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Schizophrenia
Fast Facts
Schizophrenia affects approximately 24 million people worldwide. That’s 1 in 300 people or 0.32%.
While the cause of schizophrenia is unknown, It may result from an interaction between genes and a range of environmental factors.
Schizophrenia affects approximately 24 million people worldwide. That’s 1 in 300 people or 0.32%.
The onset of Schizophrenia is most common during late adolescence and the twenties.
While the cause of schizophrenia is unknown, It may result from an interaction between genes and a range of environmental factors.
Schizophrenia affects approximately 24 million people worldwide. That’s 1 in 300 people or 0.32%.
While the cause of schizophrenia is unknown, It may result from an interaction between genes and a range of environmental factors.
While the cause of schizophrenia is unknown, It may result from an interaction between genes and a range of environmental factors.
While the cause of schizophrenia is unknown, It may result from an interaction between genes and a range of environmental factors.
Approximately 50% of people in mental hospitals have a schizophrenia diagnosis (1).
While the cause of schizophrenia is unknown, It may result from an interaction between genes and a range of environmental factors.
While the cause of schizophrenia is unknown, It may result from an interaction between genes and a range of environmental factors.
How to Recognize Schizophrenia in Myself
What is Schizophrenia?
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that causes people to interpret reality in ways different than it actually is. This false reality can be significantly disabling and life altering, affecting your personal and family life, and your social, educational, and occupational functioning. (1)
Medical professionals have divided defining features of schizophrenia (which literally means split mind) into two categories: positive symptoms and negative symptoms. In our common vernacular, we tend to use the terms “positive” to mean good and “negative” to mean bad, but in relation to schizophrenia, this is not the case.
Rather, positive symptoms are characteristics that are added onto someone’s baseline state of being. Hallucinations, delusions, catatonic, disorganized speech, and disorganized behavior are all positive symptoms.
Negative symptoms are features that are removed from someone’s baseline state of being. Decreased motivation, loss of emotion, loss of ability to fully care about people or situations, and loss of ability to feel happiness or pleasure are all examples of negative symptoms found in schizophrenia.
Stage 1: Recognize
How to Recognize Schizophrenia:
Individuals with schizophrenia experience some combination of both positive and negative symptoms. As you can imagine, adding undesired characteristics and removing desired ones will greatly disrupt someone's quality of life. Let us dive deeper into the positive and negative symptoms experienced by those with schizophrenia.
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Positive Symptoms of Schizophrenia:
Hallucinations: These are sensory perceptions and experiences that you believe are real when they actually are not. Hallucinations can affect what you see, hear, feel, taste, and smell. The most common forms of hallucinations are auditory (hearing things that other people do not hear) and visual (seeing things other people do not see) (3).
Disorganized Speech: Speech that is difficult to understand or follow. Someone with schizophrenia might respond in ways that do not make sense in the flow of the conversation.
Disorganized Behavior: Behavior that is bizarre, inappropriate, or erratic. Includes catatonic behavior (positioning of the body that is not a natural position), behavior that is withdrawn, sitting in silence, or staring off into space.
Delusions: False beliefs that are not based in reality, causing a person to believe something that is not true. These beliefs are perpetuated, even when others try to tell or show them that the beliefs are untrue. There are five main schizophrenia delusion patterns medical professionals have categorized to help make sense of the disorder.
- Delusions of persecution: A belief that you are being watched, harmed, or harassed by others. For example, “The FBI is following me,” “My coworker is trying to poison me,” or “Aliens are stalking me.”
- Delusions of control: A belief that others are trying to control the individual’s thoughts and behaviors. An example is, “My boss is trying to plant thoughts inside my head.”
- Delusions of erotomania: A belief that another person is in love with them. For example: “Justin Beber is in love with me. He writes me love letters, and we are going to elope.”
- Delusions of grandeur: A belief that they are a person of great importance. For example: “I am George Washington, reincarnated, sent by God to deliver this country from corruption!”
- Delusions of reference: A belief that messages are specific to them. For example: “The billboard told me and no one else that the end of the world is tomorrow.”
