6 Remarkable Facts to Help People With Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental illness that affects 20 million people from all backgrounds throughout the world. It is “one of the top 15 leading causes of disability around the world”, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.
Have you ever been around people that have experienced a mental disease? It can be challenging, since you might not know what is actually going on. Knowing about what behavior a mental disorder implies could help to prevent discrimination as well as stigma.
Knowledge can empower us to show more empathy, understanding and compassion, and ultimately help people recognize their symptoms and ask for professional help.
Let’s find out more about what people with schizophrenia are experiencing, what causes it, and what the current diagnoses and treatments are. What is the disease’s age onset. And more importantly, let’s share practical information to help people with schizophrenia.
1. What do symptoms of schizophrenia feel like?
Professor Elyn Saks’s case
Psychosis is one of many symptoms that around 0.64% of the population with schizophrenia in the U.S. could experience. How do symptoms of a psychotic episode feel like? Let see what Elyn R. Saks, a law professor at the University of Southern California, who suffers from schizophrenia, says about it, according to a Scientific American report.
“Saks: Subjectively, the best comparison I can make is to a waking nightmare. You have all the terror and confusion and the bizarre images and thoughts that you have in a nightmare. And then with the nightmare you sit bolt upright in bed in utter terror. Only with a nightmare you then wake up, while with psychosis you can’t just open your eyes and make it all go away.”
Personally, I could never imagine that any of my loved ones could face such an “utter terror” experience. Nor could I imagine others having such a time.
Professor John Nash’s case
But, there is more. Psychosis is not the only symptom that people living with schizophrenia confront. Are you familiar with the film titled “A Beautiful Mind”? Well, this is a biographical film based on John Nash’s life. Nash was an American mathematician who won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1994. This film depicts schizophrenia through hallucinations, delusions (abnormal beliefs), and psychotic events that Nash experiences.
In the film, such symptoms make Nash think that he is working on a secret mission with the United States Department of Defense. He thinks that Soviet agents are chasing him because of his work. He also talks to an imaginary friend, as well as the friend’s niece.
Patients with schizophrenia can also show lack of motivation, and struggle to plan or continue some activities. They undergo difficulties in making decisions and/or developing cognitive tasks, such as memory, judgment or problem solving.
Finally, the film also describes all the frustration, pain and challenges that Nash, his friends and family face regarding his health condition. In real life all of them were supportive of Nash’s ability to handle his disease. Indeed, after years of struggling with it, he was able to teach mathematics again.
2. What causes schizophrenia?
Although it is hard to determine the causes of schizophrenia, it is well known that different factors such as brain chemistry, inherited traits, as well as environment circumstances help trigger the disease. For instance, stressful conditions, living in poverty and suboptimal nutrition before birth are some of the environmental influences helping trigger this health condition.
Brain development abnormalities are also related to schizophrenia. In the end, there is not one singular cause triggering the disease. The good news is that it is medically treatable, and family and social support can make a difference as well.
3. The struggles of people with schizophrenia
Knowing health and social disadvantages from living with schizophrenia could give us better awareness of understanding what people with such a disease are going through. Consequently, we could facilitate their journey. Having schizophrenia could lead to issues with:
- Getting an academic education, and consequently having a job.
- Being discriminated and stigmatized.
- Diminishing life expectancy.
- Avoiding preventable illnesses such as infections or cardiovascular diseases.
In order to counteract such difficulties, it is important to be conscious of the human rights of people with mental illnesses. For instance, the World Health Organization enforces the rights of persons with disabilities such as, the right to inclusion, education, health, social protection, and employment.
It is also crucial for patients to get an early diagnosis and adequate medical attention. At the end of the blog, you will find some useful links with practical information to observe these points.
In the end, whether people with schizophrenia are siblings or perfect strangers we all, as a society are responsible to some extent for the well-being of people with mental illnesses.
4. At what age does schizophrenia start?
Schizophrenia can start as early as 15 years old. Usually, it is diagnosed after the first psychotic episode. During a psychotic event people lose contact with reality. This means that as long as the episode lasts, the thoughts and perceptions are confusing, so that the person cannot recognize what is real.
In the United States every year 100, 000 adolescents and young adults experience a psychotic event for the first time, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Additionally, it could be aggravated by the adolescence period.
