The Importance Of Coping With Schizophrenia

By taking the time and educating ourselves, we are eliminating possible misconceptions about the illness. Working with people that have a mental disorder is the best way to understand how and why they act the way they do. While the cause of schizophrenia is still unknown, it is believed that both genetics and environmental factors play a role. Schizophrenia consists of five subtypes; paranoid, disorganized, catatonic, undifferentiated, and residual. Symptoms can range from hallucinations to delusions, and disorganized thinking. Since there is no cure for schizophrenia, treatment is aimed at controlling the positive, negative, and cognitive symptoms. By starting with a single antipsychotic medication and evaluating the efficacy in four to six weeks, they are able to determine if that medication will work or if they need to try a different one. Once they find out what works, they must adhere to it. Through improved public awareness society can break the pervasive stigma and discrimination surrounding mental illnesses that stand in the way of finding cures and help people with schizophrenia lead full lives they

Although schizophrenia may come off as an interesting and unique disorder, it also relates to the Emotional, Social, and Intellectual dimensions of Health and Wellness. Schizophrenia is an disorder that affects a person’s ability to think, feel and behave clearly. The emotional dimension of the wellness wheel is described as the ability to understand ourselves and cope with the challenges life can bring. Also, the ability to acknowledge and share feelings of fear, sadness or stress; hope, love, joy and happiness in a productive manner contributes to our emotional wellness. This connects to schizophrenia because when you have this disorder it perceives you to imagine situations that aren’t actually happening. Usually people diagnosed with this

First off I would like to tell you what exactly schizophrenia is. Schizophrenia is a brain disease, with concrete and specific symptoms due to physical and biochemical changes in the brain. This illness strikes young people in their prime age usually between 16 and 25. Schizophrenia is almost always treatable with medication. Contrary to what most think schizophrenia is not a "split personality", or caused by childhood trauma, bad parenting, or poverty, and not the result of any action or personal failure by the individual.(3)

There is a considerable amount of different concepts that can be used when thinking about schizophrenia; unfortunately, since it continues to be a misunderstood disorder, there also exist numerous misconceptions about the schizophrenia. The most common misconceptions deal with the treatment options for schizophrenia, the potential recovery rate, and the ability of people who are diagnosed with the disorder or symptoms to live productive and meaningful lives. Though there are no permanent cures to treat the disease, there are certain medications that help manage the symptoms in order to help people lead healthy and satisfied lives. The recovery rate for the disease is also

Schizophrenia is a disease of the mind. It effects all races and ages. There are many dugs that can help treat Schizophrenia, but there is no cure for it. People that suffer from Schizophrenia can be helped by receiving psychological treatments along with a strong support group.

Schizophrenia is a chronic, lifetime mental disorder that cannot be cured, but can be effectively treated and managed. Research conducted in developed countries revealed that about 20 to 35 percent of patients undergo a rapid improvement when treated. Approximately, 70 percent of the patients suffer a relapse of acute symptoms within the next 2 to 5 years after being discharged from hospital. The risk of relapse usually decreases 10 years after the initial onset.

The mental health of individuals living with schizophrenia not only depends on the severity of their mental illness, it also depends on their inclusion within their community (Michael, 2012). Despite recent advances and treatment, individuals suffering from schizophrenia encounter a considerable stigma that creates barriers to them receiving adequate treatment which in turn hinders their full integration into society (Morgan, 2003). The conceptualization of stigma was explored (Goffman, 1963) as an attribute which is deeply socially discrediting and makes the person carrying the stigma different from others and of a less desirable kind (Goffman, 1963 pg 13). However, the individual experiencing schizophrenia is not solely the person affected by stigmatization. Stigma is also believed to affect the individual’s social network, including family, friends and mental health and social care professionals. However (Sayce, 2000), building on the work of Goffman’s theory, saw stigma as driving stereotypes or negative views, attributed to a person, marginalising the person from receiving adequate treatment. Much research has been conducted to aid understanding of stigma, through studying public attitudes and beliefs.

