Schizophrenia

People who suffered from schizophrenia in the past were thought to be demon possessed and were institutionalized. It still remains a very bewildering problem. The word schizophrenia comes from a Greek word meaning to split. Usually people are between 15 and 25 years of age when schizophrenia manifests itself and onset is insidious or rapid.

It’s important to know symptoms of this problem because suicide is a serious danger in schizophrenics. Approximately 10 percent of people with this disorder, especially males, commit suicide. Therefore, if an individual who has been diagnosed with this disability threatens to kill themselves, or actually tries to do so, professional help is needed immediately.

Some of the early signs of schizophrenia can be classified as the following, but these are not totally inclusive, and involve physical symptoms, feelings, mood, behavior, cognitive problems, delusions, and hallucinations. Early physical symptoms would include a blank, vacant facial expression and an inability to express facial emotion. They may think that lights are too bright or sounds are too loud. They also can go a long while without blinking. They can either have insomnia or sleep constantly.

Their emotions are dulled and seem to have no ability to experience pleasure from activities. They seek or want nothing. They can also be hypersensitive to criticism. They may experience very sudden changes in mood from happy to sad, or depressed to suicidal. They may be paranoid and believe people are watching or talking about them. They may hear internal voices or external ones. If it’s external, it is an actual voice and if internal it may be one or several voices which may be talking to the individual or each other. These voices are usually negative. All of these behaviors manifest in varrying degrees of severity.