Psychosis is a term used to broadly describe conditions in which an individual has lost touch with reality. Schizophrenia forms the prototype of all psychotic problems. The picture of schizophrenia embraces a very diverse range of disturbance in perception, thought, motivation, emotion and movement. Schizophrenia is considered as an illness in which there are frank periods of disturbed behavior in the individual's life; set upon a background of continued emotional disturbance and disability which gets expressed in almost every walk of life. What indeed happens
Schizophrenia is different from what is usually construed as multiple personality. It is really a ‘schism’ between thought, feeling and action. Usually these three are in synch. Appropriate thoughts generate apposite emotions, which in turn engender acceptable behaviors. That is what makes people ‘normal’, the fact that they are in control of themselves and their lives, and they influence their environment positively and gain form it.
Why it occurs
Schizophrenia is caused due to chemical changes in specific areas of the emotional brain. To a large extent this can be genetic too. Relatives of people with psychoses have higher chances of acquiring the same. The brain's chemical imbalance interferes with normal thoughts, emotions and behavior. Social and psychological factors also contribute to this change. Some people are in better control of their mind than others. A susceptible mind; one that is lacking in trust, suggestible to external forces, low on confidence, truncated in faith, poorly aware of reality; when placed in a troubling stressful environment sometimes loses track of reality. It’s not a simple change. Genetically vulnerable individuals need to undergo a significant level of stress to have the neurotransmitter imbalance that culminates in a psychotic breakdown.
Psychotic phenomena
People afflicted with psychoses are not in touch with reality. They have imagined beliefs, unrealistic fears and irrational emotions. They hear voices that do not exist; see imaginary figures and faces; and occasionally also converse with them. However, for the one who’s feeling this, it is real. The voices they claim to hear are authentic to them and the fear of persecution they experience is genuine. These beliefs precipitate irrelevant anger and aggression, even assault. That is the reason they act out and seem to do bizarre crazy things. They may lash out at their own family members with the pretext of self-defense. They live in their own world, a world that is quite different from the world of the other normal people surrounding them.
Effect on life in totality
Psychotics cannot cope well with stress, have difficulty in organizing their thoughts, and in extreme cases, they cannot even care for themselves. Their attention and memory gets impaired and they are unable to focus on any task at hand. Holding a job, maintaining social relationships and caring for themselves becomes almost impossible for these people. Life becomes strange and mysterious in the eyes of others.
Is it the end of life?
There are different levels of psychosis, some last for a few days, others few months; while several endure for a lifetime. Schizophrenia is long lasting and troubling. It deserves special attention and management. It's not the end of life but it is quite a modification of life which needs to be handled delicately to make it as normal as possible.
Control and Cure
Schizophrenia may not be curable but it is treatable. Medication helps symptom control while social and vocational skills training enables self-reliance. Medication for symptom control as well as psychotherapy and social skills training through one-to-one counseling are beneficial. Group education programs are organized for relatives of schizophrenic patients to reduce the stigma associated with the illness; and information about the causality as well as the treatment options is given, so that patients receive the best possible care. The target is to improve the quality of life as much as possible.
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