Untreated schizophrenia may lead you to experience more intense and pervasive symptoms that could severely impact your relationships, self-image, and occupation. But treatment is often effective and can help you live a functional life.
When people with schizophrenia live without adequate treatment, their mental health can worsen. Not only can the signs of schizophrenia get more severe, but they can also develop other mental health disorders, including: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Anxiety Disorders.
Treating schizophrenia without medication using Individual Psychotherapy has a great outcomes. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Can Do Wonders! When treating schizophrenia naturally with cognitive behavioral therapy, a professional changes the thinking pattern of the schizophrenic patient.
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.
Residual Stage
This is known as the final stage of schizophrenia. These symptoms are very similar to those of the prodromal stage. Patients in this stage are often not seen to be psychotic, but their symptoms shift from positive to negative (i.e. they take something away from the person).
Doctors also believe the brain loses tissue over time. And imaging tools, like PET scans and MRIs, show that people who have schizophrenia have less “gray matter” -- the part of the brain that contains nerve cells -- over time.
Schizophrenia patients also have high rates of co-occurring disorders, like substance abuse and depression. These additional disorders can make the underlying schizophrenia more difficult to treat and it is possible schizophrenia may even be misdiagnosed due to the existence of the other disorders.
Is There a Cure? While there is no known cure, it is possible to live a meaningful and happy life with schizophrenia. There are many effective treatments, best provided by a team.
In the past, it was accepted that schizophrenia can worsen as people age. However, research in recent years suggests that although some symptoms may get worse with age, others will remain stable, and some symptoms may actually improve with age.
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.
Unfortunately, most people with schizophrenia are unaware that their symptoms are warning signs of a mental disorder. Their lives may be unraveling, yet they may believe that their experiences are normal. Or they may feel that they're blessed or cursed with special insights that others can't see.
Lack of Insight
This means they don't understand that they are sick. Anosognosia stems from processing problems in the brain. It doesn't mean your loved one is in denial or is being stubborn. As a result of this problem, he or she may not understand the need for medication or therapy sessions.
Besides involuntary hospitalization, there are other options for someone who refuses treatment. The choices vary depending on where you live: Outpatient commitment. When they get out of the hospital, a court order requires them to stick with treatment, or they will be sent back to the hospital.
People with schizophrenia experience difficulties in remembering their past and envisioning their future. However, while alterations of event representation are well documented, little is known about how personal events are located and ordered in time.
In his book, The Mindful Son: A Beacon of Hope Through the Storm of Mental Illness, James Hickman describes how he overcame poverty, orphanhood, and schizophrenia to become a Licensed Certified Social Worker, a psychotherapist, a leader in the mental health advocacy movement, and an inspiration for many others.
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.
If left untreated, schizophrenia rarely gets better on its own. Symptoms of schizophrenia more frequently increase in intensity without treatment and may even lead to the onset of additional mental issues, including: Depression. Anxiety.
In some conditions, such as multiple sclerosis, areas of damage are visible on brain scans. This is not the case with schizophrenia. It is not currently possible to diagnose schizophrenia using brain imaging alone.
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.
Schizophrenia may result in some combination of hallucinations, delusions, and extremely disordered thinking and behavior that impairs daily functioning, and can be disabling.