Studies have shown that delusions of reference and delusions of persecution are the most common delusions. It is possible for someone to experience multiple delusion types (2).
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Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia:
As stated earlier, negative symptoms are characteristics that are removed from someone’s baseline state of being. In other words, the chemical imbalances of the brain lead to a diminished capacity for the brain to process, respond and behave in typical patterns. This can lead to symptoms such as:
Anhedonia: The loss of ability to feel happiness or pleasure.
Apathy: The loss of ability to care about people or things.
Decreased motivation: Inability to make and pursue goals.
Flat affect: Inability to show emotion.
Alosia: Inability to speak normally.
Learn More:
Check out this article by the American Psychiatric Association for an indepth overview of schizophrenia.
Stage 2: Respond
How Can I Treat My Schizophrenia?
Schizophrenia is life altering in many ways and generally requires intensive treatment in all three categories of Psycophi's holistic approach to mental health care—Medication, Mentation, and Modification.
Medication:
Medications are the foundation for the treatment of schizophrenia. Antipsychotic medications are the most common drugs prescribed for schizophrenic patients. These drugs impact, to various degrees, dopamine levels in the brain in an attempt to help balance and stabilize the neurotransmitter imbalance caused by this disorder. As with all medications, there are side effects and potential complications requiring close monitoring and medication adjustment with a trained physician. (4) To read more about the various medications, read this detailed article by the Mayo Clinic.
Mentation:
Mentation is the deliberate action and exercise of the mind. There are several ways you can do this. Psychotherapy is a strongly successful method of mentation that helps individuals recognize and normalize their abnormal thought patterns. Family Therapy can help provide support and education to family members as well. There are also social skill training and vocational rehabilitation training designed specifically for individuals with schizophrenia to help them better participate in daily activities and work.
Modification:
Everyone, including those with schizophrenia, can benefit from thoughtful and intentional lifestyle modifications. Although lifestyle modifications will not cure an individual from schizophrenia, it has the potential to improve symptoms, decrease their severity, and improve overall health and wellbeing. Check out these pages that can teach you how to change the way you eat, sleep, move, and breathe.
Stage 3: Optimize
Psychophi's Mental Health and You Course:
The reality is, no one can face schizophrenia alone. This is a life altering disorder that impacts many individuals, families, and communities. Tools, training, and professional help are available to all. Unfortunately, stigma against people with schizophrenia is both widespread and rather intense (2).
If you are experiencing symptoms similar to what is described above, we highly encourage you to seek out professional medical help. There are resources dedicated to helping you navigate life with schizophrenia.
If you have schizophrenia or any mental health condition and would like help with lifestyle modification, check out our 9 week course Mental Health and You: Lifestyle Changes to Optimize Your Life. scientifically designed to improve your mental health here.
Take courage. You are not alone.
The Psycophi Team
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References:
1. (2022, January 10). Schizophrenia. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/schizophrenia
2. Nall, R. (n.d.). Schizophrenia Delusions: Definition, Types, and Treatments. Symptom Media. https://symptommedia.com/delusions-associated-with-schizophrenia-ce-course-preview/
3. Bhuyan, D., & Chaudhury, P. K. (2016, May). Nature and types of delusion in schizophrenia and mania–is there a difference? IOSR Journal of Dental and Medical Sciences. 15(5), pp 01-06., as quoted in Schizophrenia Delusions: Definition, Types, and Treatments - Symptom Media.
4. (2020, January 7). Schizophrenia: Diagnosis and Treatment. Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/schizophrenia/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20354449
About the Author: Bryson Ensign
Bryson is a certified Life Coach and a first year medical resident training to become a psychiatric physician. He has suffered from social anxiety and generalized anxiety. After landing in the ER from a panic attack that felt like a heart attack, he became an advocate for others experiencing the same mental health struggles. He now dedicates his life to empowering those in the mental health community with the tools they need to turn their lives around and find heightened satisfaction in pursuing the things that truly matter to them.
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