Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is the most common of all psychotic disorders, yet it still occurs in only in 1% of the world's population. It usually occurs in people of age 14-45, but it can strike anybody at anytime. Schizophrenia has many symptoms, causes, and treatments. Some people recover, some do not. Schizophrenia is an unpredictable and often debilitating disorder, and a common source of study in psychology.

When someone cannot tell the difference between what is real and what is imaginary, they may be described as having a psychotic illness. The most common type of psychotic illness is schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness and it is different for each person, but it usually involves a dramatic disorder in thoughts and feelings and results in behavior that may seem strange to other people. Some people hear voices, others see things that are not there, or feel they are being persecuted by mysterious, unseen stalkers. Some people only experience one episode of psychosis and some recover from schizophrenia. For others, schizophrenia is a long-term illness, but a combination of medication and talking therapies can help to control it and help a victim get on with their life.

Some characteristics of schizophrenia are strange beliefs or thoughts with little no basis in reality. These are called delusions, and can be very disturbing. Examples of common delusions among schizophrenics include thinking that you have special powers or that someone on the street is trying to control your thoughts or feelings. The latter is also often redefined and called paranoid delusions. Another common symptom is hallucinations. This is the hearing, seeing, feeling, or even smelling of things that are not there. A common example of this is hearing voices in one's head. There are also changes in the thought process where victim's thoughts are disconnected and random, inappropriate behavior, inability to feel emotion or feeling the wrong emotions at the wrong time, depression, and lack of concentration.

Scientists do not know what causes schizophrenia but there are some known risk factors and identifying traits. Two such traits are differences in brain structure and brain function. Recently, studies have indicated that schizophrenia may also have a biological basis. The most common finding in structural imaging in schizophrenia is of enlarged lateral ventricles, the fluid filled sacs in the brain, smaller cerebral cortex and hippocampus. It is clear that schizophrenia is characterized by subtle but important changes in brain structure. However, psychotic symptoms and the cognitive problems associated with schizophrenia correspond to abnormal functioning of the brain as well. There is a great deal of interest in understanding what is happening in the brain when people are experiencing a psychotic episode. There is evidence that brain function is different when people are having an episode, compared to when their symptoms are not present. Other studies have looked at brain activity in people experiencing particular types of symptoms such as auditory hallucinations. These studies have consistently shown that people with a history of auditory hallucinations have abnormal activity of frontal and temporal lobe regions of the brain involved in speech and language. Heredity also plays a possible role in the development of schizophrenia. Research has discovered that If one identical twin has schizophrenia, their co-twin has an approximately 50% risk of developing the disorder. Similarly, having a sibling with the illness results in a 15% risk on other siblings. These figures contrast with a general prevalence rate of 1% in the general population. Therefore, even allowing for the effects of shared environment