S c H i Z o P h R e N i

A
The symptoms of Schizophrenia?

How is Schizophrenia diagnosed?

How is Schizophrenia explained by the
biological, psychological, and
sociocultural views?

What are the various methods of
treating Schizophrenia?

Does any one treatment seem to be
more effective than the others? If so,
which treatment and why?
This Presentation Will Discuss The Following Questions
At The Mercy of Your
Mind
Schizophrenia is a disabling, chronic and severe brain
disorder that has affected people throughout human history.

Approximately 2 percent of Americans suffer daily from this
illness.


People with this disorder cannot distinguish between what is
real and what is being manufactured in their minds.

Schizophrenics hear voices coming from their head as if they
were hearing them with their ears. They often become
extremely paranoid and may believe people are reading and
controlling their thoughts and minds and even plotting against
them. This can terrify people with the illness and make them
withdrawn or extremely agitated and sometimes dangerous to
others.

Many people with Schizophrenia cannot hold a job or much
less care for themselves; in turn, they rely on others for help
and support.
The symptoms of Schizophrenia fall into three broad
categories


Positive Symptoms



Negative Symptoms



Cognitive symptoms
AM I GOING . .
.CRAZY ?




Positive symptoms are psychotic behaviors not seen in mentally
healthy people. People with positive symptoms often detach from
reality. These symptoms can come and go. Sometimes they are
severe and at other times hardly noticeable. They include the
following

Hallucinations :

These are things that a person sees, hears, smells, or feels that
no one else can see, hear, smell, or feel because they dont exist
in the real world. They only exist in the schizophrenic's mind.
"Voices" are the most common type of hallucinatory symptom in
schizophrenia. The voices may speak directly to the person,
order the person to do things, and even warn the person of
danger. Other types of hallucinations include seeing things that
are not there, smelling odors that no one else detects, and feeling
things like non-existent fingers touching their skin when there is
no one else around.

Positive
Symptoms
Delusions:

Delusions are false beliefs that are not part of the person's culture and do not
change. The person believes delusions even after other people prove that the
beliefs are not true or logical. People with schizophrenia can have delusions
that seem bizarre, such as believing that neighbors can control their behavior
with magnetic waves. They may also believe that people on television are
directing special messages to them, or that radio stations are broadcasting
their thoughts aloud to others. Sometimes they believe they are someone else,
such as a famous historical figure. They may have paranoid delusions and
believe that others are trying to harm them, such as by cheating, harassing,
poisoning, spying on, or plotting against them or the people they care about.
These beliefs are called "delusions of persecution."
Positive Symptoms
Thought and Movement disorders

Thought disorders are unusual and/or dysfunctional ways of thinking. One is
called "disorganized thinking." This is when a person has trouble organizing
his or her thoughts or connecting them logically. They may talk in a garbled
way similar to speaking in tongues that is hard to understand. Another form is
called "thought blocking." This is when a person stops speaking abruptly in
the middle of a thought. They may feel as if the thought had been taken out of
his or her head.
Movement disorders may appear as agitated body movements. A person with a
movement disorder may repeat certain motions over and over. At the other end
of the spectrum there is Catatonia; where the person doesnt move at all.
Positive Symptoms

Negative symptoms are associated with disruptions to normal emotions and
behaviors. These symptoms are harder to recognize and can be mistaken for
depression or other conditions. These symptoms include.
Lack of pleasure in everyday life, Lack of ability to begin and sustain planned
activities and speaking very little even when forced to interact.

Cognitive symptoms are subtle. Cognitive symptoms may be difficult to
recognize as part of the disorder. They are often detected only when other
tests are performed. Cognitive symptoms include,little to no "executive
functioning" (the ability to use and understand information
Trouble focusing or paying attention
Bad "working memory" (the ability to use information immediately after
learning it).
Cognitive symptoms often make it near impossible to lead a normal life and
earn a living. They can cause great emotional distress
Negative & Cognitive Symptoms
There is no blood test or brain scan to diagnose schizophrenia. Only
some one with special training to diagnose mental illness can make
an accurate diagnosis of schizophrenia. . In order to diagnose
schizophrenia, a doctor will perform a variety of interview and
psychological tests to determine the patients current beliefs and
symptoms as well as the history of the patient.
D I a g n o s I s
The large majority of people with schizophrenia show substantial improvement
when treated with antipsychotic drugs. Some patients, however, are not helped
very much by the medications and a few do not seem to need them. It is difficult to
predict which patients will fall into these two groups and to distinguish them from
the large majority of patients who do benefit from treatment with antipsychotic
drugs.
A number of new antipsychotic drugs have been introduced since 1990. The first of
these, clozapine, has been shown to be more effective than other antipsychotics,
although the possibility of severe side effectsin particular, a condition called
agranulocytosis (loss of the white blood cells that fight infection)requires that
patients be monitored with blood tests every one or two weeks. Even newer
antipsychotic drugs, such as risperidone and olanzapine, are safer than the older
drugs or clozapine, and they also may be better tolerated. They may or may not
treat the illness as well as clozapine, however. Several additional antipsychotics
that are currently under development are showing great promise.
Drug Treatment
F I n a l T h o u g h t
The image above illustrates in shocking detail, the loss of Grey Matter
in an schizophrenic affected brain. The pink areas are
where grey matter was once located. Now that area is completely
barren. Schizophrenia is a very serious brain disorder and there is no
cure as of yet . Science is now making large strides in the direction of
a cure but in the meantime two main types of treatment can greatly
help control symptoms, psychosocial treatments and new stronger
medications with fewer side effects . Together, these treatments can
make a patients life somewhat manageable and livable giving them
hope for the future.