Alice
"Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will"
Schizophrenia
What is it?
Severe brain disorder in which individuals interpret reality abnormally
Means "split mind" - refers to disruption of usual balance of emotions & thinking
Paranoid
- Most common
- Symptoms include hallucinations & anxiety
- Less common
- More severe
- Symptoms include disorganized
speech & a flat expression
Types
Disorganized
hISTORY
_________________________________________________
1800's
1900's
1700's
- First to identify was Emil
Kraepelin
- Treatment included shock therapy
- Anti-psychotic medication was introduced
- Believed that schizophrenics were possessed by evil spirits
- Many killed out of fear
- Treatment included exorcism
- patients in instituations were treated poorly
- "Hebephrenia" was known as "Schizophrenia"
- More intensive research
-Asylums were introducted for severe cases
Risk Factors
- Main cause is unknown
- Environment & genetics may contribute
- Studies suggest an imbalance in brain chemicals
signs & symptoms
Delusions - False beliefs not based in reality
Hallucinations - Seeing & hearing things that do not exist
Disorganized Speech - Effective communication impaired
Abnormal Motor Behaviour - Resistance to instructions, inappropriate & bizarre posture, useless & excessive movement
Negative Symptoms - Reduced or lack of ability to function normally; no emotions or eye contact
prognosis
-
Patients have twice the death rate than those without schizophrenia
-
Half of all schizophrenics will suffer from substance-use disorder
-
Patients have a better quality of life if family is supportive
-
Lifelong treatment & recovery
Treatment
Treatments:
- Psychotherapy
- Anti-psychotic Medication
Schizophrenia is considered a lifelong condition.
psychotherapy
Regular sessions with the patients & therapist, focusing on past or current issues regarding thoughts & feelings
Helps patients understand themselves better & learn to cope with their mental illness daily
Allows patients to differentiate reality from their delusions by using beneficial problem-solving skills
ANTIPSYCHOTIC medication
- Most effective treatment
- Not a permanent cure; only controls hallucinations & episodes
- Side effects include weight gain & drowsiness
- Many patients deny the presence of a mental illness & refuse to take the medication
impact on life
- Varies depending on personal experiences
- One "psychotic episode" may have a greater impact on the individual rather than multiple
- Some may recover temporarily & then undergo additional
"psychotic episodes"
- IQ may drop due to
lack of focus
news article
schizophrenia is not just one illness
New research shows that schizophrenia is not a single disease, but a group of eight distinct disorders, each caused by changes in clusters of genes that lead to different sets of symptoms.
Awareness may possibly help better treat the illness to accommodate the different types of schizophrenia.
Schizophrenia
By Alice
Schizophrenia
Healthcare
