A serious mental disorder, schizophrenia causes people to interpret the reality abnormally. In most of the schizophrenia cases, the patients start to see hallucinations and become delusional. It causes them to have severely irrational behavior that has the tendency to impair daily routine. In most of the cases of schizophrenia, the patients are in need of lifelong treatments. Moreover, it is best to treat schizophrenia at its early stages before the development of intense complications.

Depending upon the severity of case, there might not be a treatment that works for sure. All we can do is help minimize the symptoms and take the medications course regularly.

Schizophrenia Causes

Most of the doctors and researchers suggest that it is the culmination of biological and environmental factors that cause schizophrenia. There is no known cause of schizophrenia but psychological, social and environmental factors actually play a role in its development.

There are a lot of risk factors for schizophrenia including drug abuse during adolescence. Doctors suggest that it pregnancy complications are also likely to cause schizophrenia There might be several such complications such as being exposed to viruses, premature labor and dearth of oxygen during the delivery.

About the genetics, researchers are still unable to find a single gene that causes this chronic disorder. However, there are multiple genes involves in this. For example, your odds of developing schizophrenia are almost non-existent if none of your first or second degree relatives have it. [i]

Schizophrenia Signs and symptoms

There are early warning signs of schizophrenia that cannot be detected until the kid enters the adolescence. These sign include long episodes of depression, inability to keep focus, insomnia and irrational behavior. The dangerous thing about this chronic disorder is that it is not predictable. Though there is a certain amount of risk involved, but nothing is guaranteed. However, drug and substance abuse are two of the greatest triggers of schizophrenia.

The symptoms of schizophrenia vary from person to person and are classified into positive and negative types. For those who are going through treatments know that positive symptoms start to diminish gradually. It is the negative symptoms that do not react to the treatment as quickly as the positive ones do.

The signs and symptoms usually involves delusions and hallucinations, disorganized speech and more. Delusions include making up false beliefs that have got nothing to do with the reality. Examples include feeling that you are being attacked or insulted, or that someone is in love with you or that you are extremely famous. Hallucinations are next level symptoms in which a person not only assumes but also starts to heart things that do not exist. The negative symptoms make a person forget about basic things such as personal hygiene or basic emotions like the ability to talk to strangers. [ii]

Schizophrenia Treatment

The doctors may start with a physical exam to exclude the mental health disorders. The physical exam will also be helpful in determining which symptoms are due to drug or substance abuse. Tests and screenings may also be recommended by the doctor. If the earlier two diagnoses methods do not work, the doctor may ask for a psychiatric evaluation. In this procedure, a mental health professional will talk to the patient about their symptoms, lifestyle and feelings.

Sadly, the treatment for schizophrenia often lasts for a lifetime, even if the symptoms start to lessen. Often times, doctors recommend a combination of medications and psychosocial therapies. Some patients show positive signs against these remedies but for those who do not, hospitalization becomes the last remedy.

Medications

Being the cornerstone of the treatment for this chronic disease, antipsychotic are most commonly prescribed medicines. The working of these medicines include affection the neurotransmitter dopamine of our brain until the symptoms start to vanish. Doctors start with the lowest possible dose of these medicines to help minimize the symptoms.

As far as the psychiatrist is concerned, they may prescribe a number of drugs and try different combinations, until the result is achieved. In some cases, anti-depressants and anti-anxiety drugs may be given to comfort the patient. [iii]Also, these medicines cause severe side effects which is why the patients are more than hesitant to take them. This may affect the choice of drugs given by the doctors and sometimes the same medicine must be given via an injection.

Psychosocial interventions

Doctors believe that psychosocial interventions are effective with ongoing medications. This includes individual therapy meant to normalize the thought patterns, and helps the patient learn to deal with anxiety. It is successful in controlling the signs of schizophrenia at early stages. Social skills training and family therapies are given to patients to improve their overall relationships with friends and family.

Electroconvulsive therapy

For those patients who do not show any signs of improvement against medications and different sort of therapies, Electroconvulsive therapy is the ultimate treatment. They may be forcibly hospitalized for the sake of their own and their family’s safety. This is also to ensure that proper nutrition and enough sleep is given to the patient.

They may be given Electroconvulsive therapy to help improve their condition. In this therapy, electric currents are passed through the brain of the patients, in order to restore the nerve impulses. This therapy is specifically helpful if the patient also has depression.

There are some other ways of controlling the symptoms and help improve the quality of patient’s life. These include joining a support group and interact with people that have the same disorder. These support groups are also a good option for the family. Another way to tackle the symptoms is to stay focused and keep the treatment goals in mind. Trying to remember your loved ones and take responsibility for improving your own condition is the best thing a patient can do. Learning about relaxation and stress management therapies might also be useful in some cases. Never start taking any medications on your own but always get consultation of a doctor.  

[i] https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/schizophrenia/causes/

[ii] https://www.helpguide.org/articles/mental-disorders/schizophrenia-signs-and-symptoms.htm/

[iii] https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/schizophrenia/treatment/