Schizophrenia

Picture this; you’ve been seeing and hearing things lately, to be more specific for the past month. You don’t think anything of it because there’s little to no chance of these hallucinations actually meaning anything. But you’re wrong, because suddenly the paranoia, the hallucinations and the delusions become unbearable. You finally decide to get a checkup and figure out the true meaning behind all of this. This is the reality of tens of thousands of schizophrenic patients all over the world.

 

Schizophrenia is one of many severe mental disorders. The following are common symptoms found in patients; hallucinations are false perceptions such as seeing or hearing things that aren’t real. Delusions are false beliefs, thinking or talking to something that is not actually there is one form of delusion. Blunted emotion is very similar to having mood swings. Withdrawal from reality means you distance yourself from the real world. Although there is no cure for schizophrenia, there are many ways to treat its symptoms.

 

Some of these treatments are; an antipsychotic drug, which is typically used for patients who suffer with any type of psychosis. Some patients decide to do psycho or hormone therapy instead of taking a type of medication or drug. During hormone therapy the main focus is to work with one’s hormones to decrease the craziness of symptoms. In psychotherapy the main focus is the brain, as the brain is a main factor to schizophrenia. Another option of treatments is estrogen. Though, these treatments may not work for some schizophrenic patients.

 

Although these treatments help with symptoms, they do not help with any damage schizophrenia has already caused to the body. Most damage occurs in the patients brain. Schizophrenia causes changes to the prefrontal cortex, medial and superior temporal lobes, which are key parts to one’s memory. Schizophrenia can cause early onset dementia, depression, anxiety and anorexia. Those are all severely affective to an individuals mental and physical health. Psychiatrists typically diagnose these mental illnesses and disorders during early years of schizophrenia. There’s more to schizophrenia though. Psychotic episodes happen a lot. If a patient begins having a psychotic episode, doctors will order a CT or and MRI (magnetic resonance imaging.) The acute schizophrenic phase may lead to hospitalization. Men are normally diagnosed through early-mid 20s, while women are typically diagnosed through early-mid 30s. Schizophrenia affects races and genders equally, though men may develop earlier.

 

Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness that is not generally given as much attention as other mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, etc. Because of that reason many, many people do not realize how severe schizophrenia actually is. Over years it has developed more and more making it even more stressful and hard on people who struggle from this mental illness. Its not something that can be controlled or cured, making it a lot worse than some may think.

 

Work cited:

“Schizophrenia.” Britannica School, Encyclopædia Britannica, 14 Jan. 2020. school.eb.com/levels/middle/article/schizophrenia/66141. Accessed 16 Feb. 2022.

 

Schneider-Mayerson, Anna. “Shedding light on suicide and schizophrenia: hormonal changes and vitamin deficiencies are implicated. (Patterns).” Psychology Today, vol. 35, no. 3, May-June 2002, p. 23. Gale OneFile: Psychology, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A87022785/PPPC?u=ko_k12pr_d65&sid=bookmark-PPPC&xid=79783bbb. Accessed 16 Feb. 2022.

 

Collins, Julie, and Addison Fay. “Addressing Childhood-Onset Schizophrenia.” Children’s Voice Magazine, vol. 25, no. 1, Jan. 2016, pp. 22+. Gale OneFile: Psychology, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A654815611/PPPC?u=ko_k12pr_d65&sid=bookmark-PPPC&xid=4e465b76. Accessed 16 Feb. 2022.

 

Perina, Kaja. “A theory of everything: could fatty acids explain schizophrenia–and civilization? (Health).” Psychology Today, vol. 35, no. 4, July-Aug. 2002, p. 19. Gale OneFile: Psychology, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A91752192/PPPC?u=ko_k12pr_d65&sid=bookmark-PPPC&xid=b153092b. Accessed 16 Feb. 2022.

 

“Schizophrenia.” Encyclopedia of Drugs, Alcohol & Addictive Behavior, edited by Pamela Korsmeyer and Henry R. Kranzler, 3rd ed., vol. 4, Macmillan Reference USA, 2009, pp. 1-2. Gale Health and Wellness, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX2699700407/HWRC?u=ko_k12pr_d65&sid=bookmark-HWRC&xid=ac7b862a. Accessed 16 Feb. 2022.

 

Gulli, Laith Farid, et al. “Schizophrenia.” The Gale Encyclopedia of Genetic Disorders, edited by Brigham Narins, 5th ed., vol. 3, Gale, 2022, pp. 1669-1674. Gale Health and Wellness, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX8289300497/HWRC?u=ko_k12pr_d65&sid=bookmark-HWRC&xid=2b887f29. Accessed 9 Mar. 2022.