Psychology

Schizophrenia is a disorder that many human beings suffer from and it mainly affects the brain and it is a lifelong illness (American Psychiatric Association, 2010). It is associated with funny behaviors, hallucinations, extremely disturbed moods and thoughts. The disorder is categorized in many types, for example paranoid schizophrenia which is common to most people. In paranoid schizophrenia, patients have a believe that people are behind their failures or problems that they encounter, they also believe that others are harassing them, envying them, cheating on them or even planning to kill them (Weinberg  Hirsch, 2003). Another good example is the catatonic schizophrenia, which also forms a larger percentage of the affected. Patients with this mental illness suffer repeated emotions now and then, and they seem to be disorganized in their work and are clumsy in nature (Epp  Bemak, 2002).

Schizophrenia patients have different levels of behaving and acting all together because the degree of its effects varies from individual to individual (Epp  Bemak, 2002). Some patients who are not severely attacked will only experience a single episode but live on normally. However, it is worse for the severely attacked patients because they will appear to be totally in their own world and very different from others, that is, they loose touch with the real world (American Psychiatric Association, 2010).

The patients might have a problem with vision , for example, seeing ghosts in the mind and believing they are real and everybody else can see them, or having a problem with the hearing where a patient claims to be hearing voices and even goes to an extend of responding to them (American Psychiatric Association, 2010). These visions generally appear to be scary and fear instilling and the voices they hear can be so disturbing and threatening.

Schizophrenia affects men and women in different ways, men begin showing symptoms of the disorder at an earlier age between 15and 20 years compared to women who show them at the ages of 20 to 30 years (Weinberg  Hirsch, 2003). The condition is also prevalent in men than in women with at least 12-3 ratios of women men (Epp  Bemak, 2002). The disorder adversely affects men than women in the long run. However, this trend changes with the advancement in age with at least the chance of developing the condition in women doubles that of men at the age of forty years.

The disparity observed among men and women conditions has been attributed to estrogen. Researchers have now ascertained that estrogen indeed has an explanation on the disparity of the degree of schizophrenia among man and women. In fact, estrogen has come to be used for the treatment of the disorder (Epp  Bemak, 2002).

Schizophrenia is caused by the disruption in brain development, this can happen as a result of biological, sociological and environmental conditions (Epp  Bemak, 2002). For instance, infancy stress or early age stress may be a cause the disruption. As the child advances in age, he or she may further encounter environmental factors that contribute in the development of schizophrenia. Biologically schizophrenia is inherited (Epp  Bemak, 2002). However, other sociological and environmental factors such as stress, isolation and drug abuse cannot be assumed.

There is no direct link between the causes and venerability the causes may differ in their effect to different individuals. This in effect means, two people could have the same social and environmental factors but due to different biological inheritance, one may be more prone than the other (Epp  Bemak, 2002). However research shows that biological factors are more responsible for the mental disorder rather than the social or environmental factors.

Schizophrenia has no cure. However, there are treatments available, which are meant to lessen the severity of its symptoms. Indeed, it has been established that the use of medication and psychosocial therapy can help some individuals with this illness to live a productive life (American Psychiatric Association, 2010). Antipsychotic medications can be used to minimize the psychotic symptoms, especially when the patient is experiencing severe symptoms.  The treatment of the condition is basically given upon understanding the cause and the effects of the disease on the body. Drug abuse is common with people suffering from schizophrenia. It is therefore recommended that patients who may be addicted with substance abuse are treated for both drug addiction and the schizophrenia complications concurrently (American Psychiatric Association, 2010).

All in all, schizophrenia is manageable and people living with this illness can actually be assisted to live a productive life. Rehabilitation programs such as vocational training can help people with schizophrenia to even hold job positions. It is important to assist individuals with schizophrenia to stay away from substance abuse. Drug use would worsen the condition and the patient may not respond well to treatments.  Family support and care is very important given that people living with schizophrenia require constant and sufficient emotional as well as material support. Therefore, families should be given proper training on how to take care of their ailing relatives. These patients may also seek help from hospitals or clinics. Meanwhile, research is still on course to establish the causes and possible treatment of schizophrenia.