Schizophrenia is a chronic psychiatric condition or disorder that severely affects the ways in which a human being acts, thinks, perceives reality, displays emotions, and identifies with those around them.

Although schizophrenia is not as common as other severe mental disorders, it can be extremely disabling and chronic. Since it disrupts the way in which a person’s brain works, people with schizophrenia struggle in numerous aspects of their daily activities.

When schizophrenia is left untreated, it can tarnish your romantic, social, and professional relationships. It makes it difficult for one to organize their thoughts, causing them to behave in a manner that makes them more susceptible to injuries or other conditions or illnesses.

In this article, we will be discussing the types of schizophrenia, its symptoms, and much more.

What are the Causes of Schizophrenia?

There isn’t just a single cause related to schizophrenia. Medical experts believe that it could happen due to different reasons. These include:

• Problems in brain development that take place before birth.
• An imbalance in the chemical signals used by the brain for cell-to-cell communication.
• When there is a loss of connection between the various areas of the brain.

Types of Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia can be divided into the following types:

Paranoid Schizophrenia

Paranoid schizophrenia is the most common type of schizophrenia, usually shown in all forms of media. The symptoms of it are:

•  Auditory hallucinations
• Preoccupation with one or multiple delusions

Hebephrenic Schizophrenia

Hebephrenic schizophrenia is also known as disorganized schizophrenia, and the symptoms of it include:

• Disorganized behavior
• Difficulty in communication

• Walking or pacing in circles
• Disorganized speech
• Misplacing or forgetting things
• Social withdrawal
• Lacking impulse control
• Displaying childlike behavior
• Placing words in the wrong order or misusing them
• Repeating the same things again and again
• Not making eye contact
• Not being able to finish tasks
• Experiencing difficulty in understanding things
• Not giving related answers to the questions that are asked
• Not being able to keep a logical connection between different thoughts
• Not having proper emotional reactions
• Being unable to stick to everyday tasks

Residual Schizophrenia

Someone affected by residual schizophrenia doesn’t experience:

• Hallucinations
• Prominent delusions
• Highly disorganized behavior
• Disorganized speech

Instead, they experience negative symptoms and/or the milder form of the diagnostic symptoms of schizophrenia, including:

• Social withdrawal
• Odd beliefs
• Unusual perceptions
• Difficulty expressing emotions

Catatonic Schizophrenia

Catatonic schizophrenia is when a person’s behavior, as well as speech, gets affected, and it is characterized either by decreased or excessive movement. The symptoms of catatonic schizophrenia are as follows:

• Not being responsive to most stimuli
• Lack of speech
• Repeating what others around them are saying
• Rigid muscles
• Imitating the movement of people around them
• Repetitive and involuntary physical movements
• Taking on bizarre or inappropriate postures voluntarily
• Displaying weird expressions, usually out of disapproval, disgust, or pain

Undifferentiated Schizophrenia

Undifferentiated schizophrenia does not have any specific symptoms but rather a wide variety of symptoms that don’t fulfill the full criteria for a certain subtype. The symptoms are as follows:

•  Agitation
• Social withdrawal
• Abnormal movements
• Neglecting personal hygiene
• Paranoia
• Delusions
• Having difficulty making plans
• Hallucinations
• Experiencing trouble with logical thinking
• Difficulty with emotional expression
• Lack of sleep or excessive sleeping
• Disorganized or unusual speech

The other disorders related to schizophrenia include:

•  Delusional Disorder
• Schizoaffective Disorder
• Schizophreniform Disorder
• Brief Psychotic Disorder
• Schizotypal Personality Disorder

What are the Symptoms of Schizophrenia?

