Schizophrenia was always something I knew about but had no real background information on. In my high school psychology class it was briefly talked about when we went through the unit on mental health disorders but my teacher never really went into depth about it. I have always had a real interest in learning what it really was so I decided doing a blog on it would be a great way for me to get insight into the the topic of schizophrenia.

What is Schizophrenia?  Schizophrenia is a life-long but treatable severe brain disorder that effects a person’s normal brain function. According to WebMd, “Schizophrenia is a psychosis, a type of mental illness in which a person cannot tell what is real from what is imagined.” This can cause a person to have hallucinations, delusions, paranoid thoughts, and trouble in social environments. Many of these symptoms cause a schizophrenic person so seem out of touch or frightened with reality. Due to the effects of schizophrenia, many of these people many have trouble in their daily lives and may not be able to keep jobs and may also be dependent on others for a long time. There are many different types of Schizophrenia. They include; paranoid schizophrenia, disorganized schizophrenia, catatonic schizophrenia, residual schizophrenia, and schizoaffective disorder. To find out more on these types of schizophrenia; click here. Schizophrenia does not affect many Americans. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, only 1% of Americans are diagnosed with it.

What causes this 1% of Americans to be diagnosed with schizophrenia? Well, researchers have found that there are some things correlated with people getting schizophrenia but they haven’t found solid, concrete cause for it.  Scientists found that genetics, the environment, and brain chemistry were linked to schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is disease that is passed down from family member to family member. The NIMH found that, “The illness occurs in 1 percent of the general population, but it occurs in 10 percent of people who have a first-degree relative with the disorder, such as a parent, brother, or sister. People who have second-degree relatives (aunts, uncles, grandparents, or cousins) with the disease also develop schizophrenia more often than the general population. The risk is highest for an identical twin of a person with schizophrenia. He or she has a 40 to 65 percent chance of developing the disorder.” Environmental factors include viral infections or stress. The final thing that scientists have found is that schizophrenia is caused by an imbalance of neurotransmitters. According to Mental Illness America, “The imbalance of these chemicals affects the way a person’s brain reacts to stimuli–which explains why a person with schizophrenia may be overwhelmed by sensory information (loud music or bright lights) which other people can easily handle. This problem in processing different sounds, sights, smells and tastes can also lead to hallucinations or delusions.”

Due to the amount of unknown information about the causes, it is still hard to treat the illness. Antipsychotic medications are one of the main ways to treat it but there are also side effects to them. Mental Health America found that these side effects, “range from mild side effects such as dry mouth, blurred vision, constipation, drowsiness and dizziness which usually disappear after a few weeks to more serious side effects such as trouble with muscle control, pacing, tremors and facial ticks. The newer generation of drugs have fewer side effects.” There are also other psychosocial treatments available. To read more about these, click here.

Schizophrenia is a very interesting but serious disorder. Still to this day it is not a curable disorder but it can be treated so that people who live with it can still function and go on with their daily lives.