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Home / IAS Preparation / Schizophrenia

Understanding Schizophrenia: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment For UPSC!

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Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder that affects how a person thinks, feels, and behaves. It makes it difficult for people to tell the difference between real and unreal experiences, to think logically, and to behave normally in social situations.

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Schizophrenia Causes

Schizophrenia is a severe brain disorder that makes it hard to think clearly and relate to others. Doctors and scientists do not really know what causes schizophrenia but believe many things are involved.

  • Family ties may play an important role. Schizophrenia tends to run in families. If one identical twin has schizophrenia, the other twin has a 40% to 65% chance of getting the illness. For non-identical twins and siblings, the risk is lower but still higher than for most people.
  • But not everyone with a family history will get schizophrenia. This shows that genes likely work together with environmental factors to increase risk. Having a genetic makeup may make a person more able to be affected by environmental triggers.
  • Brain changes may also be involved. Brain pictures show differences in the structure and how the brain works in people with schizophrenia compared to healthy people. The brain changes could come from genetic and/or environmental factors.
  • Problems during pregnancy and birth are another possible reason. Complications like infection during pregnancy, not getting enough nutrients, severe stress, and the baby not getting enough oxygen may slightly raise the risk of schizophrenia later in life.
  • Drug and alcohol misuse is linked to higher rates of schizophrenia, especially in teenagers and young adults. At the same time, it is not clear if substance abuse causes schizophrenia or the other way around; using drugs at a young age seems to make psychotic symptoms come sooner in people who are at risk.
  • Environmental toxins have also been connected to schizophrenia in some research. Exposure to lead, mercury, and pesticides during pregnancy or early life has been linked to a higher chance of developing the disorder, though the evidence is still unclear.
  • Stressful life events and trauma may also play a part, especially in triggering the first psychosis episode in people at risk. Severe stress, abuse, or neglect as a child have been linked to higher rates of disorders like schizophrenia.
  • Viruses and infections are under study as another potential reason. Some studies have found that babies born during a flu outbreak or who had viral infections in their first few years of life had a higher risk of later developing schizophrenia. However, more study is needed.
  • In short, no single factor has been identified as causing schizophrenia. The current thinking is that schizophrenia likely comes from a complex mix of multiple risk factors - genetic, biological, environmental, and psychological. Researchers continue to investigate potential risk factors and deep-down causes to help develop more targeted prevention and treatment strategies.
  • But regardless of the underlying reasons in a particular person, treatment with medicine and psychosocial support remains the main way to ease symptoms and improve functioning for people living with schizophrenia. Early diagnosis and intervention also seem to lead to better long-term results.

Also Read About Methods of Psychology!

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Symptoms

Schizophrenia is a severe brain disorder that makes it hard for a person to think rightly and relate to others. Symptoms of schizophrenia differ from person to person but mainly fit into 2 types: positive symptoms and negative symptoms.

  • Positive symptoms involve strange thoughts and feelings. They include hearing things, believing wrong things, behaving in a mixed-up way, and being restless.
  • Hearing things happen when a person hears, sees, smells, tastes, or feels things that are not real. People with schizophrenia may hear voices that others do not hear or see things that others cannot see.
  • Believing wrong things are wrong fixed beliefs that are firmly held no matter what. Common wrong beliefs in schizophrenia include beliefs that others are reading their mind, controlling their thoughts, planning to harm them, or that they have special powers.
  • Mixed-up behavior involves mixed-up and not-together speech that is hard for others to follow. The person may switch subjects suddenly, use unusual or made-up words and have trouble finishing thoughts.
  • Restless behavior includes pacing aimlessly, strange gestures, and agitated or restless behavior. The person may repeat actions for no clear reason.
  • Negative symptoms involve less or a lack of normal feelings and behaviors. They include a flat face, lack of desire to begin, less talking, and staying away from others.
  • A flat face means fewer face feelings and a limited range of feelings shown on the face. The person appears emotionally "cold" and not responsive.
  • Lack of desire to begin refers to a lack of wish or drive to start or finish activities or goals. The person has trouble completing tasks.
  • Not being able to feel pleasure means the inability to feel happy or interested in things that were once enjoyed. Hobbies and social activities are abandoned.
  • Less talking involves less or a lack of speech output. The person speaks less than normal, uses short or incomplete sentences, and takes longer to answer questions.
  • Staying away from others refers to a loss of interest in social relationships and detachment from family and friends. The person prefers to spend time alone.
  • Thinking symptoms include mixed-up thought processes, difficulty concentrating, confusion, and trouble organizing information. Memory problems are also common.
  • Other common symptoms include lack of self-care, difficulty functioning at work or school, social isolation, and drug use to "self-medicate" negative feelings.
  • Symptoms usually appear little by little, get slowly worse over time, and differ in how bad they are for people. Times with clear positive symptoms may change times with mostly negative symptoms.
  • In short, the wide range of changes in thinking, feeling, and behaving seen in schizophrenia represent major troubles in a person's ability to function rightly. Understanding a patient's symptoms helps decide the best treatment and support needed. Treating symptoms early and aggressively tends to lead to more positive results for people with schizophrenia.

