I’ve known him for seven years; he was so unique and sometimes even scary. The look in his eyes was almost evil enough to think that he was possessed, yet sometimes there was a look of calmness in his face. His name was Derek, but sometimes Derek wasn’t Derek, he was Simmon. He found it very difficult to showing his emotions and often made up words to describe his thoughts and ramble in illogical sentences or speak one word for an answer that made no sense. Then in 2003 it happened…he reacted with uncontrolled anger and threw me into a wall. Four years have passed and I find out that he has been diagnosed with Schizophrenia. So what is exactly Schizophrenia and why do people act the way they do? And what can be done to fix it? Here is what I found out:
Schizophrenia is a chronic and severe mental illness that has strict criteria for diagnosis and is a lifelong disorder. Many doctors see the cause of this as genetic where as specific genes may increase the risk, as well as the deletion of specific genes may trigger it as well. Research does show that children who have a parent with schizophrenia have a 13% to 15% increase risk for getting schizophrenia. It is also thought that the cause of this disorder is caused initially by development during pregnancy; such as prenatal infections like rubella, cytomegalovirus, and herpes simplex virus. Some researchers have found that people born in winter or spring are more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia.
In 2004 it was studied that exposure to lead while in the womb may double a child’s risk of developing schizophrenia later in life. The team who had lead to this conclusion followed the medical records of the children studied to find that 44 of them were diagnosed with schizophrenia or a related disorder. Not only has lead been thought to play a part in this, but also research done out of Harvard University investigated that folic acid deficiencies during pregnancy may cause a potential genetic mutation that would increase the risk.
Another high risk for schizophrenia is certain drugs. Drugs can trigger the onset or relapse of the schizophrenia because the amphetamines trigger the release of dopamine into the central nervous system.
Now that we know the causes, what are the symptoms that we should be looking out for in ourselves and our loved ones?
All of the symptoms I had mentioned above and many more. People suffering from schizophrenia will have delusions, and false personal beliefs that are held with conviction in spite of reason or evidence to the contrary. Hallucinations, those of voice or other sounds are the most common but also sight, touch, smell or taste can be present. They may also have disorganized thought and or behaviors and speech. The affected person my be rigid and may be unresponsive. A loss in appetite or even lack or loss in hygiene. The sense of being controlled by outside forces is very common as well. Depression is mostly noted in schizophrenia as well as a high rate of attempted suicide.
People with schizophrenia vary extensively in their behavior as they struggle with an illness beyond their power. In active stages, those affected may ramble in irrational sentences or react with unrestrained anger or violence. People with schizophrenia may also experience relatively unreceptive phases of the illness in which they seem to lack personality, movement, and emotion. People with schizophrenia may alternate in these extremes. Their behavior may or may not be predictable.
The onset of schizophrenia mostly occurs in late teen or early adulthood. Males tend to show symptoms sooner than females; however no one symptom can diagnose schizophrenia.
There are five types of schizophrenia to be aware of; catatonic, disorganized, paranoid, residual, and undifferentiated.
People with Catatonic Schizophrenia may be completely immobile and appear to be unaware of their surroundings. Behavior such as pacing, turning around in circles, flailing arms and making loud noises is also a symptom. Those with this type of disease may not respond to instruction and may also resist any attempt to be moved or may not speak at all. People may also assume inappropriate or unusual postures or adopt unusual mannerisms, one may also repeat a word just spoken repeatedly or copy a movement made by someone else.
Disorganized Schizophrenia is based on the disorganization of behavior and speech and inappropriate emotion and affect. This type involves a disturbance in behavior, communication, and thought. Usually these patients show a variety of eccentric characteristics such as unusual clothing or peculiar gestures.
Paranoid Schizophrenics have delusions and or hear things that others don’t hear. Many of the delusions are focused on the mistrust of other people or on the thought that they are being persecuted. Someone with paranoid schizophrenia may also believe that they have super human powers or is famous. A lot of times this can be very dangerous and result in violent outburst and acts. The auditory hallucinations aspect of the disease are usually unpleasant and may give a constant critique of what the person is thinking or doing and may harass the person about real or unreal thoughts or feelings. Voices may also take control and command the person to do things that would be harmful to one self or others.
Residual Schizophrenia has a previous history of at least one episode of schizophrenia with prominent psychotic symptoms and continues to suffer from two or more characteristic symptoms such as: inappropriate affect, social withdrawal, eccentric behavior, illogical thinking. Residual schizophrenia, the patient does not exhibit prominent psychotic symptoms.
Finally, undifferentiated schizophrenia applied to patents who fail to meet the criteria for other of the above subtypes but clearly suffer from this mental disorder.
In whatever type of schizophrenia the person is experiencing, the main focus point is to control it and eliminate the symptoms of the disease. Antipsychotic medications have been around for decades and effectively alleviate the symptoms of schizophrenia however they do not cure it. Every responds differently to the medication and sometimes severs different drugs must be tried before the right one is found. Some examples of antipsychotic medications include; Thorazine, Haldol, and Prolixin, which can cause tremors and muscle spasms.
In the 1990’s newer drugs were developed that didn’t cause the side effects that the older drugs could cause. The new drugs are called atypical antipsychotic. People respond individually to antipsychotic medications, although agitation and hallucinations usually improve within days and delusions usually improve within a few weeks. Many people see substantial improvement in both types of symptoms by the sixth week of treatment. No one can tell beforehand exactly how a medication will affect a particular individual, and sometimes several medications must be tried before the right one is found.
Psychotherapy is another method of treatment and I don’t believe it is the best treatment of choice for someone with schizophrenia. Used as an adjunct to a good medication plan, however, psychotherapy can help maintain the individual on their medication, learn needed social skills, and support the person’s weekly goals and activities in their community. This may include advice, reassurance, education, modeling, limit setting, and reality testing with the therapist. Encouragement in setting small goals and reaching them can often be helpful.
Always remember that help is always out there for you and those you love. Here are some helpful links to assist you with finding that assistance.
http://members.aol.com/leonardjk/USA.htm
www.mentalhelp.net
www.schizophrenia.com
