End The Stigma To Treat Depression
The first step to treating depression is to burst the stigma surrounding depression. Patients with this mood disorder deserve the same high-quality care as patients with physical illnesses. If you would go to the doctor for a broken leg, you should also seek care when your mind is not at its best.
Secondly, people must know when to seek treatment and what kinds of professionals to find.
What Causes Schizoaffective Disorder
Due to its rarity and complexity to diagnose the exact cause of the disorder is unknown. There is, however, a combination of factors that may contribute to the development of the disorder. These have been studied extensively by researchers, and they include:
- Brain chemistry & structure: Brain structure and function may be different in those with schizoaffective disorder that science is only starting to understand. Brain scans have helped advance the research in this area.
- Genetics: Those with schizoaffective disorder likely have a relative with it as well. Its not a definitive factor that if someone in your family has the disorder that youll develop it as well, but it does mean the odds of development increase exponentially.
- Stress: Stressful events such as the end of a marriage, death in the family, or loss of a job may trigger symptoms or an onset of schizoaffective disorder.
- Drug use: Someone who is prone to developing schizoaffective disorder may trigger it with drug use. Psychoactive drugs like LSD have been linked to its development in individuals.
Tip : Understand The Role Of Medication
If youve been diagnosed with schizophrenia, you will almost certainly be offered antipsychotic medication. The two main groups of medications used for the treatment of schizophrenia are the older or typical antipsychotic medications and the newer atypical antipsychotic medications. Its important to understand that medication is just one component of schizophrenia treatment.
Medication is not a cure for schizophrenia and only treats some of the symptoms. Antipsychotic medication reduces psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, and disordered thinking. But is much less helpful for treating symptoms of schizophrenia such as social withdrawal, lack of motivation, and lack of emotional expressiveness.
You should not have to put up with disabling side effects. Schizophrenia medication can have very unpleasanteven disablingside effects such as drowsiness, lack of energy, uncontrollable movements, weight gain, and sexual dysfunction. Your quality of life is important, so talk to your doctor if youre bothered by side effects.
Never reduce or stop medication on your own.
Sudden or unsupervised dosage changes are dangerous, and can trigger a schizophrenia relapse or other complications. If youre having trouble with your medication or feel like you dont need to take it, talk to your doctor or someone else that you trust.
Also Check: Ashley Olsen Anorexic
When To Seek Help
When a person experiences psychosis for the first time, it may be difficult to know if they should seek help or not. However, it has been shown that psychosis treatment greatly improves the sooner someone gets help. Therefore, if a person experiences psychosis that is not related to substance use, it would be beneficial for them to establish care with a trusted provider so that they can monitor their symptoms and get immediate treatment if they progress.
For individuals that experience psychosis with substance use, it is generally a sign of a substance use disorder as this will usually only occur with chronic substance use. In many cases, getting treatment for their substance use disorder and stopping the use of the substance will improve their symptoms of psychosis.
Related:Online Treatment for Addiction & Mental Health through Teletherapy
Check out the Nobu app to learn more about psychosis symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment, and connect with mental health professionals that can help. It is free and for anyone that is looking to reduce anxiety, work through depression, build self-esteem, get aftercare following treatment, attend teletherapy sessions and so much more. Download the Nobu app today!
Tip : Take Care Of Yourself
Making simple lifestyle changes can have a huge impact on the way you feel as well as your symptoms.
Try to get plenty of sleep. When youre on medication, you most likely need even more sleep than the standard 8 hours. Many people with schizophrenia have trouble with sleep, but getting regular exercise, reducing sugar in your diet, and avoiding caffeine can help.
Avoid alcohol and drugs. It can be tempting to try to self-medicate the symptoms of schizophrenia with drugs and alcohol. But substance abuse complicates schizophrenia treatment and only worsens symptoms. If you have a substance abuse problem, seek help.
Eat a healthy, balanced diet. Eating regular, nutritious meals can help avoid psychosis and other schizophrenia symptoms brought on by substantial changes in blood sugar levels. Minimize sugar and refined carbs, foods that quickly lead to a crash in mood and energy. Boost your intake of omega-3 fatty acids from fatty fish, fish oil, walnuts, and flaxseeds to help improve focus, banish fatigue, and balance your moods.
Recommended Reading: Pristiq For Panic Disorder
How Common Is Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is more common than most people think. About 1 in 200 of the people in the United States will develop schizophrenia over the course of their lives. It’s also important to know that schizophrenia has many different symptoms and can show up in many different ways.
Schizophrenia is not the same as a “split personality.” A split personality is another type of mental illness. Split personality is much less common than schizophrenia.
Prospects Are Not As Hopeless As Previously Thought According To The Researcher Behind The Study
Until recently, medical professionals believed that only a minority of patients could recover from schizophrenia. But now, new Norwegian research suggests that more than half of the study participants are doing well.
