BTC-Schizophrenia

What is schizophrenia?

Schizophrenia is one of the most complex of all mental health disorders. It is a severe, chronic, and disabling

disturbance

of the brain that causes distorted

thinking, strange

feelings, and unusual behavior and use of language

and words.

Approximately 1 percent of the population develops schizophrenia during their

lifetime – more than 2

million

Americans

suffer from the illness in a given year. Although schizophrenia affects men and women with equal

frequency, the

disorder

often appears earlier in men, usually in the

late teens or early twenties, than in women, who

are generally affected in the

twenties to early thirties. A

child born into a family with one or more schizophrenic

family members

has a greater chance

of developing schizophrenia than a child born into a family with no

history of

schizophrenia. After a person has been

diagnosed with schizophrenia in a

family, the chance for a sibling to also be

diagnosed with schizophrenia is 7

to 8

percent. If a parent has schizophrenia, the chance for a child to have the

disorder is 10 to 15

percent. Risks increase

with

multiple affected family members.

People with schizophrenia often

suffer terrifying symptoms such as hearing

internal

voices not heard by others, or

believing that other people are

reading their

minds, controlling their thoughts, or

plotting to

harm them. These symptoms may leave them fearful

and withdrawn. Their speech

and behavior can be so

disorganized

that they may be incomprehensible or frightening

to others. Available treatments can relieve many

symptoms, but most

people with

schizophrenia

continue to suffer

some symptoms throughout their lives; it has been

estimated that no more

than one in five individuals recovers

completely.

What causes schizophrenia?

There is no known single cause responsible for schizophrenia. It is believed that a chemical imbalance in the brain

is an inherited factor which is

necessary for

schizophrenia to

develop. However, it is likely that many factors -

genetic, behavioral, and environmental - play a role in the

development of this mental health

condition.

Schizophrenia is considered to be multifactorially inherited. Multifactorial inheritance means that "many factors" are

involved. The factors are usually

both

genetic and

environmental, where a combination of genes from both parents,

in addition to unknown environmental factors, produce the trait or

condition.

Often,

one gender (either males or

females) is affected more frequently than the other in multifactorial traits. There appears to be a different

threshold

expression,

which means that one gender is more likely to

show the problem, over the other gender. Slightly

more males develop

schizophrenia in childhood,

however, by

adolescence schizophrenia affects males and females

equally.

What are the symptoms of schizophrenia?

In children with schizophrenia, behavior changes may occur slowly, over time, or have a sudden onset. The child

may gradually become more shy and

withdrawn. They may talk about bizarre ideas or fears and begin to cling more to

parents. One of the most disturbing and puzzling characteristics of

schizophrenia is the sudden onset of its

psychotic symptoms. The following are the most common symptoms of schizophrenia. However, each child

may

experience symptoms differently.

Distorted perception of reality (difficulty telling dreams from reality)
Confused thinking (i.e., confusing television with reality)
Detailed and bizarre thoughts and ideas
Suspiciousness and/or paranoia (fearfulness that someone, or something, is going to harm them)
Hallucinations (seeing, hearing, or feeling things that are not real such as hearing voices telling them to do
something)
Delusions (ideas that seem real but are not based in reality)
Extreme moodiness
Severe anxiety and/or fearfulness
Flat affect (lack of emotional expression when speaking)
Difficulty in performing schoolwork
Social withdrawal (severe problems in making and keeping friends)
Disorganized or catatonic behavior (suddenly becoming agitated and confused, or sitting and staring, as if
immobilized)
Odd behaviors (i.e., an older child may regress significantly and begin acting like a younger child)