Schizophrenia is a mental sickness characterized by abnormal social behavior. In this disease, a person confuses his perception of reality.
He is found puzzled in self-created scenarios. Men are more prone to schizophrenia as compare to Women.
Symptoms of schizophrenia reduce social engagement, emotional disturbance, lack of motivation, unclear thoughts, and unpredictable behaviors. Schizophrenia has gradual onset symptoms that may start to appear during adulthood.
About 0.3-0.7% of the total general population is affected by this disease. In males, the onset is earlier than females. The onset of schizophrenia in men is before 20 years of age, while in women it is after 20 years of age. It is rare to have schizophrenia after 45 years of age.
Schizophrenia is linked with neurotransmitters that play an important role in communication between body and brain.
Research shows that brain structure and Central Nervous System of schizophrenic person is different from a normal person.
That is why it attributes to as a brain disease.
Neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, and glutamate are worth discussing here.
When the levels of dopamine rise in the brain, it results in increased sensory information between the brain and body.
This raised level disturbs the thought process and causes difficulty in concentrating on a specific task. Individuals misunderstand the reality and they interpret information according to their observation.
Abnormal levels of serotonin make your brain more sensitive.
Schizophrenia is a genetic disease, but it requires environmental triggers, stress factors, and worst experiences of life to become activated and noticeably visible in an individual’s personality.
There may be several underlying causes of this disease.
No time to read? watch this video…..
Genetic and environmental factors contribute to the progress of the disease. Like use of marijuana a psychoactive drug, being raised in a city, prolonged infections, parents’ attitude towards you, and poor nutrition during pregnancy are some causes behind schizophrenia.
If a person has a hyperactive immune system and a family history of schizophrenia, he becomes more susceptible to it.
Individuals who had faced complications in pregnancy along with birth complication, used psychoactive drugs during teen ages and have had exposure to toxins, are at a greater risk of developing schizophrenia.
The diagnosis of schizophrenia in individuals is on the basis of observation and reporting their behavior.
If you have a brief look at a schizophrenic, you will find that a person who is suffering from this disorder complains about delusions. Delusions like they believe if someone is pointing them in a conversation, people are discussing them or planning to harm them, While in reality , all those conversations are just in their head. Hallucinations like hearing or seeing someone, who is not present around or does not even exist in this world, are also experienced.
People with schizophrenia have disordered speech. It is likely to be said as a word salad. They will gather random words with no combination or sense and want you to understand. A negative outcome of schizophrenia is observed as neglecting self-hygiene, lack of emotions and feelings, avoiding eye contact with people, and losing interest in close relations. People with schizophrenia often believes that they have some cool friends, while in reality , they are only in their imaginations. This is one of the main factor that such people avoid socializing with others.
There is no such prevention for schizophrenia. Medications like anti-psychotic drugs are given to the patient to control the thought process by controlling the amount of dopamine in the brain.
Complications like suicide, self-injury, social isolation, and aggressiveness become more prominent with advancing time.
Out of total affected individuals, 20% are recovered or somehow get better with time, while 50% of affected individuals suffers lifetime from schizophrenia. The life expectancy of people with schizophrenia is reduced by 10-25 years. This is due to increased health problems and suicidal thoughts, as 5% of affected people go for attempting it.
If you have a patient of schizophrenia in your home, relatives, or friends, try to be nice with them. Always encourage them and show concern to understand and help them.
There is another psychotic disease , known as Dissociative identity disorder in which a single person can have different identities according to them, but that’s a topic for another video.
Until Next Time,
Team Doctor ASKY!