Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a chronic brain or psychological disorder that causes the sufferer to experience hallucinations, have paranoid delusions, engage in confused speech, have trouble thinking clearly, and lose the ability to function in a normal manner. According to the DSM-V (2013), the diagnosis criteria for schizophrenia states that these symptoms must last at least in duration for 6 months and there should be at least one month in which the symptoms are active and are negatively affecting the person’s life—i.e., the individual’s ability to work or socialize. While the WHO (2017) notes that there are more than 20 million people all over the world who suffer from schizophrenia, it is a treatable disorder. This paper will discuss the disorder, its symptoms and treatments that are available.

The symptoms of schizophrenia include: hallucination, paranoid delusions, exaggerated or distorted perceptions, beliefs or actions, confused or disordered thinking, problems concentrating, a possible catatonic state, a loss of willpower, and an inability to ward off overwhelming thoughts that can cripple a person’s ability to function normally. Smith (2007) notes that the disorder accounts for “half of all admissions to psychiatric hospitals, costs $40 billion a year to treat in the United States, and is one of the top ten causes of disability worldwide” (p. 77). Moreover, while some people may have these symptoms intermittently, a person with schizophrenia will exhibit these symptoms over a long duration of time. Identifying the disorder depends upon viewing these symptoms over the course of half a year and seeing them actively exhibited for at least an entire month over that duration. A person who only exhibits these signs for a few days and then they disappear for months on end before reappearing may not have this disorder and should be evaluated for another.

Types of treatment that are available to help a person who suffers from schizophrenia include: therapy and pharmacological interventions. Usually, schizophrenia patients are prescribed a combination of counseling therapy and drug intervention to help produce a stabilizing effect on the mind. Pharmaceutical treatments include antipsychotic mood stabilizers: these are called neuroleptics and may be used to help stifle mental disturbances. Therapy is another treatment that can be used to help the patient to direct impulses more appropriately. Therapies include the use of support group therapy, psychosocial therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and so on. Leucht, Cipriani, Spineli et al. (2013) show that neuroleptics are a good way to help treat schizophrenia; however, some patients may respond differently to them than others, so it is often a trial and error approach that is used to see what works best with the patient. At the same time, therapy such as cognitive behavioral therapy can be used to help train the person to direct impulses in a healthy manner. Turkington, Kingdon and Turner (2002) for example show that cognitive behavioral therapy can allow the patient to anticipate a schizophrenic attack and prepare for it by focusing the attention on resisting the impulses, the hallucinations, and training the body and mind to fight them or ignore them—depending on what works best for the patient.

In conclusion, schizophrenia is a mental health disorder that afflicts millions of people around the world and is characterized by hallucinations, loss of will, loss of control of the body and mind, confused speech/thinking, and even a catatonic state. The symptoms will lost for at least a period of half a year with at least one month of active signs. Treatment is available through drug intervention and through counseling.