After four years of treatment, 55 per cent of the young people were partially or fully recovered, and fully ten per cent of those who are fully recovered no longer use medication.
“Having such a high proportion be well-functioning shows that schizophrenic patients have a greater potential to get well than previous research has shown,” says Professor Anne-Kari Torgalsbøen at the University of Oslos Department of Psychology.
She believes too much pessimism has been associated with this diagnosis.
“The results of this study give hope not only to patients and their relatives, but also provide inspiration for everyone who treats young people with psychotic disorders,” she says.
Hallucinations and delusions
Torgalsbøen specializes in clinical psychology and is following close to 30 young adults for ten years. This study shows how the participants are doing after four years, and was recently published in the European Psychiatry journal.
All the study participants were recruited within five months of being hospitalized or starting outpatient treatment for first-episode mental disorders.
The study required the first episode of psychosis to be on the schizophrenia spectrum, she says.
Prejudices are an additional burden
Close follow-up using several treatment methods
Read Also: Closed Depressions Are Shown By Closed Contours With Inward Pointing Hachures.
Vulnerability Of Schizophreniform Patients And Patients With Other Types Of Psychotic Disorders
The results on the schizophreniform patients indicate somewhat better global outcomes and a larger percentage of recoveries for these patients than for the schizophrenia patients at each of the 5 follow-ups over 15 years, although further analysis with a larger sample of schizophreniform patients is needed. In the ideal situation most of the schizophreniform patients, with their shorter length of illness at index, would experience very favorable outcomes over the years. This type of very favorable course over the 15-year period is not the most common one. It did occur for a subsample of the schizophreniform patients , but the majority of them experienced some difficulties. This included occasional periods of psychotic activity for many of them, continuous psychotic activity for 1 of them, and periodic rehospitalization for some.
These results support earlier results of ours and others and provide tentative support for the view that the more chronic and longer onsets and period of disorder at index in schizophrenia compared to schizophreniform disorder make a difference. This diagnostic distinction separates out patients with schizophrenia who are more vulnerable to subsequent poorer global courses of adjustment on a longitudinal basis.
When Did Our Son Get Diagnosed With Schizophrenia
We had the same problems with our son, who is now 34 and was diagnosed with schizophrenia 11 years ago. He had no quality of life, was difficult to communicate with and his concentration span was very short. The turning point came three years ago, when he was offered Clozapine as a last resort.
Previous Post
Recommended Reading: What Is The Fear Of Puke Called
The Importance Of Residential Treatment For Schizophrenia
Symptoms of schizophrenia can be very troubling and disruptive. They can also be severe and cause significant impairment in a persons life. In some cases an episode of symptoms may even be severe enough to require temporary hospitalization. For anyone diagnosed with this mental health condition, residential treatment is strongly recommended.
Residential care gives patients the opportunity to focus on and engage with treatment without worrying about home, family, work, and other responsibilities. Inpatient care is also more intensive and helps patients jump-start recovery, guiding them through strategies and exercises that will help them manage their illness once back at home. Treatment in a residential facility gives patients all the tools they need to be successful once they leave, while also providing a safe environment in which to go through therapy.
Create The Right Environment For Recovery
When we go through depression, its easy to let even basic things like housework fall by the wayside. The result is that our environment becomes messy, dirty, chaotic and that only makes our state of mind even worse.
So we continue to ignore the housework and thus the vicious cycle continues.
But look:
You can break that cycle, and doing so will help create the ideal environment for recovering from depression.
You dont even have to do it all in one go.
Focus on one thing at a time, even if its only one corner of one room. Do what you feel you have the energy for and before you know it, youll have a clean, tidy, clutter-free space thats far more conducive to overcoming your depression.
Whats more, the sense of accomplishment you get from tidying up can do wonders for your self-esteem and provide a powerful boost to your mood.
Also Check: Pristique For Depression
Encourage Your Loved One To Keep Up With Their Treatment And Recovery Plan
This is very important! You are not responsible for your loved ones treatment , but you can support them. Schizophrenia can make it difficult for people to make and go to appointments and follow their treatment plan. With your loved ones permission, you may choose to help by reminding them of appointments, taking them to appointments, or whatever helps in your situation. If your loved one isnt happy with their treatment or would like to try a new approach, you can encourage them to talk with their care team, like their doctor or mental health teamit can be dangerous to stop or change a treatment without a doctors support.
Treatment can be a difficult area for loved ones. Its hard to see someone you love in pain. You might be scared of the things your loved one is experiencing. You want to help. But in order for any treatment to work, your loved one needs to be active in their care. Forcing or threatening treatment generally doesnt work and can often hurt everyone involved. In most cases, anyone 19 years of age and older and not at risk of harm is free to make their own choices. And their choices may include refusing treatment or choosing a treatment that you disagree with. It helps everyone if you can be respectful and keep honest communication open between you. You can learn more about dealing with this situation in Q& A: An adult in my life seems ill and wont find help. What can I do?.
