Mental health is a subset of our health that focuses on how we think, feel and behave. Sometimes, illness in various forms, disrupts our mental health, to an extent that it warrants a diagnosis. One such example of a mental illness is known as schizophrenia which is considered a serious condition characterized by disturbances in thought, perception and behavior. Individuals who start to exhibit symptoms of schizophrenia may seem like they have lost touch with reality which can be distressing to them, their families and their friends. This post will shed light on how to know whether ourselves or loved ones need to visit a mental health specialist.
There are different subtypes of schizophrenia depending with the symptoms an individual is showing, and generally these symptoms can be grouped into two categories: positive/ psychotic symptoms and negative symptoms. Psychotic or positive symptoms include changes in the way a person thinks, acts, and experiences the worlds, which in turn makes it difficult for an individual to participate in their usual everyday activities. People with psychotic symptoms may lose touch with reality and start to experience the world in a distorted way. For some people, these symptoms come and go while for others, the symptoms, left untreated, become more pronounced over time. Psychotic symptoms include:
- Hallucinations: When a person sees, hears, smells, tastes, or feels things that are not actually there. Hearing voices is common for people with schizophrenia. People who hear voices can sometimes hear them for a long time before family or friends notice a problem. In the later stages, some people with untreated Schizophrenia can start responding to these voices; as seen with unwell and unkempt people in the streets, who talk to themselves incoherently as they walk.
- Delusions: When a person has strong, fixed beliefs that are not true and may seem irrational to others. For example, individuals experiencing delusions may believe that people on the radio and television are sending special messages that only they can understand, that require a certain response, or they may believe that they are in danger or that the mafia, for example, is trying to hurt them. They can also believe that they have a microchip inside their head which gives them direct access to speak to God. As much as delusions are not true, to the individual who is experiencing them, they very much feel real.
- Thought disorder accompanied with incoherent speaking: this is understood as trouble organizing thoughts while speaking. It may be trouble staying on topic, or it can be so severe that you can no longer understand the individual because their sentences are jumbled, incoherent, unusual or illogical. Sometimes a person will stop talking in the middle of a thought, jump from topic to topic, or make up words that have no meaning.
- Disorganized or unusual movements. This symptom can take various forms, from childish and silly movements to abrupt or excessive movements, which may be repeated over and over. Individuals with this symptom may hold a certain pose, even an uncomfortable one, and will not respond to people speaking to them.
Negative symptoms, on the other hand, refer to a decrease in certain behaviors. These symptoms usually involve a decrease in emotion in a person’s facial expressions, speaking with a flat and emotionless voice, and fewer or no gestures with their hands or other parts of their body. Negative symptoms also involve a loss of motivation, loss of interest or enjoyment in daily activities, withdrawal from social life, especially when individuals no longer do things they used to ordinarily enjoy. In extreme cases, a person might stop moving or talking for a while, which is a rare condition called catatonia.
Symptoms of schizophrenia, especially the psychotic symptoms, garner the most attention from society and form the basis of a lot of myths and stigmas associated with the mental illness. Common myths in Zimbabwe such as mental illness being caused by witchcraft, or other family members making money using that individual or even an individual’s ancestors being responsible for not wanting to see him or her progress in life, further worsen the burden of schizophrenia and other mental health issues as they affect treatment seeking behavior of such individuals and their families. Many people who receive early intervention can engage in school or work, achieve independence, and enjoy personal relationships. But for those who do not manage to receive treatment, the disorder makes it hard for them to keep a job, take care of themselves or be a contributing member of society.
Unfortunately, individuals with schizophrenia commonly suffer from a lack of insight. This means that a person cannot recognize that they have a disorder or illness. Experts estimate that between 50% and 90% of people with schizophrenia have a lack of insight and this is one of the reasons that schizophrenia is so difficult to treat. Not only do individuals with symptoms of schizophrenia deny that they are experiencing any symptoms, they may furthermore resist seeking medical care and treatment. As such, it is of great importance for us to be aware of some of these mental health issues so that we can quickly seek intervention for our loved ones before the condition becomes more complicated to treat. In the mental health field, we say, the earlier the intervention, the better the outcome!
