Schizophrenia is a brain disorder leading to changes in behavior and thinking. Persons with schizophrenia will report hearing voices (in clinical terms, auditory hallucinations) or beliefs that people do not share or find strange (in clinical terms, delusions). With the proper treatment persons with schizophrenia should be able to lead a regular, fulfilling and joyful life. Importantly, schizophrenia is not a character flaw or moral failure, and is not associated with multiple personality disorder.
A person diagnosed with schizophrenia may demonstrate auditory hallucinations, delusions, and disorganized and unusual thinking and speech; this may range from loss of train of thought and subject flow, with sentences only loosely connected in meaning, to incoherence, known as word salad, in severe cases. Social isolation commonly occurs for a variety of reasons. Impairment in social cognition is associated with schizophrenia, as are symptoms of paranoia from delusions and hallucinations, and the negative symptoms of avolition (apathy or lack of motivation). In one uncommon subtype, the person may be largely mute, remain motionless in bizarre postures, or exhibit purposeless agitation; these are signs of catatonia. No one sign is diagnostic of schizophrenia, and all can occur in other medical and psychiatric conditions. The current classification of psychoses holds that symptoms need to have been present for at least one month in a period of at least six months of disturbed functioning. A schizophrenia-like psychosis of shorter duration is termed a schizophreniform disorder.
The effectiveness of schizophrenia treatment is often assessed using standardized methods, one of the most common being the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Management of symptoms and improving function is thought to be more achievable than a cure. Treatment was revolutionized in the mid-1950s with the development and introduction of chlorpromazine. A recovery model is increasingly adopted, emphasizing hope, empowerment and social inclusion.
Hospitalization may occur with severe episodes of schizophrenia. This can be voluntary or (if mental health legislation allows it) involuntary (called civil or involuntary commitment). Long-term inpatient stays are now less common due to deinstitutionalization, although can still occur. Following (or in lieu of) a hospital admission, support services available can include drop-in centers, visits from members of a community mental health team or Assertive Community Treatment team, supported employment and patient-led support groups.
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