The Role Of Schizophrenia In Young Adults

At the age five, John was a normal kid. Until one stormy afternoon, he started having delusions of imaginary monsters, distorting reality in his eyes. When his parents got home, only to find five-year-old John on the floor paralyzed and scared. He was rushed to the emergency room, only to find out that he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. His life would change forever. John was diagnosed with a rare mental illness known as schizophrenia. This disease is very uncommon but can be active when the victim turns the age of five and older; usually it becomes triggered in their late teens. Schizophrenia can simply be defined as a chronic brain disabling disorder that renders a person’s mind useless with distortion of reality and other symptoms (Spearing
1). Schizophrenia has been found to be a leading mental illness in our society today. To fully comprehend how to treat it, one needs to know its causes, its impacts on others and the victims, and how to properly treat schizophrenia.
Over the past decades, many doctors have had an increase in diagnosis for schizophrenia, in the fight to understand its causes.
Most people who are outside the scientific field are mostly unaware of the causes of schizophrenia. Many doctors and scientists can say that schizophrenia is a chronic, severe, and disabling brain disease. This mental illness can affect both men and women equally but mainly affects young men first, usually in their late teens to early twenties. Schizophrenia can cause many symptoms, including distortion of reality, hallucinations/illusions, delusions, distorted thinking and many more (Spearing 1, 2). As a result, Schizophrenia is hard to diagnose because of the many similar symptoms it has with other mental illnesses. Scientists believe that the leading genetic factors of schizophrenia has at least one person who also has schizophrenia by heredity. Research suggests that people who have close family members who have be diagnosed with schizophrenia have a higher chance of also being diagnosed in the future as well. In science terms, if your identical twin, for example, has schizophrenia, you have a 40-50% chance of also having it. Rather than if your parent(s) has schizophrenia, you have a 10% chance (Spearing 5). In other words, if you have a close family member with schizophrenia, you have a higher chance of being diagnosed with it. A plethora of studies have been shown by researchers to conclude that schizophrenia is linked to environmental
causes. Many of these environmental causes has been associated with many genetic causes. Many factors include prenatal difficulties such as intrauterine starvation, viral infections, perinatal complications, and nonspecific stressors. In any case related to schizophrenia, most scientists and researchers have concluded that environmental and genetic are what are the main causes. Though many scientists, doctors, and researchers have scratched the surface of seeing schizophrenia really is, they can use its genetic and environmental causes to help cope with its life affecting symptoms. Due to the rate of diagnosis of schizophrenia, society is left with dealing with the following impacts: how does schizophrenia affect kids loves, how it affects families/relationships, and how does our society view victims affected with schizophrenia.
Many kids who suffer from schizophrenia have almost similar lives to those of schizophrenic adults. Furthermore, a study by many scientists have concluded that children diagnosed with schizophrenia don’t show symptoms until they turn 5 or older. But however, they do show most if not all symptoms, gradually instead of all at once, which is how most of it works (Schizophrenia 1). As a result, most families don’t have to worry about changing their lifestyle until sometime. Families who have schizophrenic members have had to learn how to deal and carefully treat them. In fact, doctors who discharge schizophrenic patients have made sure that their families will have the proper education (psychoeducation) to make sure that nothing will happen to trigger any relapses. They may avoid relapses by using different treatment adherence strategies and using various coping techniques (Spearing 11). Because doctors though it wise for the schizophrenic patients to be discharged for their hospital care, many families find it difficult for them to educate themselves and avoid relapses. Society has had many viewpoints on mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia. For instance, many people who see people with schizophrenia or any mental illness have
had many views on them. Some people would think to themselves “They look strange” or something. While others have either brushed them aside or actually look at them as people. Any way when most people see mentally disabled victims, they will have some effect on them. Victims of schizophrenia have been subjected to many of society’s viewpoints and how it affects them as kids and their families and relationships. But doctors and scientists are still discussing treatment options. Doctors treating patients diagnosed with schizophrenia have been talking about treatments since schizophrenia was a thing. Doctors and researchers have been trying to find a stable treatment for schizophrenia for years. According to the article, “Schizophrenia” published by Melissa Spearing, states that “Since schizophrenia may not be a single condition and its causes are not yet known, current treatment methods are based on both clinical research and experience”. However, schizophrenics can subdue the side effects by consuming anti-psychotic drugs (Spearing 7). In other words, schizophrenia is not currently treatable but can be subdued with anti-psychotic drugs for a short time. Research made by doctors treating patients with schizophrenia can conclude living with this mental illness is very difficult. If the patient has had a criminal record or a substance abuse record, including drugs and alcohol, before they are diagnosed with schizophrenia, will in most cases, can lead to suicidal thoughts or actions (Spearing 5). As a result, approximately 10% of people with schizophrenia, who are especially younger adult males, commit suicide. For schizophrenics, doctors have asked many communities and people for their aid in the fight of schizophrenia. A person with schizophrenia has many people to fall back onto, including friends, family, churches, roommates, shelters, neighbors, and a whole lot more. But the number one issue with this is that most schizophrenics believe that they do not require treatment and will refuse it. So it is always advised that one would get them the help they need (Spearing 12). In very rare cases, however, police force will be used on a patient to make them have an emergency psychiatric evaluation, or hospitalization. Schizophrenia is yet to be treated for the long run but for now, antipsychotics can only subdue the symptoms. Doctors have found that living with schizophrenia is very hard and people should be advised about the suicidal thoughts/tendencies that one may have. Finally, there are many support groups that schizophrenics can rely on. By understanding the causes of schizophrenia, its impacts on others, and the future treatments hopefully made in the future, one can conclude that schizophrenia is a disabling mental illness that can distort a person’s reality and other symptoms. When doctors release their patients with schizophrenia into the care of their family, they must be educated all about the mental illness and to make sure not to trigger relapses for the patient. Doctors have yet to find a stable treatment for schizophrenia but is still hopeful. There are many mental illness that have many backlashes on the victims and their families and friends. However, schizophrenia is one of these diseases that is unlike any other and should be cautioned for many. To this day, schizophrenics need people to lean on when they are dealing with it 24/7. So people need to do their part and help those who need it.