Recent research shows that medical and psychosocial interventions at the early onset of the disease differ from treatments addressed to patients having lived with the disease for years. So young people starting to deal with this condition can benefit from such a prompt intervention. For instance, early interventions can improve clinical manifestations and life functioning.
This is why an early diagnosis of schizophrenia is imperative. Thus, recognizing first psychosis and individuals at risk for psychosis has recently become relevant in research.
5. What health assistance is available for schizophrenia?
Available local treatments
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, the following treatments are available for schizophrenia in the U.S.
Patient treatments. The most widely known treatment is medication, for example antipsychotics. Other available treatments are psychosocial treatments, for instance cognitive behavioral therapy. Psychosocial treatments can train patients to cope with their daily challenges, and to accomplish their life objectives.
Patient family support. Programs to educate a patient’s family and significant others help them to become familiar with the schizophrenia’s basics. Thus, family members can be more effective assisting their loved ones.
Patients with early disease onset. Coordinated specialty care (CSC) programs are aimed at helping people who have experienced their first psychotic episode.
Schizophrenia can start at adolescence and many times there is a long period of delay in diagnosis. Many years could pass before obtaining adequate treatment. Therefore, CSC is designed to provide timely support and intervention in different areas of a patient’s life. This type of program has been implemented in UK, Canada, and Australia as well.
Worldwide health assistance
69% of people living around the world with schizophrenia do not obtain medical attention, and most of them are living in countries with low or middle incomes, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Some mental institutions are not prepared to provide the treatment that patients need and to observe their human rights, so that WHO recommends that community and family take care of patients.
Some programs implemented in countries with low and middle incomes encourage primary-health systems to support people with severe mental illness, so that the system is able to:
- help patients enhance skills for an independent living.
- facilitate housing and employment.
- educate the community to prevent discrimination and stigma.
- train families to provide adequate care.
- provide essential medications.
- train personnel in primary health system in dealing with mental illness issues.
Available health services are varied around the world. However, it is important to be aware of what treatments exist, so that you can look for those that are available in your country. Knowledge will always empower patients, families, and community to face mental diseases such as schizophrenia.
6. How do YOU properly deal with someone with schizophrenia?
How would you react if someone at work made obvious false statements against someone else? Or imagine a person who thinks a dangerous person is following them and asks you for help because they are afraid. Well, these situations could derive from symptoms such as abnormal beliefs and paranoid ideas. How could you help in such situations?
Well, at the beginning it could be uncomfortable, or even strange. But if we educate ourselves about schizophrenia, its symptoms, and causes, we then could react with a better understanding and a sense of compassion. Ultimately, we could be more helpful to people suffering from this disease.
In more practical words the National Institute of Mental Health recommends:
- “Help them with treatment and encourage them to stay in treatment.”
- “Remember that the beliefs or hallucinations seem very real to them.”
- “Be respectful, gently supportive, empathetic, and kind without tolerating dangerous or inappropriate behavior.”
- “Check to see if there are any support groups in the area.”
It also provides links to look for help in your state within the U.S., and for additional information.
Helpful links to look for support:
Links addressed to patients and families
- American psychiatric association. Mental health topics
- What is schizophrenia, patients stories, and more
- National Institute of Mental Health – Understanding Psychosis, Treating Psychosis, national organizations, and online resources
- National alliance on mental illness
- Help available for your particular state in the U.S.
- Help to find local treatment in your state in the U.S.
- National suicide prevention, Lifeline, in the U.S.
- This link will help you find behavioral health treatment services locations. They provide you with health institution addresses where you can find available treatments
- Helpline is a confidential service which is free of charge and offers help by cell phone, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Available in English and Spanish. They provide information about support groups, community-based organizations, as well as referrals to local treatment facilities
Links with answers to practical questions and related personal stories:
- American psychiatric association. Patients and families
- American psychiatric association. Patient story
- Voices: Living with schizophrenia
Links about rights for people with mental illnesses:
Finally, helping people with schizophrenia get adequate treatment and life opportunities is crucial. Obtaining skills to better understand their needs and to act compassionately is imperative.
They deserve to be treated with respect and that their human rights are observed. This a responsibility that we can face together as a society.
Be involved.
