By definition, schizophrenia is a long-term mental disorder of a type involving a breakdown in the relation between thought, emotion, and behavior, leading to faulty perception, inappropriate actions and feelings, withdrawal from reality and personal relationships into fantasy and delusion, and a sense of mental fragmentation. Schizophrenia disorder is a very rare disease, especially in America, considering less than one percent of the population have the mental problem. The most common target age for this disease is between sixteen and thirty. It is more common in males than females, and is very rare in young children, though it is becoming more frequent. It is a difficult disorder to diagnose in teenagers, because many symptoms are typical teenager ways of life.

Some ordinary symptoms for both normal teenagers and people with schizophrenia include lack of pleasure of life, dull or monotonous voice, problems focusing. Issues paying attention, think people are trying to control them, and being habitually agitated. Other general symptoms of schizophrenia are having hallucinations, delusions, jumbled speech, thinking people can read their minds, thinking people are plotting against them, and sitting for hours without moving or talking. A majority of schizophrenic patients do not develop all symptoms, but they most likely will develop more than one.

The cause and development of schizophrenia disorder is unknown, which means finding a cure or permanent treatment is very difficult. You have two options for treatment: antipsychotic and psychosocial.

Antipsychotic treatments are typically medication. The temporary medications for schizophrenia help with the symptoms, but they must take large doses for many times of the days. Medications for this disorder have been around since the 1950s. They are called “typical” or “conventional” treatments. These include Thorazine, Haldol, Etrafon or Trilafon, and Proxilin. These are not their official medical names, but they are usually called this. These medicines have a major side effect. They weaken the body’s defense system by decreasing the white blood cells.

In the 1990s, researchers came up with a new group of meds that also help with the symptoms of schizophrenia disorder. Their informal names are Risperdal, Zyprexa, Seroquel, Geodon, Abilify, and Invega. These are called “atypical” or “second generation” treatments. Atypical treatments do not show decrease in a patient’s white blood cells, but they are not side effect-less. Drowsiness, dizziness, blurred vision, rapid heartbeat, sensitivity to the sun, skin rashes, persistent muscle spasms, tremors, and restlessness are normal side effects to atypical treatments.

The other type of treatment for schizophrenics is called psychosocial. Psychosocial treatments stick to four basic points: illness management skills, integrated treatment for co-occurring substance abuse, rehabilitation, and family education. Once a person with schizophrenia learns to manage their illness, less relapses occur and they can learn to prepare and prevent symptoms. Substance abuse is a common thing with schizophrenic people; typical substance abuse support groups do not help with certain needs of schizophrenics; they need a special treatment center. Rehabilitation helps people with schizophrenia to better function and prepare themselves with people in reality. It is important for families to understand how to help schizophrenics; hospitals release the patients to the family with little help, so they need to learn on their own; the family needs to comprehend that schizophrenics need support and love to continue with treatments and medication.

Living with a loved one that has schizophrenia disorder can sometimes be a scary thing. Some families of schizophrenics hire special caregivers, but most families decide to take care to their loved ones by themselves. Since people with schizophrenia think their hallucinations and delusions are real, they tend to resist treatment, because they think nothing is wrong with them.

In these cases, family and friends may need to take action to keep their loved one safe. It can be difficult to force a person with a mental disorder into treatment or hospitalization, but when a person becomes dangerous to himself or herself, or to others, family members or friends may have to call the police to take their loved one to the hospital.

Mental health professionals, with the help of the patient’s friends and family, make the ultimate decision to keep a patient in the hospital. That is called involuntary admission. The patient is denied access to leave unless approved by a mental health professional. Voluntary admission is a bit more lenient, but in the psychiatric centers, you still must have permission to leave. It is just not as lock and key as involuntary admission.

Many people with schizophrenia are not violent. If they have delusions of persecution though, they are more prone to be violent. The same thing is with schizophrenics who go through substance abuse. If they do become violent, it is almost always directed at a family member or themselves. Rarely do people with schizophrenia harm strangers, health professionals, etc. The violence margin in schizophrenics is very slim. They are more likely to harm themselves. Most suicides of people with schizophrenia are young adult males. It is hard to predict if the patient would consider suicide, so most deaths are unexpected.

Family and friend support is often needed for patients to continue taking medication and treatments after leaving the hospital. If they do not continue with it, they will relapse, symptoms will return, and more hospitalization is possible. Setting realistic goals and teaching the patient how to function in reality is a good way of support. Yelling at them and telling them they did something completely wrong reduces their hope and start declining treatments. Saying their hallucinations and delusions are fake and imaginary can be just as drastic, but you cannot just go along with the delusions. Families often make this mistake. Telling them they see things different is the right way to go about these things. How to ultimately deal with a schizophrenic person is to not tolerate dangerous or harmful behavior, all the while staying respectful, calm, and supportive. This is a difficult task for anyone.