Read Here About Difference between Qualitative and Quantitative Research!

Types Of Schizophrenia

There are different types of schizophrenia based on the symptoms a person experiences.

The two main categories of schizophrenia are:

Positive schizophrenia

Schizophrenia with strange feelings refers to types that involve symptoms like hearing things and believing wrong things. These symptoms add disturbances to a person's thoughts and feelings.

People with strange feelings of schizophrenia often experience the following:

  • Hearing or seeing things that do not exist
  • Fixed wrong beliefs
  • Mixed-up speech and thinking
  • Agitated or strange behavior

Some forms of strange feelings of schizophrenia are:

Paranoid schizophrenia

  • This type involves strong wrong beliefs - typically beliefs that others are spying on them or planning against them. People believe they have special powers. Hearing things is less common.

Disorganized schizophrenia

  • This type is characterized by mixed-up thinking, speech, and behavior. People have trouble putting thoughts together in a logical way. They may switch topics suddenly and act in a strange manner.

Catatonic schizophrenia

  • This type involves symptoms like being frozen or excessively moving. People may stay motionless and not answer for periods. Alternatively, they may move and gesture without an apparent reason.

Negative schizophrenia

Schizophrenia with a lack of normal things refers to types marked mainly by a loss of usual functions rather than strange feelings. People experience deficits in thinking and feeling processes.

Common symptoms include:

  • Decreased speech and expression
  • Lack of interest and drive
  • Decreased ability to experience happiness
  • Poor attention and concentration
  • Lifeless emotions

Some forms of lack of normal things in schizophrenia are:

Residual schizophrenia

  • This type involves mainly leftover negative symptoms after strange feelings have gone away or been brought under control. Hence, motivation, interest, and drive remain reduced.

Simple schizophrenia

  • This type begins gradually during the teenage years and is marked by a slow but constant loss of thinking and social functions over time. The main symptoms are negative - cognitive decline, social withdrawal, and lifeless emotions.

In short, types of schizophrenia vary mainly depending on whether strange feelings or lack of normal things symptoms are main. Most individuals experience symptoms from both categories at different times. The types also differ in severity, development, and treatment needs. 

Read About Types of Research in Psychology Here!

Conclusion

Early diagnosis and treatment focusing on a patient's specific symptoms tend to lead to better results. However, schizophrenia remains a lifelong condition with lifelong challenges for most individuals and their families.

Check out the UPSC Psychology Syllabus for IAS Optional Subject Here!

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Schizophrenia FAQs

Schizophrenia is a severe brain disorder that makes it hard for a person to think rightly and relate to others.

Doctors do not really know what causes schizophrenia but believe many things are involved, like family ties, brain issues, problems during birth, and stressful life events.

The main symptom types are positive symptoms and negative symptoms. Positive symptoms include hearing things, believing wrong things, and mixed-up behavior. Negative symptoms involve fewer feelings, a lack of desire to begin, and less talking.

There is no cure for schizophrenia, but treatments can help control symptoms and improve functioning. Common treatments include medicines and therapies like learning how to behave rightly, family therapy, and learning social skills.

With the right treatment and care, many people with schizophrenia can greatly improve their symptoms and lead fairly independent lives. But schizophrenia is a lifelong condition that usually needs long-term management to lessen the risk of getting worse again.
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