Schizophrenia: What you need to know

This article is professionally consulted by Master, Doctor Bui Ngoc Phuong Hoa - General Internal Medicine - Department of Medical Examination & Internal Medicine - Vinmec Danang International Hospital.

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that is on the rise in the community. The disease manifests itself in many different forms, but they all greatly affect the patient's life, and in the long run can change the patient's personality.

Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness. Many patients become ill from a very young age and persist throughout life. The manifestation of schizophrenia is the wrong and inappropriate thoughts of the patient, the client cannot explain to the patient when it is right and wrong. People with discriminatory mental illness often have strange and strange activities due to paranoia, poor emotions.
During illness, patients often become withdrawn from others, talk less with loved ones, become brooding, anxious or fearful, even severe paranoia.

The basic symptoms of schizophrenia pathology are: Delusions, hallucinations (auditories), thought disorders,... The disease is often accompanied by a number of other less specific symptoms.
2.1. Delusions Delusions are false and inconsistent ideas of reality, caused by mental illness that the patient believes are completely true, cannot be explained or criticized. The patient will have some response depending on the paranoid content. The most common delusions are:
Delusions of pride: The patient thinks he can do things he can't actually do. Example: The patient thinks that he or she can be a general in command of the army even though the patient has never been in the army; thinking that they can cure difficult diseases such as cancer even though the patient has not studied medicine... Delusion of harm: Patients often think that relatives, neighbors or someone around is trying to poison , harm them. Delusions of being dominated: The patient thinks that there is an invisible force that is controlling all his thoughts or actions, angels or demons,... 2.2. Hallucinations Patient hears voices, sounds in the head or in the ears. Hallucinations are often negative such as threats to accuse, curse or laugh at the patient,...

When hearing hallucinations, patients with schizophrenia will also have a number of reactions depending on the content of the hallucinations. For example, the patient will cover his ears, cower in fear, react or get mad,...
2.3. Thought disorder The patient's speech is sometimes extremely difficult to understand, the patient's speech suddenly stops and then after a while continues the old topic or talks about another topic. Even the patient talks so loosely that the listener can't understand what the patient wants to say.
2.4. Some other symptoms Loss of will to work: The patient gradually loses the will to work, lethargy, this condition is not due to the patient's laziness. The patient will not be able to continue to work well at work or study at school. If the condition is more severe, the patient can't even do simple daily tasks like housework, washing, cooking, etc. At worst, the patient will no longer pay attention to personal hygiene, not bathing, eating poorly,.. Decreased expression of emotions : The patient will not react to happy events, lose emotions, do not show much emotion. In some cases, the reaction may be opposite to normal, such as: For happy events, the patient is sad, for sad events, the patient is happy. Social isolation: The patient does not want to be in contact with others, even with his or her own family members. Not aware that they are sick: Often, many people with schizophrenia do not think they are sick, so they may refuse to go to the doctor for treatment or even get angry at them. who think they have a mental illness.

The main cause of schizophrenia is still unknown, but it is thought to be caused by a number of different factors working together.
Genetic factors: In the normal population, the incidence is only about 1%, but if there is a family history of relatives, or parents with the disease, the incidence in the children can increase up to twelfth% . Biochemical factors: Dopamine is thought to contribute to this disease. Family factors: Schizophrenia tends to be more likely to recur, especially in unhappy families, where there is often conflict or tension. Environmental factors: Too much stress in the surrounding environment can contribute to the development of the disease.

Currently, the most effective treatment for mental illness is still a combination of antipsychotic drugs and psychosocial rehabilitation for patients.
4.1. Antipsychotics Most antipsychotics help regulate chemicals in the brain.
Classic antipsychotic drugs: Aminazine, Haloperidol ... New generation antipsychotic drugs: Risperidone, Olanzapine ... are more effective, have fewer side effects than classical drugs, thereby contributing to make patients feel secure about long-term treatment. Thanks to these drugs, many patients with schizophrenia do not need long-term psychiatric hospital stays. Patients only need to be treated as outpatients by regularly coming to receive medicine at medical facilities. While taking medicine and being able to live in the family and society, the patient's psychology is also more comfortable, reducing the psychological stigma of society due to mental illness.
Most patients need treatment for a very long time to prevent recurrence. Therefore, stopping taking the drug necessarily requires the consent of a psychiatrist.

4.2. Psychosocial rehabilitation of patients. Psychosocial rehabilitation for patients is an extremely effective measure in the treatment of schizophrenia, and sometimes can remove the link that is the factor that increases the patient's risk of disease.
Psychological measures help:
Restore the patient's ability to interact with society, with people around, improve the ability to work and study. Help the patient's family better understand schizophrenia, its treatment and side effects, and how to behave appropriately with the patient. Help people around have the right view of this disease so that people around the patient can sympathize with the patient more. Schizophrenia is also a disease, and patients need to be cared for as well as treated as chronic diseases, requiring long-term treatment such as diabetes, high blood pressure... Schizophrenia is not only It has a great impact on the life of the sick person, but it can also endanger the people around. Therefore, when discovering that a loved one has mental symptoms, even mild, the family member should take the patient to the doctor immediately for treatment, medication as well as necessary psychological measures.