Definition
What Is Schizophrenia?
Schizophrenia is a major mental illness that can be chronic and disabling. The disease affects roughly one out of every one hundred people in the general population. It involves a separation from reality, which may include disordered thinking and declining social or occupational functioning.
People who suffer from this illness also often experience cognitive difficulties (problems with attention, concentration or memory). It is not multiple personalities (dissociative identity disorder), nor is it directly related to this disorder.
Schizophrenia may be chronic and persistent, or episodic. There are often acute and residual phases. Infrequent or numerous hospitalizations may be required over the course of this illness. With aggressive treatment, many people who suffer from schizophrenia live independently. Some may work, continuously and full time, or part time.
The precise timing of onset is unclear. We generally identify onset as the time that the illness becomes evident. It may also be defined by the time of first treatment, the time of the first hospitalization, or as the time when immediate family members become aware of symptoms.
It does appear that schizophrenia can begin at any age, but is typically recognized and diagnosed between the mid teen years and the late thirties. While it can occur in children, it is uncommon before the age of 18 and rare before the age of 13. It is also uncommon after the age of 30 and rare after age 40.
Men and women are equally affected. However, men are more likely to develop symptoms earlier, between the mid teen years and the mid twenties. The illness is more likely to begin later in women, generally about five years later than in men, somewhere between the early to mid twenties and the early to mid thirties.
Schizophrenia can be mild or severe. People who suffer from milder forms of this illness naturally enjoy higher levels of functioning. Those who have more severe forms may require numerous or prolonged hospitalizations or other types of residential treatment.
Newer medications and other types of aggressive treatment have dramatically reduced the time that most patients spend in the hospital. The number of patients in mental institutions has fallen consistently since the mid fifties when the use of antipsychotic medications became widespread.
Not all people with schizophrenia require medications to treat their symptoms, but most do. Some sufferers refuse medications and somehow learn to deal with their symptoms. Others may go without medications for short or long periods of time.
Symptoms generally include some combination of delusions and/or hallucinations, disorganized thoughts, speech, or behavior, or catatonia.
(Source: The author’s knowledge base, unless otherwise noted.)
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