Schizophrenia

Symptoms

How one gets diagnosed? A patient would have the the following symptons: hallucinations, delusions, disorganized speech, apathy, big mood changes and many others. Some or all of these symptons will affect an individual depending on the stage of the disorder. There are 3 main stages to this disorder and they are prodromal, active, and residual. Some of these symptons can be managed well with therapy and medication, while others are more challenging to deal with because the medication a patient is taking might not be working, or there therapy isnt helping. In fact, if a teenager is developing symptons such as: bad grades, withdrawn from friends, and too much sleep, it can be the early stages of Schizophrenia. As a matter of fact, teens develop symptons slower than adults so it can be more challenging to diagnose.

Diagnosis

Schizophrenia is difficult to diagnose. There has been many studies done that say there is no exact test to clearly identify it. The other common symptoms like constant fear, strange visions, hallucinations, and withdrawl from life would be the main reason one would go see a physicatrist and get diagnosed. Teenagers would be the most vulnrable age group to get proparly diagnosed, because the symptoms in a teen develop slower and the same symptoms can overlap with other disorders. If anyone does have it would be benefitical for them to be refered for treatment as soon as possible. In conclusion, if somebody is getting themself tested a doctor will have do a physch evalaution along with a full medical exam to see if the symptons contiune to exist and become worse or better over the course of 6 months.

Causes

There has been many studies done to say that it's a genetic mutation even though researchers don't know the explicit causes to it. Researchers state that it is a combination of: physical, genetic, physcological, and enviormental factors that can make someone develop Schizophrenia. But there are some things that are more likely to can trigger it, and they are drug abuse and stress. In some cases there are some people that can be prone to it because of a stressful or emotional life event that can trigger a physcotic episode. In addition, this disorder is heriditary.

Treatments

Most people with Schizophrenia can or will be treated by there local mental health team, where they have different types of doctors that know how to help people deal with mental health illnesses. These teams are meant to give day to day supoort and treatment, while making sure that someone has enough independance to live there life. There are medications to help control the symptons and sometimes even put them on remission, and there is also different types of therapy session to help people learn how to cope with life. To find the best treatment for everyone, there is something called the CPA, (Care Programme Approach) which is a treatment process to make sure that someone is getting the right treatment, depending on the stage they are diagnosed with. All the treatments are generally the same because they include medication and therapy, but in sometimes you need more doctors present for certain problems. Unfortunately, there is no cure to this disorder, but since it has been known in the medical history for a long time, there has been studies to come up with more sucessful medication and treament found to support one.

Living with

Some people with Schizophrenia can live a productive life by managing there symptoms well with therapy and medication. Caring for symptons can make a big impact on an individuals life because it reduces aniexty, and depression, on top of having Schizophrenia. If one takes care of themselves, they will be able to take better care of themselves and do there daily activities. Some of the important self care includes: maintaining good physical and mental health, preventiting accidents or illnesses, and dealing with long term conditions. Unfortunatley, with people who experiance a more severe stage of Schizophrenia, there life will be harder to maintain because there symptons are harder to control.

Fun facts

1. If a family has a set of identical twins, and one kid gets the disorder, the other twin has a one and two chance of getting it as well

2. one percent of the population (2.2 Million Americans) will develop schizophrenia

3. The famous artist Vincent Van Gogh had schizophrenia, which affected him so much that that he cut his own ear off because of it

4. Schizophrenia is more common to men than women

5. Over 280,000 people in Canada have schizophrenia

6. The way the roof of your mouth is formed can signal if you have Schizophrenia

Quiz time!!

1. who found out about schizophrenia?

2. who develaps the symtoms faster, Adults or Teens?

3. which artist had schizphrania and what did he do because of it?

4. If a family has a set of identical twins, and one kid gets the disorder, whats the chance of the other twin getting it?

Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAoRk9sh_6g