Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia:  Severe emotional disorder,
usually of psychotic proportions, characterized by withdrawal from reality,
delusion, hallucinations, ambivalence, inappropriate affect, and withdrawn,
bizarre or regressive behavior.

Schizophrenic disorders:  This group of disorders
is marked by withdrawal into self and failure to distinguish between reality
and fantasy.  Studies shows an estimated 2 million Americans may suffer
from this disease.  There is four types of schizophrenia, the different
types share these essential features:  presence of psychotic features
during the acute phase: deterioration from a previous level of functioning,
the onset before age 45, and the presence of symptoms for at least 6 months
with deterioration in occupational functioning, social relations, or self
care. The four type of schizophrenia are:  catatonic, paranoid,
disorganized, and residual.

Schizophrenic disorders produce varying degrees of impairment; 1) the
prodromal phase: 
is insidious, occurring about 1 year before
the patient’s first hospitalization.  During this period, the patient
may display signs of a loss of will, inappropriate affect, and impaired
job performance.  2) the active phase:  patient
show signs of psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions.
This phase marks full development of the disorder.  3) the residual
phase:
  resembles the prodromal phase, but more severe. Some
people who suffers from schizophrenic disorder experience repeated, acute
exacerbation of the active phase. Some as many as one third of schizophrenic
patients have just one psychotic episode and no more. Prognosis worsens
with each acute episode.  Some schizophrenic patients have no disability
between periods of exacerbation.

The cause of schizophrenia ar unknown.  There are various theories,
both biological and psychological have been proposed. Expects point to
genetic pre-disposition, hyperdopaminergic conditions, and disturbed family
and interpersonal patterns, But experts has different opinion on this matter.
A recent report that a gene for schizophrenia exists on chromosome 5 hasn’t
yet been confirmed.

Symptoms:

Catatonic schizophrenia: 

Inability to take care of personal needs

Diminished sensitivity to painful stimuli

Negative attitude

Rigidity

May experience rapid swings between excitement and stupor

May experience extreme psychomotor agitation 

Excessive, senseless, and or incoherent shouting or talking.

Often there is an increased potential for destructive, violent behavior.

Paranoid schizophrenia: 

Feeling of persecutory (  of, related to, or being/feeling of persecution: 
paranoid)

Having a grandiose delusional thought content and auditory hallucinations.

May act on delusional thoughts,  inability to function

May exhibit an artificial or elevated mannerism towards others

Unfocused anxiety, anger, argumentativeness, and violence.

Disorganized schizophrenia:

Incoherence

Regressive, silly, flat, incongruous ( not suitable, inappropriate,
not corresponding or conforming ), chaotic speech

Fragmented hallucinations and delusions that are not systematized into
a coherent theme.

May exhibit unpredictable laughter and or grimaces

may have hypochondriacal complaints

Extreme social withdrawal

Regressive behavior

Residual schizophrenia:

Has a previous history of at least one episode of schizophrenia with
prominent psychotic symptoms and continues to suffer from two or more characteristic
symptoms such as:  inappropriate affect, social withdrawal, eccentric
behavior, illogical thinking.

Residual schizophrenia, the patient does not exhibit prominent psychotic
symptoms.

Treatment:

Goal: to control this illness and to equipped the patient with skills
they need to live and an environment that offers opportunity for meaningful
interpersonal relationships.

Patient needs to be under the care of one who is a professional who
specialize in this disorder.

Neuroleptic medication. Drug treatment should be continuous because
schizophrenic patients may relapse when medication is discontinued. * With
all medication, use as prescribe by your doctor.  Call your doctor
if you experience adverse reaction to medication.  * Make sure you
let your doctor know if you start or stop any medication.

Doctors disagree about the effectiveness of psychotherapy in schizophrenics. 
Electroconvulsive therapy ( ECT ) is sometimes used to treat acute schizophrenia
and may be helpful when neuroleptic therapy cannot be used.