Schizophrenia is a severe and chronic mental disorder that interferes with a person’s ability to recognize reality, think clearly, manage their emotions, make decisions, and socialize. It is a complex disease affecting approximately one percent of the US population, primarily men. It typically manifests symptoms in the late teens to early twenties for men and between the twenties and thirties for women.
The cause of schizophrenia cannot be pinpointed to one cause but there are certain things that generate a higher risk of being diagnosed with it. Genetics are known to be a causative factor in schizophrenia, although it is a combination of genetics and environmental factors that result in the diagnosis. It may be caused by a virus or an incident occurring in the womb. Brain chemistry, specifically certain neurotransmitters, may play a role in schizophrenia. Substance use, especially taking hallucinogens during the early teen years may contribute to the onset of schizophrenia.
1. Thoughts or Experiences Out of Touch with Reality
People with schizophrenia have experiences and thoughts in their daily life that are not based in real life. The ideas they have are intrusive and cannot be voluntarily controlled. These notions include beliefs and feelings about their worlds that are simply not true. Auditory and visual disturbances can emphasize the false beliefs a schizophrenic has. The classic example of this often seen in movies and television shows is a patient with voices telling them what to do. Auditory disturbances often coincide with beliefs a patient may be experiencing.
Patients can have entire experiences that are not based on real life. For example, a patient may be walking down a quiet street and suddenly hear footsteps behind them. Turning around, they may even see someone running toward them. This seems like a threat and the patient becomes afraid and believes that this vision means to harm them. The false visions lend themselves to fear that create an entire experience that is out of touch with real life.
2. Disorganized Speech
Disorganized speech is a common symptom of schizophrenia. When symptoms of schizophrenia are present, a patient’s thought process can become confused. Speech is the brain’s way of attempting to communicate a person’s ideas with others. If the thought process is disorganized, the way a person speaks will follow suit. Unlike with patients recovering from a stroke or other physical brain injury, the schizophrenic’s words and sentences are not confusing to themselves.
Their sentences and conversation can make total sense to them, although it appears jumbled to others. When a patient is asked a question, the answer they give may be partially or completely unrelated. In some patients, words are strung together that have no meaning. The sentences may not make sense, or the actual words used may not exist.
3. Disorganized Behavior
Schizophrenia can affect both fine and gross motor skills in patients. This disorganized behavior can exhibit itself in different ways. Schizophrenics may act childlike and silly or they may become agitated with no apparent cause. The behavior is not goal focused, so it makes it difficult for sufferers to complete simple tasks, like putting together a puzzle. Behavior may include catatonia, useless movements of the arms and legs, strange postures like staring straight up or down, and inability to listen to instructions.
4. Social Isolation
When schizophrenics have false visions and behavioral issues, it can cause social isolation. Patients often struggle with daily hygiene activities which can make them difficult for others to be around. Their symptoms often make it difficult to interact with the people around them due to bizarre behaviors. Suitable employment can be unattainable because of the ideas and actions their disease causes. Common activities like driving or even walking can be too complicated for some patients. These things limit the amount of contact patients may have with their peers and families.
5. Aggression
Sensory disturbances and false beliefs can cause aggression in some schizophrenics. If the patient believes that others are trying to harm them, it can cause them to lash out at others for their own perceived protection. If the patient’s symptoms are severe enough, they may not understand what is going on around them. They may need help with activities of daily living but are unable to understand when others try to help them, causing aggressive behavior.
Aggression can be aimed at other people and also at themselves. Sometimes, what appears to be aggressive behavior, like scratching at themselves, is due to a visual disturbance or a belief that something is wrong with their body. For example, a common false vision is bugs crawling on the skin. This can lead to aggressive behavior with scratching and hitting common.
6. Excitability
Schizophrenics can exhibit excitability due to seeing and hearing things that are not there and false beliefs. Many times, their reality gives them cause to act out. They may believe that they are famous and receiving an award for their acting, for example. This can cause behavior and actions that have no basis in real life. When observing schizophrenics, excitable behavior like an outburst of yelling or jumping can be seen. Although there does not seem to be an obvious cause for these outbursts, the patient may be experiencing a sight or a sound that they are responding to.
7. Hostility
While a patient may not be aware that their beliefs or disturbances are not based in real life, often they cause significant impairment for the person. This can lead to irritation and hostility towards those around them. For example, if a loved one attempts to explain how to accomplish a task which may have previously been easy to complete, the patient may become hostile toward the person. They may believe this person has somehow impaired their ability to accomplish the task. They may simply be frustrated that the task has become so difficult and take out their hostility on the person trying to help.
8. Delusion
Delusions are beliefs about the world that are not based in reality. A good example of this is believing someone is harassing you when they are not. Often, schizophrenia can cause you to believe that gestures or comments made by others are directed at you. Believing that you have an exceptional ability, like being the world’s fastest runner, or that you are famous are common false beliefs. Harboring a belief that something catastrophic is about to happen either to yourself or to the world at large is another common delusion patients suffering from schizophrenia have.
9. Anxiety
Anxiety occurs quite often in patients with schizophrenia. When patients are bombarded with negative thoughts about the world around them, anxiety is bound to occur. When a person’s senses turn on them, it can be frightening. It is anxiety-producing not to understand the difference between reality and false-reality. Anxious feelings are a vicious cycle of schizophrenia. When patients feel anxious it can lead to negative sensory disturbances and delusions. These negative symptoms then go on to produce more anxiety, creative a circular effect.
10. Paranoia
Paranoia occurs when schizophrenics believe that others are attempting to harm them. The paranoid feeling is the result of false beliefs and visual and auditory disturbances that convince the person that people are out to get them. Some examples of paranoia are believing that the government is trying to cause harm to themselves, that someone is poisoning their food, or that someone is stealing their belongings behind their back. This paranoia can cause patients to isolate themselves from others in order to protect themselves from perceived dangers. Paranoia can lead to aggression and hostility because of the false belief that outside forces are causing harm or mean to cause harm.
11. Fear
Fear goes hand in hand with delusions and disorganized thoughts. Although schizophrenics typically do not understand that the things they are seeing and hearing are not real, the disease itself is progressive and chronic. Thoughts and voices heard only a few times a week, in the beginning, may progress to becoming regular instances over time. Hearing a voice telling them that people are trying to harm them, or believing that the world may come to an end soon are scary things. Because these things are very real to the patient, fear becomes a major emotion in their everyday lives.
12. Hallucination
When a person sees or hears things that do not actually exist hallucinations are present. Patients with schizophrenia cannot differentiate between these hallucinations and normal experiences. For most schizophrenics, auditory hallucinations like hearing voices are the most common form. These hallucinations can be frightening because they seem completely real when they occur. Visual and auditory disturbances create intense fear and anxiety in sufferers. They can contribute to other symptoms like aggression, further worsening a patient’s overall well-being.
