The disease schizophrenia refers to the term ‘split mind’. As a result, many people think that schizophrenia is a disease in which one person has multiple spirits or persons within him. However, this is not the definition of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a disease in which people lack touch with social reality.

Prevent

About 40 percent of patients admitted to psychiatry have schizophrenia. Just under 1 percent of the population will be diagnosed with schizophrenia. The average age when schizophrenia manifests itself is between 20 and 30 years. Both men and women get the disease.According to the DSM-IV, schizophrenia is characterized by two or more of the following symptoms, each of which must be present for 1 month:

• Delusions
• Hallucinations
• Chaotic or catatonic behavior
• Incoherent speech
• Flattening of affect, reduced speech or apathy

Delusion

A delusion is having a belief, despite the fact that there are plenty of arguments to the contrary. There are different types of delusions, which vary from patient to patient. An example of a common delusion is delusions of reference. This involves the belief that normal behavior or objects of persons have a special meaning for the patient. The patient is convinced that a person or an object means something other than what it really is.

Hallucinations

Hallucinations are perceptual experiences, without a real physical stimulus being present. For example, a patient may hear different voices, while no voices can be heard in the environment.The behavior of a schizophrenia patient can be very diverse. One patient behaves very chaotically, behaving very unpredictably. The other patient then behaves catatonic again. He then behaves very passively and does not respond to anything for a very long time.

Speech

Schizophrenia patients have incoherent speech. They still follow the rules of the language, but what they say has no meaning, as they jump from topic to topic. They often also use non-existent words or sentences are constantly repeated. As a result, schizophrenia patients cannot have normal conversations. Disturbances in emotional life also often occur. Patients often have an affective flattening. The emotional reactions are reduced or completely disappeared. Feelings seem to be absent. In another phase of the disease, exaggerated anxiety occurs or patients suddenly start crying.

What after the determination?

Once you have schizophrenia, you can never cure it. However, the symptoms can be suppressed through medication. The medication used for schizophrenia patients affects the neurotransmitter dopamine. In schizophrenia, people either have too high a dopamine concentration in the brain, or they are extremely sensitive to dopamine. Medication ensures that less dopamine is absorbed into the brain. Schizophrenia is largely hereditary. If both biological parents have schizophrenia, the chance that the child will develop schizophrenia is almost 50 percent. Schizophrenia is an illness that manifests itself openly. When someone close to you develops schizophrenia, this is easy to determine. This allows the patient to be treated immediately. Despite the fact that the symptoms can be treated with medication, a schizophrenia patient will have to adapt to the situation and learn to deal with it for the rest of his life.