What Is Schizophrenia
Although schizophrenia was first recognised more than a century ago, its precise causes are still unknown. It is still one of the most stigmatised and misunderstood illnesses in existence today. So let's go over what we do know, starting with symptoms and moving on to causes and remedies.
Since schizophrenia is regarded as a syndrome, it may include several related disorders with overlapping symptoms but distinct aetiologies. Schizophrenia symptoms vary significantly from person to person, and the early warning signals can include minor personality changes, impatience, or a slow creep of strange thoughts. Patients are often identified after psychosis sets in, which for men normally happens in the late teens or early twenties and for women usually happens in the late twenties or early thirties.
Delusions, hallucinations, and abnormal speech and behaviour can all be present in a first psychotic episode. Positive symptoms are those that only appear in individuals with schizophrenia and not in the general population. Contrary to the widespread misconception that patients with schizophrenia have numerous personalities, these symptoms actually point to a breakdown of mental processes.
Negative symptoms of schizophrenia are traits that are diminished in those who have it, such as motivation, emotional expressiveness, and speaking. Additionally, there are cognitive signs, such as challenges focusing, recalling details, and making choices.?
There is probably more than one contributing factor, including genetic and environmental risk factors. Of all psychiatric disorders, schizophrenia has some of the strongest genetic ties. Despite the fact that schizophrenia affects only 1% of the population, it is ten times more likely to impact children, siblings, or identical twins of those who already have the condition.
Frequently, but not to the point where treatment is necessary, close relatives of people with schizophrenia display lesser forms of the symptoms associated with the illness. We don't know how many or which genes are involved, but there are probably multiple genes involved. Environmental variables, such as early life virus exposure, may raise a person's risk of schizophrenia, and the use of certain drugs, especially marijuana, may cause psychosis to begin in people who are particularly sensitive to it. Not everyone is affected in the same way by these circumstances.
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Nevertheless, for people with very high risk and a small bit of increased risk could tip the scales in their favour. Researchers have been able to identify traces of the illness in the brain by working backwards using antipsychotic medications, which are used to treat schizophrenia. Dopamine receptors are blocked by conventional antipsychotics. Positive symptoms, which are related to an abundance of dopamine in particular brain pathways, can be greatly diminished by them. However, the same medications can exacerbate negative symptoms, and we've discovered that negative symptoms of schizophrenia may be related to a lack of dopamine in other parts of the brain.
It is unknown if certain schizophrenia patients exhibit a loss of brain tissue as a result of the illness itself or medication-induced signal suppression. Fortunately, more recent antipsychotic generations target several neurotransmitters, such as serotonin in addition to dopamine, in an effort to alleviate some of these problems. Since these medications alter transmission across the brain and body, they may also induce other side effects including weight gain. It is obvious that no single transmitter system is responsible for all symptoms.
Despite these issues, antipsychotics can still be highly helpful, especially when used in conjunction with other treatments like cognitive-behavioral therapy. Electroconvulsive therapy is making a comeback as an effective treatment, especially after other choices have failed, despite the fact that it only offers comparatively transient relief.
Early intervention is also essential. Certain psychoses can become ingrained in a person's mentality after months or years of being untreated. However, the degrading stigma associated with this diagnosis may discourage some people from getting treatment. Although individuals with schizophrenia are significantly more likely to be the victims of violence than the perpetrators, they are frequently viewed as being dangerous. And appropriate care might lessen the incidence of violence linked to schizophrenia. In order to reduce stigma and increase access to care, education for patients, their families, and their communities is important.
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