What Do You Say To A Paranoid Schizophrenic
Things that you might want to say when finding out about such plans include: “I would like to help you “I can’t imagine what you’re going through, but I am ready to listen” “I care about you and I think it might be a good idea to talk things over with your doctor” “I would like to help you, however, you need to …
Read Also: Phobia Definition Psychology
What Kind Of Symptoms Might People With Schizophrenia Have
People with schizophrenia may have a number of psychotic symptoms. These symptoms can come and go in phases, or they can happen only once or twice in a lifetime. When the illness begins, psychotic symptoms are usually sudden and severe.
During psychotic phases, the person may still understand parts of reality. He or she may lead a somewhat normal life, doing basic activities such as eating, working and getting around. In other cases, the person may be unable to function. Symptoms during psychotic phases include:
- Seeing, hearing, feeling or smelling things that are not real .
- Having strange beliefs that are not based on facts . For example, the person may believe that people can hear his or her thoughts, that he or she is God or the devil, or that people are putting thoughts into his or her head.
- Thinking in a confused way, being unable to make order out of the world, shifting quickly from one thought to the next.
- Having emotions, thoughts and moods that do not fit with events.
People with schizophrenia also may:
- Have a lot of energy or be overly active, or become “catatonic,” a state in which the body becomes rigid and cannot be moved.
- Talk in sentences that do not make sense.
- Not wash or groom.
- Cut themselves off from family, friends and the outside world.
- Be unable to function in school, work, or other activities.
- Lose interest in life.
- Be very sad or have mood swings.
- Have dulled emotions.
Positive Symptoms Of Schizophrenia
In this case, the word positive doesnât mean good. It refers to added thoughts or actions that arenât based in reality. Theyâre sometimes called psychotic symptoms and can include:
- Delusions: These are false, mixed, and sometimes strange beliefs that arenât based in reality and that the person refuses to give up, even when shown the facts. For example, a person with delusions may believe that people can hear their thoughts, that they are God or the devil, or that people are putting thoughts into their head or plotting against them.
- Hallucinations: These involve sensations that arenât real. Hearing voices is the most common hallucination in people with schizophrenia. The voices may comment on the personâs behavior, insult them, or give commands. Less common types include seeing things that arenât there, smelling strange odors, having a funny taste in your mouth, and feeling sensations on your skin even though nothing is touching your body.
- Catatonia: In this condition, the person may stop speaking, and their body may be fixed in a single position for a very long time.
Don’t Miss: Can Being Dehydrated Cause Anxiety
Family And Caregiver Schizophrenia Discussion Forum
Olanzapine eliminated my sons voices quickly, but it does have metabolic side effects. I agree, she has to find the right med. Abilify made him restless. Hes never taken Invega. Everyone is different. Theres been talk on this board lately about the GeneSight test, which does report recommendations for antipsychotics. But I suppose trial-and-error would work too. Just make sure she gets regular blood tests to see if any of the meds are causing harmful side effects. Say, every month when a new drug is tried, or the dosages substantially upped.
My son got to the point where he wanted to take the meds because the voices got to be very abusive. Hes been med-compliant for maybe 7 months now because the delusions and voices were so bad during the last episode.
Thank you good to hear a success, I will have to ask about the blood tests, make sure there doing them. When you read the side effects its just scary. but so would going through a bad episode I would imagine or hearing voices
She says she only hears voices when there is another noise around, like a fan or music. If it is totally quite in a room she doesnt hear anything so she wears earplugs a lot she says it helps.
I have many of the same experiences with my 50-year-old son.
I have observed that over a long period of time, 20+ years, he is more stable, somewhat sociable, starting to really take care of himself.
Dont give up.
Prayer and Strength from Vermont
GeneSight test
Recovery In Schizophrenia: Implications As To Whether Schizophrenia Is A Chronic And Continuous Disorder
The data on recovery in schizophrenia also bear on concepts about the nature and boundaries of schizophrenia. As studied in the current research, for the great majority of schizophrenia patients recovery involves a period of recovery and not necessarily a lifetime of recovery. In general, the data indicating periods of recovery in schizophrenia also touch on the issue of whether schizophrenia is a chronic disorder.
Schizophrenia was once regarded as a chronic disorder, with many of the major symptoms being continuous. This view contrasted with that of bipolar disorders, which have periods of remission or recovery, often followed by relapses and then further recoveries in an ongoing cycle.
The current data on recovery also point to the heterogeneity of outcome in schizophrenia. This has been noted by Liberman and many others. Fitting with the heterogeneity , a subsample of our patients with schizophrenia show chronic characteristics in terms of manifesting psychosis for very prolonged periods. For this subsample of 2535% of the patients with schizophrenia the disorder is chronic in terms of some major symptoms being continuous, although often only in mild form. For the majority it is broken by symptom-free periods.
Read Also: How To Prevent Fainting From Anxiety