Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia

Introduction

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that makes a person to think and behave in a peculiar way. This mental disorder is rare in children of age fewer than 10 years; however, of those who fall in the age bracket of 16 to 25 years, are more vulnerable to this disorder. It is difficult to diagnose this disorder at early phases, and symptoms are usually mingled with other psychiatric disorders. Usually Schizophrenia appears gradually as the prodrome - initial symptoms of the disorder. The symptoms of schizophrenia include hallucinations, difficulty in arranging thoughts, delusions etc. Early diagnosis and treatment of this disorder is important. Nearly 50% of people suffering from this disorder will try to suicide, out of those 10-15% will succeed. Young people experiencing this disorder usually treated with a blend of medication and individual and family therapy. As a matter of fact, medication is helpful for the treatment of delusions, difficulty in thought organizations, hallucinations, personal hygiene etc. (MACMH, 2002)

Symptoms of Schizophrenia

Symptoms of schizophrenia are normally bifurcated in two categories i.e. positive symptoms, negative symptoms and cognitive symptoms (MIFA, 2008):

Positive Symptoms

These are the occurrences that have been included in the normal functioning of person's life; following is the description of these symptoms

Hallucinations

This symptom refers to the distortion of the senses of that is genuine for the person. This results in hearing, smelling, seeing, feeling, things which are not available in the external environment.

2. Delusions

This refers to the flat and bogus beliefs, i.e. the perception that there is someone who is organizing my beliefs or thoughts or the way in which I behave.

3. Disorganized Speech

A person suffering from schizophrenia has the disorganized speech, which means the organization of the words, will not be in a logical way.

4. Disorganized Behavior

This refers to the behavior which will be random, and there will be a lack in the cohesion between behaviors.

Negative Symptoms

These are symptoms reduce something from a person's experience of the world. Sometimes it is difficult to evaluate these symptoms because they may be a result of factors other than schizophrenia. Following are negative symptoms:

1. Reduction in the range of emotional expressions;

2. Reduced speech;

3. lacking in sustained the goal oriented approaches;

Cognitive Symptoms

These are the symptoms which are related to thought processes including, comprehension, memory and judgment, they are following:

1. Muddled thinking;

2. Lack of concentration and focus;

3. Lack of response to social cues;

4. Difficulty in making priority;

In addition to that, a person suffering from schizophrenia live a hard and isolated life, mainly due to the fact that people indulge in this disorder during the time when they learn important skills, so it makes difficult for people to realign with normal life (Bhugra, 2008). Schizophrenia also causes sexual dysfunction, which may lead to relationship problems (Kelly et. al, 2004). Moreover, people suffering from schizophrenia have job related problems as well; the competitiveness is impeded by this particular disorder and often ...