To this day, there is no totally verified answer as to why people "get" schizophrenia.
Some people claim that the mother has a certain infection or virus during pregnancy. Some claim that chemicals, such as epinephrine in the body have certain effects on children that cause them to get schizophrenia. Still others say that it has to do with the frontal cortex and development of that area of the brain, especially in adolescence. Last but not least some researchers suggest that psycho-social factors such as childhood trauma may cause someone to develop schizophrenia. Now, because we are seeing more late-onset schizophrenia with patients in their fifties, our thinking is complicated because people now question why it's onset is so late in some people but not in others.
Really, the totally factual answer has to be, "We don't know."
Schizophrenia is not a mystery:
Schizophrenia is not a mystery. It looks mysterious because our very concept of mind and mental disorders is wrong.
Understanding the mind:
We know that god is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient. However, looking god from this angle makes god look very mysterious. Hinduism says that to understand god one has to believe that 'I am the supreme god'.
For similar reasons, to understand mind we have to believe that mind has as real an existence as the body.
The material mind is nothing but the Isometric component of our skeletal muscular system. This component has properties exactly the same as that of the mind.
We can understand the mind easily by knowing the properties of the Isometric component of our skeletal muscular system.
However, people who want to keep god an eternal mystery want to believe that god is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient. Similarly people who want to keep mind an eternal mystery wish to believe that it is abstract and yet want to study it scientifically! No doubt, mind remains an eternal mystery.
Understanding mental disorders:
We believe that the mind is the same as the brain. This concept can't explain how people who don't even know that they have a brain can control their mind.
We can't understand mental disorders by studying the brain.
Most of the so called mental disorders are actually disorders of movement i.e. they are behavior disorders. Thus, they are better understood by studying the Isometric component of our skeletal muscular system.
The mystery behind Schizophrenia:
We believe that we are created to use reasoning. However, human thinking is very complicated. It is three dimensional. Time, space and person are the three dimensions that we use for thinking. The person - dimension leads to seven different kinds of thinking.
Since we want to understand the behavior of people using reasoning only, the behavior of some people looks mysterious even to scientists who are studying mental disorders.
Therefore, Schizophrenia is not as mysterious as most people want to believe. It looks mysterious because we want to understand it using reasoning only, which is a next to impossible.
Schizophrenia is form of mental illness which has many causes, spreading from biology, genetics, neurology, viral infection and social influence. There is no absolute explanation for why people get Schizophrenia, or why only certain people get it. Psychologists have theorised many different contributing factors which do seem to be viable, some more than others. But in the end, a complete list of factors may be impossible to obtain as our world has an infinite amount of factors, and our mind and body has an infinite different ways in which to react to them.
Some of the factors which have been positively correlated to Schizophrenia are:
- Reduced brain stem size when compared to those without the condition
- Neurological disorder
- Brain damage
- Genetic inheritance
- Childhood trauma
- Adult trauma
- Drug abuse
- Environmental factors (such as Socio-Economic Status, living conditions and the behaviours and personalities of others around you)
Do deaf schizophrenic people hear voices?
If the person was born totally deaf, then no, they would not hear voices, because they would have no concept of what a voice sounds like. They would exhibit other symptoms of schizophrenia, that do not involve sound.
Dopamine is most involved in schizophrenia.
What age do girls start hitting schizophrenia?
In males, onset is usually between 18-21 years old. In females, onset of schizophrenia is usually between 20-25 years old. It is a lifelong disease, but it can be significantly ameliorated with a combination of anti-psychotic medications and family as well as social supports.
schizoprenia is a series of brain disorders where reallity can be interupted abnormally. Results are halucinations, delusions and disordered thinking. Peope withdraw from the real world. It is a cronic condition which can last a life time, but medication these days can control the situation
Why do schizophrenics stab people?
It is not true that all people with schizophrenia feel a need to kill other people. Most people who suffer with schizophrenia are completely harmless, or are dangerous only to themselves. Sensational crimes tend to be exaggerated in the media and are unfairly associated with people suffering from mental illness.
How is schizophrenia treated in other cultures?
Schizophrenia is treated by antipsychotic medications such as Thorazine, Haldol, and Prolixin. It is also treated by psychosocial treatments which help the patient deal with the everyday symptoms of the disease and learning to cope with everyday life such as job, school and socializing.
What treatments are being pioneered today for schizophrenia?
There is research studies going on different treatments that could help with Schizophrenia. There are always new studies underway to help with this illness.
What are two hypotheses for schizophrenia?
The two hit hypothesis of schizophrenia postulates that there are two different yet necessary malfunctions in the brain that cause schizophrenia. The first happens while a baby is still inside the womb. This could be from faulty genetics, bad brain cells, lack of oxygen during birth or even drugs or infections the mother might have in her body. The second hit happens later in life due to the brain changing as it grows, a major life stressor such as a young adult going to college or taking on a job after high school. The brain must be faulty and unable to process stress correctly (1st hit) so that when life stress happens (2nd) hit schizophrenia symptoms begin to come out.
What is the first stage of schizophrenia?
The onset of Schizophrenia is usually seen in young adolescents, early adulthood. However, the diagnosis can come at anytime as long as the individual meets the criteria listen in the DSM-IV-TR.
Is Schizophrenia a neurological or psychiatric disorder?
There are indications that schizophrenia is both. On the one hand, people with schizophrenia may have physical damage to the brain. On the other, schizophrenia is classified under psychiatric disorders in both the DSM-IV and the ICD-10, two widely-used diagnostic tools.
