Sagarika 40-year-old homemaker often seen mumbling quietly to herself. Sometimes found talking to people who were not there. She would emerge from her room and ask her family to be quiet even when they were not making any noise.

The word schizophrenia combines two Greek words, Schizo and phren. Schizo means split, and phone means mind to describe fragmented thinking. According to DSM-5, Schizophrenia is a severe, chronic mental disorder characterised by disturbances in thought, perception and behaviour. Its symptoms are rare in adolescence but usually apparent at ages 18-35. The peak age at onset for the first psychotic episode is 20-25 for males and 36 for females. It can be abrupt, appearing virtually overnight or insidious. A few times, a person will show unusual behaviour from childhood, but these just become significant as they grow old. Symptoms may appear suddenly in others.

Although schizophrenia has no specific cause, a combination of genetics, brain chemistry, and environment triggers it. If one identical twin sibling has it, only 1 in 2 chances is of developing it in the other. If this tends to run in the family, then no single gene is thought to be responsible. Subtle or even minor differences in brain structure may play a role in this psychotic disorder. The imbalance of chemical neurotransmitters like dopamine and glutamate may play a role in the development of it and the overstimulation of dopamine in the brain of people. Pregnancy or birth complications can be a due reason contributing to this disorder. Childhood trauma is associated with impaired working memory, executive function, verbal learning, and attention to be a factor influencing schizophrenia. Few people with schizophrenia experience hallucinations that can be a cause of abuse or neglect they experienced as children. 

The main symptoms of Schizophrenic are positive, negative and disorganised. Positive symptoms give the sign that one might lose touch with reality. It can be hallucinations or hearing voices, delusions like the delusion of persecution, where a person believes others are trying to hurt them and fantasies of reference, where people imagine that other people, characters in books or people on television are talking to them. Negative symptoms interrupt normal behaviour with reduced expression of emotions such as flat affect, lack of motivation, inability to concentrate and withdrawal from social interaction. The disorganised symptoms are namely speech difficulties, lack of content, memory recollection problems, and loss of motor behaviour.

There is no particular cure for schizophrenia, as it requires lifelong treatment. Most of the focus is on easing and eliminating symptoms that can help a person manage the condition. Antipsychotic medications that affect brain chemistry help decrease the symptoms by affecting the level of chemicals that are involved with the disorder. Psychosocial therapy also helps in managing the symptoms of schizophrenia. It includes social skills training to improve social interactions and communication. The self-help groups and coordinated speciality care, assertive community care and social recovery therapy can manage schizophrenia better. It helps a person focus on positive aspects of life and achieve goals and a sense of optimism.

Schizophrenia can be a war with the mind and set to an end with proper guidance and care.

As a Psychologist/Mental Health Professional, Dr Nisha Khanna proffers online, telephonically and face-to-face Counselling Services. If you live in Delhi, India or any other part of the World, you can approach us through any of these mediums. For further details, visit Bye Tense, or call us at +91-9818211474