Schizophrenia: A beginner’s guide to understanding it
Symptoms of schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a psychosis, and a serious mental illness, according to the World Health Organisation. Its symptoms include…
Hallucination – Hearing, seeing or feeling things that do not exist.
Delusion – Suspicions or false beliefs with no evidence to support it.
Abnormal behaviour – Neglecting oneself, an unkempt appearance, wandering around without an end goal, laughing or mumbling to oneself.
Disorganised speech – Speaking incoherently with no relevance to what’s being discussed.
- Disconnect with emotions – There seems to be a disconnect with emotions and facial expressions and body language.
Types and causes
This mental health illness was divided into Catatonic, Disorganized, Paranoid, Residual and Undifferentiated schizophrenia. Now, most mental health experts refer to schizophrenia as a spectrum disorder that includes the previous subtypes. Research has shown that biological, environmental and psychosocial factors can contribute to it.
Treatment and cure
Medicines and psychosocial support can be effective in treating schizophrenic patients.
