SCHIZOPHRENIA, SYMPTOMS, TREATMENT

Schizophrenia is a brain disease. The incidence rate in the population is approximately between 0.8% and 1%. The rate of men and women being affected is equal. The age of first onset is usually between 18 and 35 years old. It may start a little later in women than in men. Schizophrenia affects the ability to evaluate reality, control emotions, think clearly, make judgments and communicate. It has no relationship with intelligence level.

Symptoms of schizophrenia are generally classified as positive and negative.

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POSITIVE SYMPTOMS OF SCHIZOPHRENIA:

Delusions: These are false beliefs that a person firmly believes in despite the absence of concrete evidence. It is not possible to change these with persuasion. The person with the delusion may believe that he is being tortured, that he has special powers or abilities, and that his thoughts and behaviors are under the control of an external force.

Hallucinations: The most common type of hallucination in schizophrenia is auditory; The person thinks he hears imaginary voices. Sometimes a schizophrenic patient talks with these voices for a long time, and the voices can give the patient commands about his movements. In less common types of hallucinations, there may be events such as seeing, feeling, tasting or smelling that do not actually exist but seem completely real to the patient.

Thought Disorder: A person with a thought disorder is confused about what he says and how he says it. A person's speech is difficult to follow because he jumps from one topic to another and his logical connections are weak. There may be interruptions in the thought process, it only becomes meaningful for the person speaking.

Behavior Disorder: Some schizophrenia patients may experience behavioral disorders that prevent them from performing their social and professional functions. For example, wearing the same dress for a long time, refusing to wash, etc.

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NEGATIVE SYMPTOMS OF SCHIZOPHRENIA:

Dullness in Emotional Expression: Schizophrenia patients often feel emotionally "dull" and remain unresponsive to what is happening around them. They cannot express their emotional reactions by changing their facial expressions, behavior or tone of voice.

Loss of Motivation: Schizophrenia reduces a person's motivation, making it difficult to participate in work or social activities. Patients are distracted from daily tasks such as laundry and cooking, and in extreme cases, they cannot maintain personal hygiene and care for themselves.

Withdrawal from Society: People with schizophrenia have difficulty maintaining friendships with people.

Their interactions with people are short-term and superficial. In some cases, the person cuts off all social relations.

Poverty of Thought: In some schizophrenia patients, thinking decreases in amount and content. They rarely talk, give short answers to questions and do not give details. In extreme cases, the person's speech is limited to short sentences such as "yes", "no", "I don't know". Negative symptoms can often be interpreted as the person being lazy or deliberately aiming to bore others by behaving badly, and are not perceived as part of the disease. Negative symptoms that are not accompanied by positive symptoms should be evaluated by a physician in terms of changes in previous behaviors. Negative symptoms without positive symptoms will often go unnoticed, but the person continues to need help.

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SCHIZOPHRENIA TREATMENT:

The development of medications and psychosocial interventions have radically changed the situation of patients with schizophrenia. Medicines called atypical antipsychotics help control the symptoms of the disorder and cause fewer side effects. Education and other psychosocial interventions teach patients and their families to deal with the problem more effectively, reduce social and occupational dysfunction, and help patients with schizophrenia reintegrate into society. Research on safer and more effective treatment methods continues. Schizophrenia treatment has three main components:

Treatment with medications to improve symptoms and prevent relapse.

Educational and psychosocial interventions to help patients and families solve problems, overcome stress, combat disease and its complications, and prevent deterioration.

Social rehabilitation for patients to reintegrate into life and regain their educational or professional functions. Although radical changes in schizophrenia have been brought to the agenda thanks to drug treatments, in recent years, a lot of research evidence has been obtained that psychosocial interventions are important in the treatment of schizophrenia. Psychosocial interventions include reducing both positive and negative symptoms, supporting treatment, connecting the patient to the treatment process, preventing the risk of relapse, improving social and communication skills, and strengthening the equipment of patients and their relatives to better cope with stress. Psychosocial intervention is complementary to drug treatment. Because the impact of schizophrenia is felt in so many areas of life, effective treatment must address multiple problems. These include preventing the disease from returning, psychological education, family life, care and rehabilitation in the community and other special areas. Studies on medical approaches and rehabilitation efforts show that medication and rehabilitation work much better together. Although medication is necessary, it alone does not provide sufficient treatment; Therefore, schizophrenia treatment should be continued with the open cooperation of the psychiatrist, psychologist, psychiatric nurse, social worker and the family.