SCHIZOPHRENIA

Hi everyone
As in the last blog we talked about Obsessive-Compulsive disorder and today we will talk about an extreme and devastating disorder which can traumatize the person for the whole life that is schizophrenia.
So i will start with an example. Rohan was a 20-year-old man who was brought to the emergency room by the campus police of the college from which he had been suspended several months ago.A professor had called and reported that he had walked into his classroom and accused him of taking his tuition money and refused to leave.
Although Rohan has much academic success as a teenager, his behavior had become increasingly odd during the past years. He quit seeing his friends and no longer seemed to care about his appearance or social pursuits, He even lost interest in every pleasurable activity. He began wearing the same clothes each day and seldom bathed. Rohan lived with several family members but rarely spoke to any of them. When he did talk to them, he said he found clues that his college was just a front for an organised crime operation. He had been suspended from college because of missing many classes. His sister said that she had often seen him mumbling quietly to himself and at times he seemed to be talking to people who were not there. He would emerge from his room and ask his family to be quiet even when they were not making any noise.
After these incidents, Rohan family members took him to the emergency room and after diagnosis, doctors informed that he was having auditory hallucinations, persecutor delusions, and he was diagnosed with a disorder named as SCHIZOPHRENIA.

In this disorder, a person always remain lost in his/her own thoughts which in turn affect his/her mental peace.

So, let's talk about this disorder.

Schizophrenia is a long-lasting psychotic disorder in which there is an inability to distinguish what is real from fantasy and imagination as well as disturbances in thinking, emotions, behavior, and perceptions in which personal, social and occupational functioning deteriorates.

This disorder typically arises in the late teens or early 20's, affect both males and females, and is consistent across cultures. People with schizophrenia have serious problems in adjusting to the demands of reality. They perceive what's happening around them, often seeing and hearing things which aren't there.

Schizophrenia includes different kinds of symptoms that are as follows-

* POSITIVE SYMPTOMS which include:

• DELUSIONS- delusions are false beliefs about the world that the person holds and that tend to remain fixed and unshakable in the face of real evidence that disapproved the delusion. Common schizophrenic delusions include

- Delusion Of Persecution: This is the most common in schizophrenia. People with this delusion believe that they are being plotted, against, spied on, slandered, threatened, attacked or deliberately victimized, and they are afraid of getting hurt by somebody.

-Delusion Of Reference: In this they attach special and personal meaning to the actions of others or to objects and events, and people believe that other people, television characters, and even books are specifically talking to them.

-Delusion Of Grandeur: In this people believe themselves to be specifically empowered persons and in which people are convinced that they are powerful people who can save the world or have a special mission.

-Delusion Of Control: In this person believes that their feelings, thoughts and actions are controlled by others and in which they believe that they are being controlled by external factors, such as the devil, aliens. 

Although delusions are not prominent in everyone with schizophrenia, these are the symptoms that most people associate with this disorder.

• HALLUCINATIONS- These are the perceptions that occur in the absence of external stimuli. Different hallucinations include:-

-Auditory Hallucinations:These are the most common in schizophrenia. Patients hear sounds and voices that speak words, phrases and sentences directly to the patient (second person hallucination) or talk to one another referring to the patient (third-person hallucination)

-Tactile Hallucination: These include forms of tingling, burning.

-Somatic Hallucination: This includes like something happening inside the body such as snake crawling.

-Visual Hallucination: It refers to vague perception of color, or distinct visions of people and objects.

-Gustatory Hallucination: It refers to a strange taste of food or drink.

in hallucination, person sees things which aren't really there or there is absence of stimuli.

*NEGATIVE SYMPTOMS which include

• ALOGIA: This refers to the poverty of speech that is a reduction in speech and speech content, disorganized speech.
• BLUNTED AFFECT: Many people with schizophrenia show less anger, sadness, job and other feelings than most people show. They are less expressive and even find difficult to recognize other's emotions.
• FLAT AFFECT: In this people do not show any emotions at all, a condition known as Flat Effect.
• AVOLITION: The apathy and an inability to start or complete a course of action. People with this disorder may withdraw socially and become totally focused on their own ideas and fantasies.

Genetic factors and Environmental factors also play an important role in developing schizophrenic symptoms.

CAUSES

* Schizophrenia can be developed through genetic factors. The closer the family ties are between two individuals the more the chances for developing schizophrenia.

* People with brain dysfunction can develop schizophrenia due to engagement and deterioration of some ventricles in the brain.

* Another cause can point to the possibility that disturbances in the functioning of certain neurotransmitter plays a role in schizophrenia. 

* A bad social environment where the person do not get love and support from family and closed ones and their initiatives are always depressed by parents can generate this disorder.

IMPACTS

* The person suffering from this disorder feel alienated from society and feel numb at times.

*This disorder leads the person to remain lost in his/her thoughts and the person get away from sense of reality.

*This disorder destroys the person daily life functioning at a personal, social as well as occupational level.

* This disorder not only affects the person's mental health but also drains the person physically.

Talking about its treatment, One should always consult to a psychiatrist or a psychologist after diagnosed with this disorder as it is a very extreme disorder which can traumatize the persons for whole life and can even lead to madness, loss of control and death.