Ailin Yang
Schizophrenia is a serious chronic mental health disorder that affects how people think, feel, and behave.
“That also causes disruptions in thought processes, perceptions, emotional responsiveness, and social interactions.” (Psych Hub,2021)
Symptoms
People with schizophrenia have slightly different symptoms. They usually have very unrecognizable symptoms in the early stages of the disorder. They may become irritable and have subtle changes in personality traits. So patients will be diagnosed after a psychotic episode.
Regarding the symptoms of schizophrenia, scientists have classified three types of symptoms, positive, negative, and disorganized symptoms.
Positive symptoms occur in patients with schizophrenia population and do not appear in the general population. Its episodes are characterized by delusions, hallucinations, confused speech, and behavior.
Negative symptoms are patients specific. For example, they may lose or decline in some behaviors, expressions of emotions, or speech. Even have some cognitive problems, such as difficulty concentrating and remembering information.
The last one is disorganized symptoms, which means the patients are confused in thinking, disorganized in speech, have difficulty in logical thinking, and sometimes have strange or abnormal behaviors.
Possible Factors
Less than one percent of the population suffers from this disorder, and it has been found that genetic factors play a large role in this disease. Of course, environmental factors or medication in early childhood can be associated with schizophrenia. We don’t know much about the causes of schizophrenia, but scientists’ findings suggest that the adverse symptoms of schizophrenia may be related to the production of dopamine, which is too low in other brain regions.
chizophrenia does not mean a split personality or multiple personalities. Those symptoms only indicate a disturbance in the thought process, not a manifestation of another personality. Most patients are not fraught with danger and violence. There is also a misconception that they all live in mental institutions. However, this is not always the case, some of these patients will live in places such as nursing homes to treat or improve their condition, but most of them will live with their families or live alone.
Although the cause is unknown to us and there is no cure for schizophrenia, there are treatment options to help patients reduce their symptoms. But research is leading to innovative and safer treatments. Experts are also unlocking the causes of the disease by studying genetics, conducting behavioral studies, and using advanced imaging techniques to look at the structure and function of the brain. These approaches offer hope for new, more effective treatments.
Today’s society still has misconceptions about these patients, such as that they are severely
violent. This is not a good sign, because if misconceptions are not dispelled, then people with the disease will be afraid to seek professional help, which may worsen their condition, and they may even be more likely to become victims of violence. This is certainly not a good thing for the individual, the family, the community, or society. Then education is very important for them, which allows them all to confront the illness and reduce the stigma of schizophrenia.
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