Schizophrenia remains a widely stigmatized and severe mental illness that often strikes its sufferers at certain times in their lives, usually in youth. a well-documented disease, schizophrenia often strikes men late in their teens and women in their late twenties and even early thirties. Schizophrenia is a chronic condition that requires lifelong treatment, but one which nonetheless remains manageable.
Typically, a sufferer is diagnosed with three signs of the illness, divided into three categories: positive, negative, and cognitive. Positive symptoms include delusions, hallucinations, thought disorder, and disorganized behavior. Negative symptoms may include the lack of an appropriate emotional response to stimuli, a loss of interest in everyday activities, a debilitating inability to properly plan for or carry out daily activities, and poor hygiene. Cognitive symptoms are the most disabling problems that a sufferer of schizophrenia will experience in their lifetime.
Cognitive symptoms create issues largely because they prevent the patient from performing even the most rudimentary daily tasks. In some instances the patient may have had these issues since birth, but takes time for the symptoms to materialize. some such symptoms include problems with understanding basic information, problems with their attention span, and memory loss. Add to these affective issues, such as mood swings and depression, and one further understands the dynamic loss that results. to some, a schizophrenic will seem odd and inappropriate – something with the potential to cause social isolation.
Paranoid schizophrenia remains the most widely considered form of the illness, and the one that others often project onto all sufferers of schizophrenia. The illness is described as one that manifests primarily through an impaired-thought process, and which severely distorts perceptions or thought processes in the central nervous system of the patient. Delusions may be multiple in nature, but are usually organized and coherent to the patient.
Securing the right help for the person who suffers from schizophrenia is difficult. The patient in question may not realize that they need help, so it will fall to friends, family members, and members of the general public to seek the appropriate medical attention. even a small network will help offset the setbacks that result from the diagnosis and treatment of schizophrenia, and offer encouragement and support as necessary. In some extreme cases, the police or social services will help provide patients with the medical care they need.
It stands to reason that schizophrenia is a debilitating illness that requires treatment, but can be managed.