What is Schizophrenia?
Schizophrenia is a severe and disabling mental health condition, that
affects how an individual thinks, feels, and behaves. Such individuals
experience psychosis, that is, a loss of contact with reality. Their ability
to perceive and respond to others becomes so disturbed that they may not be
able to complete daily chores at home, fulfil assigned duties at work or
maintain interpersonal relationships.
Although
schizophrenia is
discussed as if it were a single illness, it is probably encompassing in the
group of diseases with heterogeneous aetiology and includes patients with
clinical disease presentations, response to treatment and course of the
disease are different. Symptoms and signs are variable and include changes in
perception, emotion, thinking and behaviour.
The manifestation of these symptoms varies between patients and over time, but
the effects of the disease are always severe and usually long-lasting. The
psychopathology of schizophrenia generally begins before the
age of 25, lasts a lifetime and affects all kinds of people and classes. Both
patients and their families often suffer from poor care and social exclusion
disorder due to widespread ignorance.
Schizophrenia is one of the most common type of disorder among severe mental
health disorders, but the nature of which has not yet been explained;
therefore, it is sometimes referred to as a syndrome, a group of
schizophrenias, or as mentioned in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders (DSM-5) Fifth Edition, schizophrenia spectrum.
Doctors should understand the diagnosis of schizophrenia based entirely on
psychiatric history and mental status examination. There is no laboratory test
for Schizophrenia.
Online Psychotherapy
Get a personalized therapy plan according to your concerns
The Different Types of Schizophrenia
Paranoid Type: Frequent auditory hallucinations or obsession with one
or more delusions are hallmarks of the paranoid form of schizophrenia.
Delusions of grandeur or persecution are the main characteristic of the
paranoid kind of schizophrenia, according to conventional wisdom. Compared to
individuals with catatonic or disorganized schizophrenia, patients with
paranoid schizophrenia typically experience their first episode of the disease
at a later age. Individuals with schizophrenia who develop in their late 20s
or early 30s typically have a social network that supports them during their
disease, and paranoid patients typically have larger ego resources than
catatonic and disorganized patients. Compared to people with other forms of
schizophrenia, those with paranoid schizophrenia have less regression in their
mental abilities, emotional responses and conduct.
While paranoid schizophrenia patients are generally tense, distrustful,
guarded, reserved and occasionally violent or aggressive, they can also behave
appropriately in social circumstances on occasion. When their psychosis isn t
there, their IQ usually stays intact.
Disorganized Type: The absence of symptoms that match the criteria
for the catatonic form of schizophrenia and a noticeable relapse to primitive,
disinhibited and chaotic behaviour are characteristics of the disorganized
kind of disorder. This subtype typically manifests before the age of
twenty-five. Patients with disorganization are typically active but in a
pointless, unproductive way. They have severe thinking problems and have
little sense of reality. They have an untidy personal appearance, poor social
behaviour, and inappropriate emotional responses.
Often they would laugh out loud for no apparent reason. These patients
frequently exhibit odd smiles and grimacing; their actions are best
characterized as foolish or pretentious.
Catatonic Type: In North America and Europe, the catatonic form of
schizophrenia, which was prevalent a few decades ago, is now uncommon. A
notable disruption in motor function, involving posturing, excitation,
rigidity, negativism, or stupor is the hallmark of the catatonic type.
The patient may occasionally exhibit sudden swings between extremes of
exhilaration and lethargy. Waxy flexibility, mannerisms, and stereotypes are
associated traits. Mutism is especially prevalent. Patients require close
supervision during catatonic excitation to keep them from harming others or
themselves. It may be necessary to seek medical attention due to
malnourishment, fatigue, elevated body temperature or self-harm.
Undifferentiated Type: Frequently, patients who clearly have
schizophrenia cannot easily fit into one type or another. These patients are
classified as having schizophrenia of the undifferentiated type.
Residual Type: The persistent schizophrenic disturbance in the
absence of all active symptoms or just enough symptoms to rule out another
type of schizophrenia is what defines the residual type of schizophrenia. The
residual type is characterized by emotional blunting, social withdrawal,
eccentric behaviour, illogical thinking, and mild loosening of associations.
When hallucinations or delusions do arise, they are not dramatic or intensely
felt.
Online Psychotherapy
Get a personalized therapy plan according to your concerns