In many ways, Schizophrenia is a coping disease. Despite countless clinical trials and research studies, the root cause remains unknown. Nobody knows how to cure this chronic psychosis. Antipsychotics are the only line of medication proven to treat symptoms. Anyone who gets Schizophrenia must learn to cope with the disease itself as well as harmful side-effects from antipsychotic drugs.

Patients with Schizophrenia can have symptoms that vary from hallucinations, to bad hygiene. They can experience delusions and disorganized thoughts. They are normally depressed and can cause self-harm. The treatments for Schizophrenia includes medications, Electroconvulsive Therapy and therapy. Therapy for these patients can be individual or group. The therapy sessions can help teach these patients how to be social and it can show them how to deal with the voices or hallucinations. Medications for schizophrenia are called antipsychotics. The medications help curb the symptoms of schizophrenia. The down fall to the medications is most people stop taking them. It is not uncommon for the “voices” to talk the patient out of taking them. Electroconvulsive

Despite the severeness of the disease, there are ways of treating it today. A psychiatric professional stated, “Schizophrenia is not the dreaded disease it was about thirty years ago. Now, with early diagnosis, speedy initiation of treatment, careful monitoring of medication, regular follow-up, proper residential, vocational and rehabilitative support systems in place, the long-term outcome is quite favorable.”

There is no known cause of schizophrenia, although some psychologists believe that it could be caused by heredity, or biological and environmental factors, such as a disease, immune deficiency disorder, or having an abusive or erroneous childhood. There are multiple signs and symptoms of schizophrenia, including hearing or seeing something that doesn’t exist, a change in personality, an obsession with religion and other supernatural entities, eccentric ways of communicating, and behavior that is deemed odd or inappropriate. As with some other mental disorders, schizophrenia is a spectrum. This spectrum includes schizotypal personality disorder, other psychotic disorders like catatonia, delusional disorder, schizophreniform disorder, schizoaffective disorder, and brief psychotic disorder. There is no known cure for schizophrenia, but people with schizophrenia can seek treatment with therapy, medication, or both.

Schizophrenia is a life-long disorder that affects about one percent of the population (Mueser & McGurk, 2004). The cause of this mental illness is still unclear. Studies have suggested that Schizophrenia does not arise from one factor but from a combination of genetic, environmental, and social factors (Liddle, 1987). People diagnosed with Schizophrenia struggle to deal with a multitude of symptoms that make it difficult to function (Mueser & McGurk, 2004). Antipsychotic medications are a popular treatment of the symptoms of Schizophrenia (Mueser & McGurk, 2004). Research is constantly being done to develop these medications to enhance the quality of life of those diagnosed with Schizophrenia.

Treatment of schizophrenia may vary according to what clinicians believe to be its causes. For example, some believe (and this is backed by evidence) that the condition is caused by over activity of the dopamine system, so that the person experiences too much stimulation. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter, so that in effect too much activity is occurring in the brain. Clinicians who believe this is the case are likely to use drug therapies to correct this over activity, and will use antipsychotic drugs.

Another route towards treating schizophrenia is the medication route. The main drugs used to treat schizophrenia are antipsychotic drugs (Schizophrenia, Mayo Clinic). The drug’s main goal is to try and maintain a healthy level of dopamine in the brain (Some examples include: Asenapine, Brexpiprazole, Paliperidone, etc.) (Schizophrenia, Mayo Clinic). Research has shown that the use of antipsychotic drugs seems to be working effectively for some patients but not for others (Schizophrenia, Web MD). However, one major problem that can come up after using prescription medications to treat schizophrenia can be relapsed once the patient stops using their medication (Schizophrenia, Web MD). Another negative aspect of medications are the potential side

Clinical evidence for most treatments that involve any type of psychotherapy for schizophrenia is weak and inconsistent. The treatment most associated with schizophrenia in the United States is the use of antipsychotic medication. Therefore most research has been altered due to the combination of medication and psychotherapy. The big question is what caused the recovery? People who have access to medication and psychotherapy usually are more available for research. That leaves a whole population of people suffering from schizophrenia that do not have access to both, or either