What is Schizophrenia?

Schizophrenia is a psychological disorder that affects many people throughout the world today. It is a disorder characterized by a person's withdrawal from reality into an inner world of disorganized thinking and conflict. Schizophrenia is actually a Greek word which in its most literal sense means "split mind." However, people having schizophrenia do not have split personalities, but tend to not be able to tell the difference between the real and the unreal. This disorder is very debilitating to the people that have it and tends to affect their lives in very negative ways.

There are many symptoms typically associated with a person who is diagnosed with schizophrenia. People with schizophrenia typically are delusional. This is a problem where a person thinks they may see or hear something but it is not real. Another symptom of people diagnosed with schizophrenia is the flat affect. This is characterized by the patient having an immobile face, monotonous voice, and no signs of expression. The affected may also be emotionally detached from society and suffer from social withdrawal. People diagnosed with schizophrenia also often have Autism as a result of the schizophrenia. One of the most devastating side effects to schizophrenia is that many of the patients will try to commit suicide. There are three major types of schizophrenia. The first is catatonic schizophrenia. In this type, the patient is often mute and does not move or react to the environment. The second type is disorganized schizophrenia, which includes disorganized speech often coupled with an inappropriate affect. The third type is paranoid schizophrenia. People with this type often experience prominent delusions of persecution and auditory hallucinations.

There is no known cure for schizophrenia, as there is no cure for many psychological disorders. However, there are many treatments that can be used to help improve the life of the patient that is diagnosed with schizophrenia. Some people even experience remission of the symptoms of schizophrenia with treatment. One treatment that can be used to treat schizophrenia is Antipsychotic drugs. These drugs can improve the quality of life for schizophrenia patients because they may eliminate hallucinations or delusions. They may also help to prevent the symptoms from returning. People who are prescribed these drugs usually have to take them the rest of their lives in order to prevent the symptoms from returning. Another treatment that is commonly used for schizophrenia patients is social rehabilitation. It helps people diagnosed with schizophrenia learn social skills and learn certain behaviors they need to function in society. This can be very helpful to patients because they can begin to lead a semi-normal life again. These treatments can prove to be very helpful to people diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia could be called a chronic psychological disorder. Those that are determined to have it can never really be cured of it, but they can reduce some of the symptoms. Taking antipsychotic drugs can help to make the schizophrenia less prominent, but when they stop taking the drugs the hallucinations and delusions may start again. Even though schizophrenia affects only about one percent of the population of the United States today, it is responsible for about one third of all patients in mental institutes. Because schizophrenia is such a severe chronic disorder, it often leaves the patients disabled. There is really no known cause of schizophrenia, although it is suspected to be related to genetics somehow. Research is constantly being done to improve the medications and treatments that schizophrenia patients can receive as well as to uncover the cause of this devastating disease. Hopefully this disorder can be cured in the near future.