Schizophrenia is a disorienting and often frightening condition for people who have it, causing them to lose touch with reality and their ability to tell what's real and what isn't. When people experience paranoia, they may struggle to trust people who want to help.
Schizophrenia is one of the most serious and frightening of all mental illnesses.
It is common for people with schizophrenia to have paranoid thoughts or hear voices. For example, they may believe that someone is controlling their mind or going to cause them harm. These psychotic episodes are often frightening, confusing, and isolating.
With symptoms like auditory hallucinations (hearing things that aren't there), derealization (feeling like you've lost touch with reality), and depersonalization (feeling as though you're on the outside, watching yourself), it's no wonder that so many people with severe anxiety begin to fear they have schizophrenia.
With a dedication to ongoing treatment, often beginning with intensive residential care, most individuals can live normal or almost-normal lives. Most patients will get better but still have occasional episodes, but about 20 percent will recover within five years.
Schizophrenia is frequently associated with significant distress and impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational, and other important areas of life. People with schizophrenia are 2 to 3 times more likely to die early than the general population (3).
Some people find it hard to concentrate and will drift from one idea to another. They may have trouble reading newspaper articles or watching a TV programme. People sometimes describe their thoughts as "misty" or "hazy" when this is happening to them.
Would you recognize that something was wrong? Unfortunately, most people with schizophrenia are unaware that their symptoms are warning signs of a mental disorder.
"Many people with schizophrenia, including those who are very bright, remain awkward in social situations," Paradiso added.
Most people with schizophrenia are not any more dangerous or violent than people in the general population. While limited mental health resources in the community may lead to homelessness and frequent hospitalizations, it is a misconception that people with schizophrenia end up homeless or living in hospitals.
Though schizophrenia isn't as common as other major mental illnesses, it can be the most chronic and disabling. People with schizophrenia often have problems doing well in society, at work, at school, and in relationships. They might feel frightened and withdrawn, and could appear to have lost touch with reality.
Most people with schizophrenia are never violent and indeed do not display any dangerous behaviour. However a small number do become violent when they are suffering from the acute symptoms of psychosis because of the influence of the hallucinations and delusions on their thinking.
Some people do recover “fully” from schizophrenia. Ten years after diagnosis: 50% of people with schizophrenia recover or improve to the point they can work and live on their own. 25% are better but need help from a strong support network to get by.
Early Warning Signs of Schizophrenia
For example, a teen who's developing the illness might drop their group of friends and take up with new ones. They may also have trouble sleeping or suddenly start coming home with poor grades.
It is possible to experience hallucinations while being aware that they aren't real. As with delusions, this would require a meta-awareness of the unreality of what appears to be a real experience. Human beings usually rely on their perceptions to tell what's real.
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.
They may believe other people are reading their minds, controlling their thoughts, or plotting to harm them. They may sit for hours without moving or talking. These symptoms make holding a job, forming relationships, and other day-to-day functions especially difficult for people with schizophrenia.
As the severity of the schizophrenic defect in the form of negativism, apathy, and abulia increased, changes in emotional and cognitive forms of self-awareness intensified.
Sometimes, people confuse dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as multiple personality disorder, and schizophrenia.
People with schizophrenia have trouble inferring other people's mental states. Eye-gaze direction is a ubiquitous social cue that we use to direct attention and infer what other people are thinking, what their intentions are.
Driving with Schizophrenia
A letter from the treating doctor may be required stating the person is capable of driving safely. An additional challenge is that a physician's-office-based assessment of a person's driving skills correlates only minimally with scores on standardized road tests.