Schizophrenia is serious and chronic brain disease.
Schizophrenia Affects 1% of the world develops schizophrenia sometime in their life time. 2 million people in the US suffer from it every year it will affect men and women both but shows up earlier in men usually in the teen or early adult years, women usually are diaongnosed in their early thirties. People with schizophrenia often suffer terrifying symptoms such as hearing internal voices not heard by others, or believing that other people are reading their minds, controlling their thoughts, or plotting to harm them. Their speech and behavior can be so disorganized that they may be incomprehensible or frightening to others.
Available treatments can relieve many symptoms, but most people with schizophrenia continue to suffer some symptoms throughout their lives; it has been estimated that no more than one in five individuals recovers completely. Schizophrenia is found not only in the US but the whole world. The first signs of schizophrenia often appear as confusing, or even shocking, changes in behavior. The sudden onset of severe psychotic symptoms is referred to as an “acute” phase of schizophrenia. “Psychosis,” a common condition in schizophrenia, is a state of mental impairment marked by hallucinations, which are disturbances of sensory perception, and/or delusions, which are false yet strongly held personal beliefs that result from an inability to separate real from unreal experiences. Schizophrenia can be traced back to Egyptian times.
The word “schizophrenia” comes from the Greek roots schizo (split) and phrene (mind) to describe the thinking of people with the disorder. His term was not meant to convey the idea of split or multiple personality, a common misunderstanding by many people. Since Bleuler’s time, the definition of schizophrenia has continued to change, as scientists attempt to more accurately determine the different types of mental diseases. Without knowing the exact causes of these diseases, scientists can only base their classifications on the observation that some symptoms tend to occur together. Both Bleuler subdivided schizophrenia into categories, based on the symptoms and prognoses. Over the years, those working in this field have continued to attempt to classify types of schizophrenia.
Five types were delineated in the DSM-III: disorganized, catatonic, paranoid, residual, and undifferentiated. The first three categories were originally proposed by Kraepelin. Many researchers today are using different systems based on the severity of the symptoms. Schizophrenia is the disruption of cognition and emotion affecting the human’s language, thought, perception, affect, and sense of self. Symptoms include hearing voices inside your head, hallucinations, delusions, and depression.
No single symptom is definitive for diagnosis; rather, the diagnosis encompasses a pattern of signs and symptoms with social changes and personality changes. Symptoms are typically divided into positive and negative symptoms because of their impact on diagnosis and treatment. Positive symptoms are those that appear to reflect an excess or distortion of normal functions. The diagnosis of schizophrenia, according to DSM-IV, requires at least 1-month duration of two or more positive symptoms, unless hallucinations or delusions are especially bizarre, which would be a sign of the disorder. Negative symptoms are those that appear to reflect a loss of normal functions. Loss of usual interests or pleasures (anhedonia); disturbances of sleep and eating; dysphoric mood (depressed, anxious, irritable, or angry mood); and difficulty concentrating or focusing attention, are also symptoms oh the disorder.
Your relative may become odd, distant or just different from how they used to be. They may avoid contact with people and become be less active. If they have delusional ideas, they may talk about them, but may also keep quiet about them. If they are hearing voices, they may suddenly look away from you as if they are listening to something else.
When you speak to them, they may say little, or be difficult to understand. Their sleep pattern may change so that they stay up all night and sleep during the day. You may wonder if this behavior is just rebellious. It can happen so slowly that, only when you look back, can you see when it started.
It can be particularly difficult to recognize these changes during the teenage years, when young people are changing anyway. You may start to blame yourself and wonder
