Schizophrenia Can Impact the Quality of Life you lead.

Schizophrenia Can Impact the Quality of Life you lead.

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder impacting the thinking and behavior of a person. It is a disorder causing various symptoms that lead a person to seeing or believing imaginary things that in turn mark his behavior. Schizophrenia can also lead to social changes in a person, causing them to be reclusive and withdrawn. They also are unable to decipher their own feeling that makes it difficult for them to react to various situations.

Are There Any Signs Of Schizophrenia?

Following are some of the common symptoms associated with schizophrenia: • False thinking: Also known as delusions in medical terms, it refers to the negative thoughts that run in a person’s mind. Patients get weird feelings like being watched or that they are famous people like some religious personality.

• Hallucinations: Seeing visions, animals, people who don't really exist are all symptoms of hallucinations. Patients can often hear imaginary commands and comments which are all fictitious and only in their head.

• Inconsistency in speech and thinking: Individuals suffering from schizophrenia do not have sync in their thoughts and speech. They tend to move from one topic to other without focus. They can also go on to making up words that do not actually exist.

• Disorientation in behavior: Patients suffering from schizophrenia have disoriented behaviors. Right from their reactions to dressing to maintaining basic levels of hygiene are all scattered and different from how they would normally behave in that situation.

• Other symptoms: Patients may experience a number of other symptoms such as: Becoming completely unsocial, lack of interest to do anything including activities that gave them pleasure earlier, lack of initiative, emotionally unresponsive.

What Are The Causes Associated With Schizophrenia?

Like most other mental diseases, the causes of schizophrenia are not clear. There are various interpretations and theories attached to the various symptoms that occur to patients suffering from schizophrenia. Some of the most common causes associated with the disease include: • Hereditary factors: Schizophrenia could run in a family passing on from one generation to the other. Like many other diseases that are related to genes schizophrenia occurs when the genes react with various environmental triggers. Certain hormonal changes or situations dealing with pressure and stress could also cause schizophrenia to surface for those with a genetic vulnerability to the disease.

• Biological factors: Our body is made up of various chemical components that enable smooth functioning of our body. Some time the chemical balances are lost which can trigger various diseases or medical conditions. Researchers have attributed schizophrenia to have a direct link with an imbalance in the brain chemicals or the neurotransmitters: dopamine, glutamate and serotonin. These brain neurotransmitters are largely responsible for communication in the nerve cells of the brain and carry message exchange between these cells. An imbalance in these chemicals can impact the reactions of a person to a certain stimuli. Hence, certain abnormal stimuli like a sudden bright light or loud music which normal people can comprehend easily, because schizophrenia attacks in those affected by the disorder. The issue in processing information like sounds, smells etc can cause symptoms like hallucinations and delusions.

• Viral infections and immunity triggers: Schizophrenia can easily get triggered by various environmental factors such as a viral infection or an illness that affects a person’s

immunity levels. Babies whose mothers suffer from illnesses like flu can fall under the risk of suffering from schizophrenia in their later life. People in the hospitals who are at risk of various hospital associated infections also carry the risk of schizophrenia.

Coping With Schizophrenia If you are experiencing symptoms that can be attributed to schizophrenia, it is best to have a confirmed diagnosis and actively learn to manage the disease. Being aware of your condition can help you understand your behavior better all though when the disease triggers, you barely have understanding or comprehension capabilities. Learning the various signs and symptoms of the disease can help you prepare a plan that can help you deal better with the symptoms. For any disease to get treated, it is extremely important to not lose time in the treatment as the faster the body starts accepting the medications, faster is the recovery process.

One should also focus on being prepared for the worser symptoms and relapses.

Substance abuse and alcoholism can worsen symptom of schizophrenia and hence to deal with the disease you will need to go to a rehabilitation centre to get rid of these habits.

Family support and care is the best medicine If you have a loved one or a family member who is suffering from schizophrenia, it is extremely important for you to learn to care for them. First step is to get a clear diagnosis and understand that schizophrenia is an illness and it needs to be treated like any other disease or illness. You can really improve the quality of life that your loved one is leading by making them aware of their condition and lending them a helping hand in getting the right treatment for the disease. Dealing with schizophrenia in a loved one can also be extremely tough on you especially if you are living with them and hence make sure to treat yourself fairly and not neglect your needs in the process of caring for them. To help someone deal with schizophrenia, following are some of the ways that you can use to aid the medical treatment: • Improve social interaction: The biggest drawback of schizophrenia is that a person becomes a recluse and goes into a withdrawal mode. This leads to other complications such as depression which make recovery all the more difficult. Help the patient gain your confidence and accompany them to go for social gatherings and meet people. It may be difficult sometimes to deal with this condition since the reactions from the schizophrenia patients can be unpredictable but you will need to keep up your patience levels. • Relaxation techniques: Practicing relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, yoga and meditation can really help you and the patient to relax thereby breaking the monotony this disease creates. • Having a support system: If you are caring for a person suffering from schizophrenia, it can really change your life and lead you to a physical and emotional breakdown. It is hence important that you seek help either from a caregiver or a support group to make the journey easier.

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