Schizophrenia – Types and Treatment
Schizophrenia – Types and Treatment

Schizophrenia – Types and Treatment

Schizophrenia, might sound like a new term for many people. I’ll begin this article with a real case of Schizophrenia patients which might help you get an idea about this condition-

“February of 2014, my freshman year of college. My life changed when I tried to take my own life through suicide. If you ask why? Because my life had become a complete waking nightmare. At this time, I started hallucinating. I started hearing, seeing and feeling things that weren’t there. Everywhere I went, I was followed around by a clown that looked very similar to the Stephen king’s adaptation of ‘It’. Everywhere I went he would be giggling, taunting me, poking me and sometimes even biting me.

I would also hallucinate small and giant spiders. But it started becoming unbearable when I started hallucinating a girl. She looked sort of like in the movie ‘The Ring’. The thing with her was she was able to continue conversation with herself and would know exactly what to say and when to say it to chip away at my insecurities. But the worst was, she would also carry a knife around with her and she would stab me sometimes with that on my face. These things would make doing my daily activities from difficult to worse.” – Cecilia McGough

In this article we will discuss about what are the types of Schizophrenia and its treatment. Schizophrenia – Causes and Symptoms

Schizophrenia has many symptoms depending upon its types which will help you diagnose. If you wanna know what exactly is schizophrenia, its causes and various symptoms then before reading this article you should check this out

TYPES OF SCHIZOPHRENIA

1. PARANOID
Paranoid schizophrenia

It is one of the most common form of schizophrenia. Here the patient experiences symptoms like hallucination, delusion, anger, social withdrawal, violent and negative behavior, anxiety etc. The patient of paranoid schizophrenia feels that a person or some individual is plotting against him or against his family members. Most individuals with paranoid schizophrenia have auditory delusions such as hearing weird voices. Some may have delusion that they are more powerful than they really are. Individuals with paranoid schizophrenia are often more functional than individuals with other subtypes.

2. DISORGANIZED

This type is characterized by incoherent and illogical thoughts and behavior. These individual often display disinhibited agitated and purposeless behavior. Disorganized schizophrenia is believed to be the most severe form of schizophrenia. Individuals with this condition find it very difficult to function normally and perform daily tasks such as feeding and bathing themselves. They may also display very strange and often inappropriate behavior such as wearing several layers of clothing during a very warm day or exhibit lucid sexual behavior in public.

3. CATATONIC
Catatonic Schizophrenia

It is characterized by a dramatic reduction in activity to the point that voluntary movement completely stops. These individuals may also exhibit dramatic increases in movement during a state known as catatonic excitement. These patients may voluntarily assure unusual body positions or manifest facial contortions or limb movements, these things you might have seen in horror movies. Other symptoms include parrot like repetition speech, mimicking other’s movements.

4. RESIDUAL
Residual Schizophrenia

When a person has a past history of at least one episode of schizophrenia but currently has no symptoms or is the leftover schizophrenia patient after the treatment. The symptoms relapses with less frequency and effect. Symptoms like illogical thinking, odd or weird behavior exists with less frequency. The reason could be because of improper treatment or imbalance in neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin or lack of social life.

5. SCHIZOAFFECTIVE DISORDERS

It is rarer than other types. It is seen in only about 0.3% of the population. A person with schizophrenia disease exhibits symptoms of both schizophrenia and affective mood disorder such as bipolar or depression.

TREATMENT

Treatment of schizophrenia

Currently there is no cure for Schizophrenia but treatment can help reduce symptoms. The antipsychotic drugs used to cure Schizophrenia have helped researchers work backwards to trace signatures of the disorders in brain. Traditional antipsychotic drugs block dopamine receptors. They can be very effective in reducing positive symptoms like hallucination, delusion, which are linked to an excess of dopamine in particular brain pathways. But the same drug can make negative symptoms worse. And we have found that negative symptoms of Schizophrenia may be tied to too little dopamine in other brain areas.

Antipsychotic drugs have side effects like weight gain etc. . In spite of these complications, antipsychotic can be very effective especially when combined with other interventions like Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) . Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) though it provides relatively short-lived relief but is also emerging as an effective treatment especially when other options have failed. In this therapy the brain is shocked or stimulated to change and improve its function.

While Schizophrenia can be lifelong severe mental illness, the symptoms can be managed with treatment. It is a myth that all Schizophrenia affected patients are dangerous to themselves or others. Infact most persons with Schizophrenia are neither violent or is a danger to other persons.

Unfortunately, most people with Schizophrenia will live a shorter life. This is in part due to high incidence of conditions developing along with it, such as diabetes or heart diseases. This is also because of tendency for those with the disease to become suicidal or engage in self harm. Infact suicide is the leading cause of premature death among the Schizophrenia population.

People with Schizophrenia are often perceived as dangerous, but are actually much more likely to be the victims of violence than the perpetrators. That’s why education for patients, their families and their communities helps erode the stigma and improves access to treatment.

SO, this was all about Schizophrenia. I tried to cover all the points known. For more such articles check out the website medicoved.com

Author : Dr. Easminara Shaikh

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