Schizophrenia

By: Andrés Gómez

 What is it?
• It is a mental disorder that makes it
difficult to differentiate what is real
from what is not.
• It also makes it difficult to think
clearly, have normal emotional
responses and act normally in social
situations.
 Causes
Schizophrenia is a complex disease so
Mental health experts are not sure what their cause is. It is
possible that genes influence.
It occurs equally in men and women. It usually begins in
adolescence or in the early years of adulthood, but may begin
later in life. It tends to start later in women and is a milder
condition.
Schizophrenia in children usually begins after 5 years of age.
It is uncommon in childhood and can be difficult to
differentiate from other developmental problems, such as
autism spectrum disorder.
 Symptoms

Symptoms usually appear slowly over months or years. The person may have many
symptoms, or only some.
People with schizophrenia may have difficulty keeping friends and working. They may
also have anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts or behavior problems.
Initial symptoms may include:
• Feeling irritable or tense
•Difficult to focus
•Difficulty to sleep
 As the disease continues, the
person may have problems with
thinking, emotions and
behavior, such as:
• • Listen to or see things that do not exist
(hallucinations)
• •Isolation
• • Decreased emotions in tone of voice or
facial expression
• • Problems understanding and making
decisions
• • Problems paying attention and maintaining
attention in activities
• • Strongly held beliefs that are not real
(delusions)
• • Talk in a way that makes no sense
• • Thoughts that "jump" between different
themes (loose associations)
 Possible complications

Having schizophrenia increases your risk of:

• Develop a problem with alcohol or drugs.
The use of these substances increases the
chances of recurrence of symptoms.
• Physical illness. This is due to an inactive
lifestyle and the side effects of medications.
•Suicide.
 When to contact a
professional

Call your Eps When

• Listen to voices that ask you to hurt
yourself or harm others
• Feel the urge to hurt yourself or others
• You feel scared or overwhelmed
• See things that don't really exist
• You feel you cannot leave the house
• Feels that you are not able to take care
of yourself
 Prevention
• Schizophrenia cannot be prevented.
• Symptoms can be prevented by taking medications exactly as the doctor told
you. Symptoms will probably reappear if the medication is stopped.
• The change or suspension of medications should only be done by the doctor
who prescribed them.
 Catatonic schizophrenia

• This type of schizophrenia is characterized by the

serious psychomotor alterations that the patient
Types Of Schizophrenia presents. These pathological alterations are not
always the same, although the main ones are
immobility and waxy stiffness, in which the person
maintains tense muscles so that it looks like a wax
figure (hence the name of the symptom), the
inability to speak and the adoption of strange
postures while standing or on the ground.

• During the phases in which catatonia occurs, there

are also alterations in consciousness and other
alterations such as mutism, stupor and staring,
alternating these negative type symptoms with
others such as agitation.
 Paranoid schizophrenia
One of the best known types of schizophrenia, in
this case the symptoms tend to be more psychic than
motor; In fact, people with this kind of schizophrenia
have no flaws in motor or speech ability. Among
these signs of alteration in psychic functions is
persecutory mania, that is, the belief that other people
have want to harm us in the present or in the future.
It is also frequent that in this type of schizophrenia
there are auditory hallucinations and delusions (in the
latter, no strange elements are perceived through the
senses, but the thought is so altered that strange
narratives are built on reality).
Delusions of grandeur, classics of megalomaniac
people, can also make their appearance here.
 Residual
It is when a person has suffered a
schizophrenic episode in the past
but at present they have no
prominent symptoms of the
disease.
 Disorganized
• • Whoever suffers it is incoherent when speaking, acts strangely and emotional reactions can be absurd. it would be located at the opposite
pole of the paranoid. It is the most serious subtype, its onset is usually early. It is very frequent, that the family tells you that he was already a
person who was not very communicative, rare, who was very little related to people, ... Before the onset of active symptoms, there is usually an
impoverished and strange premorbid personality. Once the disease begins, remissions are rare, there are usually no periods free of symptoms
and there is a clear cognitive impairment. The most characteristic symptoms of this subtype are:
• • Disorganized language (derailment, inconsistency, use of neologisms, word salad, etc.). It is an understandable language and it is very difficult
to follow the thread of the conversation.
• • Disorganized behavior: it is the most striking, because they are inconsistent or inappropriate behaviors such as inappropriate laughter or
nonsense. The person is unable to initiate behaviors aimed at an end, which causes them to need support to perform the activities of daily
living such as cleaning, dressing or preparing food. They can easily wear a scarf in midsummer.
• • Delusional ideas without elaboration: they are totally disorganized and do not follow a coherent theme as happens in the paranoid. They are
strange and fragmented ideas.
• • Hallucinations: they are usually auditory and also appear fragmented. They are unclear and incoherent.
• • Affective flattening: it is very significant of this subtype and very marked. They don't express emotions, they don't feel sad or happy.
• Because of its insidious onset, its severity and disorganization, it is a subtype easy to diagnose but difficult to treat. They are people who have
no contact with reality, show no interest in personal relationships or activities
 Undifferentiated

It presents a mixture of schizophrenia

symptoms that cannot be distinguished well
as part of any of the previous subtypes. For
example: delusions and motor problems
 Treatment
• During an episode of schizophrenia, the person may need hospitalization for
safety reasons.
 Medicines
• Antipsychotic medications are the most effective treatment for schizophrenia. These change the balance of chemicals in the
brain and can help control symptoms.
• These medications can cause side effects, but many side effects can be managed. Side effects should not prevent the person
from receiving treatment for this serious disorder.
• Common side effects of antipsychotics may include:
• • Vertigo
• • Feelings of restlessness or nervousness
• • Drowsiness (sedation)
• • Slow movements
• • Tremor
• • Weight gain
• Prolonged use of antipsychotics may increase the risk of a movement
disorder called tardive dyskinesia. This disease causes repetitive movements
that the person cannot control.

• When schizophrenia does not improve with antipsychotics, it can be tried

with other medications.
• Schizophrenia is a chronic disease and most people who suffer from it need
to be on antipsychotic medication for life.
 Support programs and therapies
• Supportive psychotherapy can be useful for
many people with schizophrenia.
Behavioral techniques, such as social skills
training, can help the person perform
better in social and work situations. Work
training and relationship strengthening
classes are also important.
• Family members and caregivers are very
important during treatment.
-Cope with the symptoms that persist, even
while taking medication
-Lead a healthy lifestyle, which includes
sleeping well and avoiding psychoactive drugs
-Take medications correctly and manage side
effects
-Be aware of the return of symptoms and
know what to do when they reappear
-Get appropriate support services
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