disease in which changes in neurotransmitters and brain neuronal pathways occur. With that in mind, we can list some factors that help trigger the disease, such as:
- Family history
- Excessive marijuana use
- Having an older father
- Lack of oxygen at birth
It is very important to remember that these are only factors that can act as a trigger for schizophrenia and are not things that will necessarily cause the illness, since there are several other internal and external factors that determine whether a person has the disease or not.
What are the types of Schizophrenia?
Schizophrenia does not manifest in only one form in people. We can list some types as:
- Simple Schizophrenia
- Paranoid Schizophrenia
- Disorganized Schizophrenia
- Catatonic Schizophrenia
Each of these types presents a level of disorder and may demand different treatments.
Simple Schizophrenia
In this type of schizophrenia, the patient usually becomes isolated from others living in their own world. The person who suffers from this type usually has little or no affection for others, depending on the state they are in.
Paranoid Schizophrenia
In paranoid schizophrenia, social isolation also occurs, but along with the feeling of being persecuted by people or even supernatural beings.
Disorganized Schizophrenia
A type of schizophrenia in which the person presents childlike behavior, with nonsensical speech and actions that do not make sense.
Catatonic Schizophrenia
Catatonic schizophrenia occurs when the patient demonstrates behavior of total isolation not just from people, but from the world, and may remain in the same position for many hours, which can even cause loss of motor activities.
Treatments for Schizophrenia
Treatment for any type of schizophrenia must be life-long, even if the symptoms disappear. It involves a combination of regulated medications and social psychotherapy, which helps the patient return to reality and understand the world around them.
There are times when hospitalization is necessary, known as crisis moments, but when the right time for hospitalization is must always be determined by the psychiatrist responsible for the patient.
Schizophrenia is a disease that affects about 50,000 people per year in Brazil. Therefore, it is a reality we need to accept and not pretend it doesn’t exist or treat it as if it were a monstrosity.
The main problem of mental illnesses is the lack of knowledge people have about these disorders and the prejudice that occurs around them. We need to understand so we can improve this problem and learn to deal with those suffering from schizophrenia.
See Also: Child Therapy – Why Seek Help?
Photo: Marco Castellani
