Schizophrenia and Psychosis
Schizophrenia is one of the most misunderstood and severe mental illnesses. About 1% of people experience this mental disorder. It was identified more than a decade ago and its mains causes, still, remain unidentified. This disorder affects a person’s way of thinking, feeling, and behavior, hindering their development in everyday activities. It is characterized by producing thoughts or experiences that seem to not be in contact with this reality.
Schizophrenia can also cause other disorders such as psychosis, a mental illness that causes a disconnection from reality. This disorder can affect a person to a point where they can’t tell the difference between what’s real or just part of their imagination.
Schizophrenia and psychosis are mental illnesses truly alike making things confusing, therefore, let’s clear up things. The difference between schizophrenia and psychosis is the fact schizophrenia causes other symptoms aside from psychosis like hallucinations, talking incoherently, and agitation. Also, not all psychotic cases are related to schizophrenia. Still, most schizophrenia cases start with psychotic symptoms.
There is not a specific cause that can provoke psychosis. Yet it can occur as a result of a psychiatric illness such as Schizophrenia. The genetic combination and environmental factors like being exposed to a certain virus in early infancy, increase the chance of developing psychosis. Besides, close relatives like children and siblings are 10 times likelier to develop the disease and an identical twin with schizophrenia has 40% of being affected. Another cause can be the consumption of drugs like marijuana. The start of psychosis is undefined and there can be plenteous causes and symptoms. Symptoms can develop differently in people. It greatly depends on each lifestyle.
The first symptoms can be easy to notice. These include physical changes, irritability, personality changes, and a gradual intrusion of unusual thoughts. There can also be behavioral cognitive and changes where the person isolates themselves and has a confusion thought disorder. As well, mood, psychological, and speech changes can occur where the person affected by schizophrenia expresses anger, hallucinations, and has an incoherent speech. The first psychotic episode can include symptoms like delusions, hallucinations, and disordered speech and behavior. Usually, patients get diagnosed with schizophrenia after the start of psychosis. Men in their late teens, early twenties and women in their late twenties or early thirties.
There are three different types of symptoms. Positive, negative, and cognitive symptoms. Positive symptoms occur just in people with schizophrenia. People usually think people with schizophrenia have multiple personalities, but it’s not like that, schizophrenia symptoms provoke disruptions in the thought processes and that’s why they act differently. Negative symptoms reduce qualities in people with schizophrenia. They lose motivation, expression of emotion, and speech. Finally, the cognitive symptoms include difficulty in concentrating, remembering information, and in making decisions.
If it wasn’t enough, there are 5 different types of schizophrenia. Paranoid schizophrenia is the one shown by most of the movies and it just includes positive symptoms. Catatonic schizophrenia is the most unique as it includes physical movement. The symptoms are weird as the person stays in strange positions or stays in the position they are moved to. Hebephrenic or disorganized schizophrenia, as its name says, provokes a disorganized speed and behavior as same as inappropriate emotional responses. Residual schizophrenia occurs when someone had schizophrenia in the past, but some negative symptoms remain yet it is not relevant. Finally, undifferentiated schizophrenia is for people who do not fit in any of the types above as they may be showing more than one kind of symptoms.
Unfortunately, there is no cure for this illness. Schizophrenia can last for some years of time or be life long. But traditional antipsychotics can be very effective in lowering positive symptoms as dopamine receptors get blocked. Even though, antipsychotics can increment negative symptoms as there is neural tissue loss. Drugs also cause side effects like weight gain because signaling gets affected throughout the brain and body. Early intervention with medicine and psychotherapy is important. Schizophrenia is a really delicate illness, it can really affect people making them sink in this illness avoiding them to go in search of treatment. People with this sickness can be dangerous because they are victims of violence. Education to their relatives and close people is really important to eliminate the stigma. People suffering from this sickness pass through lots of things and having the support of their loved ones can make their journey less harsh.
Bibliography:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2sc_ck5BZU&t=158s
https://www.heretohelp.bc.ca/q-and-a/whats-the-difference-between-psychosis-and-schizophrenia
