Schizophrenia

Description of the Disease

“Schizo” means split, and “phren” means mind.

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder involving a split in mental functions, personality changes, and nonspecific psychopathological syndromes. These syndromes can include delusions and hallucinations. The disease usually develops between the ages of 15-25. However, it can also begin in childhood or in old age.

Symptoms often go unnoticed during their initial appearance in adolescence. People often mistake these signs as part of typical personality development or adolescent peculiarities. The exact causes of schizophrenia are still unclear. However, several factors appear to play significant roles in its onset.

These factors could include genetic predisposition and birth trauma. Viral infections during pregnancy, immune disorders, and issues with nervous system development could also contribute.

Endocrine factors such as puberty and menopause, along with disrupted childhood interpersonal relationships, also contribute to the risk.

Symptoms

Schizophrenia is divided into:

a) Simple: Begins at a young age (16-18 years old), concentration and learning become difficult, passive behavior emerges, loss of interest. Teachers often label this as laziness, but later symptoms such as withdrawal from others, loss of will, emotional flatness, muttering, and hallucinations (e.g., seeing or hearing things that are not there) become apparent. Delusions may develop, resulting in pathological thinking and reasoning with facts that do not match reality.

b) Hebephrenic: Patients appear like small children, acting silly, giggling, babbling, joking, showing irresponsible and unpredictable behavior, and displaying affectation. They exhibit inappropriate moods in given situations, giggling, smiling, making grimaces, undressing in front of others, and soiling clothes and bedding.

c) Catatonic: Manifests as hyperkinesis (excessive movement), command obedience, or complete immobility. Patients can remain in one position for a long time without moving and show reduced reactions to the environment.

d) Paranoid: The most common form in developed countries. Its course can be episodic or chronic with hallucinations and delusions of persecution or other kinds. These patients display irritability, nervousness, sudden anger, suspicion, and fear.

Diagnosis and Treatment

Mental health specialists diagnose schizophrenia after a comprehensive medical history. Treatment is usually lifelong to soften the course of the disease and achieve maximum psychosocial functioning between episodes (using medications such as neuroleptics, antidepressants, mood stabilizers, sedatives, etc.). There is no medication that completely cures schizophrenia.