The symptoms of schizophrenia can be divided into various categories, and they are as follows:

Early symptoms

The early symptoms appear during the early 20s or a person’s teenage years. These include:

• Anxiety
• Having odd ideas
• Sleep issues
• Being vaguely suspicious
• Irritability
• Changing social groups or friends
• Isolating oneself from their loved ones
• Performing poorly in academics
• Feeling different from the ones around them
• Agitation
• Altered levels of concentration and focus

Positive symptoms

Positive symptoms of schizophrenia refer to added actions or thoughts that aren’t connected to reality. These symptoms are as follows:

• Delusions
• Hallucinations
• Paranoia

 Negative symptoms

The negative symptoms of schizophrenia refer to the ones that interrupt an individual’s typical behaviors, abilities, and emotions. These are:

• Social isolation
• Lack of expressions or emotions
• Losing interest in life
• Difficulty in executing daily activities
• Not speaking much
• Having difficulty feeling pleasure
• Responding oddly to circumstances
• Having difficulty following through with plans

Cognitive symptoms

Cognitive symptoms are named so since they impair certain mental or cognitive functions of a person. These symptoms are as follows:

Trouble with learning information and implementing it

• Forgetfulness
• Not being able to understand information and using it to make decisions
• Disorganized thinking
• Disorganized speech

How to Treat Schizophrenia

The treatment for schizophrenia could include:

Medicines: Medications such as antipsychotics help in blocking the way in which the brain utilizes specific chemicals for cell-to-cell communication. The doctor might also prescribe medicines to deal with the side effects of antipsychotic medicines, including tremors.

Psychosocial therapy: Through psychosocial therapy, patients can determine how to manage their symptoms and identify the initial warning signs of relapse. These therapies could be:

• Rehabilitation
• Individual psychotherapy
• Group therapy
• Family therapy
• Cognitive remediation

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT): In electroconvulsive therapy, an electrical current is applied to the patient’s scalp, thereby stimulating certain areas of the brain. The stimulation leads to a brief seizure, thereby aiding in improving a person’s brain function if they experience agitation, severe depression, and other issues.

Break the Stigma

Well patients with Schizophrenia can live a normal life. Sadly it’s society that often singles them out and isolates them as a result of a poor portrayal by the media.

Treating a patient who suffers from Schizophrenia who is not going through an acute crisis is exactly the same as treating someone without the illness and we should talk to them exactly the same way as we would with any other casualty.

Complications of Schizophrenia

When schizophrenia is left untreated, it can increase the risk of numerous complications. Those complications could be:

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Family issues
• Phobias
• Suicide or self-harm
• Drug or alcohol abuse

First Aid Action Plan for Schizophrenia

In order to help someone with schizophrenia, the first aid involved requires one to follow the ALGEE action plan, which entails:

• Approach the person and assist them with the crisis they are going through. Look for signs of high anxiety and trauma and also assess any risk of self-harm or suicide.
• Listen to the individual in a non-judgmental manner.
• Give the person the necessary information, support, and reassurance.
• Encourage the individual to get the required professional help.
• Encourage the patient to opt for self-help and other support strategies.

Myths Associated with Schizophrenia

Some of the myths associated with schizophrenia include:

• There is no cure for schizophrenia, and one can never recover from it.
• Schizophrenia leads to a person becoming aggressive.
•  Schizophrenia entails having multiple personalities.
• Bad parenting can lead to schizophrenia.
• A person with schizophrenia can’t stay employed.

Recovery from Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia in itself is not a deadly disorder. However, the effects of it can cause people to behave in a harmful or dangerous manner. One-third of the individuals living with this condition experience their symptoms getting worse with time.

This either happens because they don’t follow the treatment enough to manage the condition or because their symptoms don’t respond to the treatment being followed.

Others do respond to treatment, but they also face periods when the symptoms come back and worsen. As per studies, 10 years after a person is diagnosed, the statistics suggest that:

•  50% of the individuals improve or recover to reach a stage where they can live by themselves and work as well.
• 25% of the people get better but require a strong support system to live their lives.
• 15% of the individuals do not see an improvement in their condition.

FAQs

Conclusion

Schizophrenia can be scary both for the patient and their loved ones. However, despite the existing stereotypes, it’s not impossible for a person with schizophrenia to recover and lead a happy life.

If you believe that you have schizophrenia, get in touch with a doctor immediately. If you see your loved one suffering from schizophrenia, encourage them to get the professional help they need. Through early diagnosis and proper treatment, people can recover and effectively manage their condition.