New research shows that people who have schizophrenia can still live independently, pursue higher education or hold down a demanding job. In fact, many do manage their illness and live full and highly productive lives.
While many people with schizophrenia are able to lead full, independent lives, for others it can be completely disabling. The symptoms of the disorder can be perplexing and unsettling for friends and even family members, which can leave patients feeling isolated and alone.
Schizophrenia treatment includes medication, therapy, social and family support, and the use of social services. Treatment must be ongoing, as this is a chronic illness without a cure. When schizophrenia is treated and managed over the long-term, most people can live normal, productive, and fulfilling lives.
Nevertheless, research has shown that with proper treatment, many people with schizophrenia can experience significant, albeit rarely complete, recovery from their illness. Many can, for example, live relatively normal lives outside a hospital, holding down a job and socializing periodically with family and friends.
The king of leafy greens, spinach is high in folate. (It's called folic acid when it's used in supplements or to fortify foods.) Folate can help ease symptoms of schizophrenia. Along with spinach, you can find it in black-eyed peas, asparagus, and beef liver.
People with schizophrenia generally live about 15 to 20 years less than those without the condition. Schizophrenia is a complex disease. There are many ways it can result in serious complications.
Early Warning Signs of Schizophrenia
One is that people with the disorder often don't realize they're ill, so they're unlikely to go to a doctor for help. Another issue is that many of the changes leading up to schizophrenia, called the prodrome, can mirror other normal life changes.
Auditory hallucinations, “hearing voices,” are the most common in schizophrenia and related disorders. Disorganized thinking and speech refer to thoughts and speech that are jumbled and/or do not make sense.
Schizophrenia is a chronic disorder that may wax and wane in severity, but it does not typically worsen with age. 1 For some people, the symptoms of schizophrenia will improve over time while for others the symptoms will stay the same or get worse.
People with schizophrenia often die at a considerably younger age than the rest of the population. Reasons for this include: late diagnosis and poor treatment of physical illnesses, metabolic side effects of antipsychotic medication, unhealthy lifestyle and high risk of suicide (reviewed by Laursen et al, 2014).
The individual will spend a large amount of time worrying about what others are thinking and doing to them. Thought and movement disorders: An individual with schizophrenia may have a hard time organizing thoughts into anything meaningful. They may stop speaking abruptly or speak in a garbled way.
Research suggests that social isolation (i.e. limited social interaction with other children) and poor or disrupted interpersonal relations during childhood, teen and early adult years appears to increase an individuals risk for future development of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders.
A person with schizophrenia may need help with basic daily life tasks, and as the caregiver, it is part of your role to help with the organization of these tasks.
If left untreated, schizophrenia can worsen at any age, especially if you continue to experience episodes and symptoms. Typically, early onset schizophrenia in the late teens tends to be associated more with severe symptoms than later-life onset. But aging can change the trajectory of how symptoms show up.
The exact causes of schizophrenia are unknown. Research suggests a combination of physical, genetic, psychological and environmental factors can make a person more likely to develop the condition. Some people may be prone to schizophrenia, and a stressful or emotional life event might trigger a psychotic episode.
Past studies have reported that offspring of affected mothers have a higher risk of schizophrenia than the offspring of affected fathers; however, other studies found no such maternal effect [Gottesman and Shields, 1976].
Schizophrenia usually involves delusions (false beliefs), hallucinations (seeing or hearing things that don't exist), unusual physical behavior, and disorganized thinking and speech. It is common for people with schizophrenia to have paranoid thoughts or hear voices.
In most people with schizophrenia, symptoms generally start in the mid- to late 20s, though it can start later, up to the mid-30s. Schizophrenia is considered early onset when it starts before the age of 18. Onset of schizophrenia in children younger than age 13 is extremely rare.
Schizophrenia is a serious mental disorder in which people interpret reality abnormally. Schizophrenia may result in some combination of hallucinations, delusions, and extremely disordered thinking and behavior that impairs daily functioning, and can be disabling. People with schizophrenia require lifelong treatment.
Having schizophrenia could affect your ability to drive. If you've had or currently suffer from a medical condition or disability that may affect your driving you must tell the Driver & Vehicle Agency (DVA).
Patients with schizophrenia have a poor diet, mainly characterized by a high intake of saturated fat and a low consumption of fibre and fruit. Such diet is more likely to increase the risk to develop metabolic abnormalities.
Taken together, these findings indicate that low estrogen levels may leave the brain vulnerable to insult or age-related changes, leading to development of schizophrenia or increased symptom severity, and could explain the observed differences in disease onset and severity between males and females.