Early signs of paranoid schizophrenia?
"Positive symptoms" (such as hallucinations and delusions) are usually more prominent than mood/contentration/attention problems.
What is the old name for multiple personality disorder?
Split personality disorder and multiple personality disorder are both old names. It is now referred to as dissociative identity disorder.
What is the life expectacy if a person with schizophrenia?
Hello,
I see you are asking "What are the causes for brief psychotic disorder?"
A brief psychotic disorder is triggered by extreme stress, such as a traumatic accident or the loss of a loved one. It is followed by a return to the previous level of function. The person may or may not be aware of the strange behavior. This condition most often affects people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s.
For more information, you can visit this URL - mentalhealthhelpcenter. com/condition/brief-psychotic-disorder/c/3104
Is multiple personality disorder known as schizophrenia?
Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder, not a personality disorder. However, there are some personality disorders that have similar symptoms to schizophrenia: paranoid personality disorder, schizoid personality disorder, and schizotypal personality disorder.
What celebrities have schizophrenia?
There are very few celebrities that have Schizophrenia, John Nash(Famous Mathmatician) and a couple others. There are quite a few with Bipolar and Anxiety Disorders, but only a handful with Schizophrenia.
Is schizophrenia a chemical imbalance?
Schizophrenia is related to a chemical imbalance in the brain, but it has more factors than just the chemical imbalance.
A psychotic break is a break from reality. Psychotic breaks often involve hallucinations or delusions.
What is the difference between narcissistic personality disorder and schizophrenia?
The two disorders are very different. Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder which usually involves hallucinations such as hearing voices, bizarre behavior, paranoia and disorganized thoughts and behaviors. Medication is necessary to treat this disorder, as it is a medical condition. Therapy does not generally help other than to help the patient cope with stress and comply with medications. Narcissistic personality disorder is a different type of disorder. It is not medical, as it deals more with the organization of a person's personality. It does not include symptoms such as hallucinations, disorganization, etc. There is no medical treatment for this disorder, treatment includes intensive therapy for many years. A patient with Narcissistic PD shows traits such as lack of empathy for others, feelings of superiority and a pathological need to be associated with wealth, success and fame.
How do you know if you have a predisposition of Schizophrenia?
You may have a predisposition towards schizophrenia if someone in your close family has or had schizophrenia, if you are a fantasy-prone person, if you do not have much need for a social life, or if you often find yourself believing in strange or fantastical things. Keep in mind that these factors do not mean that you will develop schizophrenia; they just mean that you may be more likely to develop schizophrenia than others.
How common is Schizophrenia in Australia?
Figures indicate that there is little difference in the numbers of sufferers between any region or ethnic group. Approximately 1% of people show signs of schizophrenia.
Is it true that schizophrenics have an excess of dopamine?
That is one of the theories. The other theory is tied to the function of dopamine.
Dopamine inhibits another chemical called GABA. Without any GABA dopamine doesn't really do anything.
The other theory is that they have normal levels of Dopamine and low levels of GABA.
These theories came about by the observation that anti-dopamine drugs help the symptoms.
The simple answer is we're not quite sure yet.
Unlike the previous contributor who thought schizophrenia gave a split personality, it is not.
Schizophrenia is where you have delusions, hallucinations, disordered speech and a lack of insight into your condition.
For example, you may have visual and auditory hallucinations of the ghost of your dead father telling you to go and kill yourself. Commonly, people "hear voices". These appear so real to you you are convinced they are real and are amazed noone else cannot see your hallucinations.
Delusions can be of grandeur that are inappropriate, for example "I woke up and saw that there was a black bird outside. I knew I was sent by God on a mission then".
It is a serious condition that affects 3-4 in every 1000 people and every one of us carries a lifetime risk of 2% of acquiring the disease. It is a serious condition because people can become socially dysfunctional and possibly cause harm to other people or to themselves. Treatment is with antipsychotics that act on dopamine and serotonin receptors within the brain, for example risperidone and amisulpride.
Can a midlife crisis make you schizophrenic?
unlikely though possible.
Schizophrenia has genetic components and usually manifests in adolescence or early adulthood, not at mid-life (though it's possible).
See a physician but don't tell them what you THINK the problem is (they may take your diagnosis and then you're locked into a treatment regimen). Let them decide. Just focus on describing problems and symptoms.
If you are actually hearing voices telling you things, or seeing hallucinations, that could be schizoid. If you simply have "crazy" ideas, it could just be a form of psychosis (the good news is that you can recover from this).
More likely: Mid-life crises can certainly lead to "nervous breakdown" or a "psychotic break" under certain conditions.
In any case, following some of the advice below could help you immediately.
The first thing you need to do is an inventory of your life and situation.
Write down lists of the positive and negative things in your life, your strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing you, wants, needs, limiting factors. Try to put together a realistic picture of your life NOW and a realistic set of actions you will take to arrive at a new profile that is happier and healthier.
For some middle-aged folks, divorce and custody battles can play a huge role here- set aside the fight and be an amazingly kind and generous person here and you may find a whole new you and a whole new relationship.
Professional challenges and failures are a big one these days- very few people are getting quite what they imagined for themselves, professionally or financially. Remind yourself that the economy has changed the game on alot of us, and we are actually better off than younger people who cannot even get a start in their career these days. So many lawyers and Bachelor's degree holders serving coffee and working retail these days...
Secret key: a lowly job is better than no job at all. I am a nurse but while briefly unemployed I worked a simple job and focused on perfection/excellence in that job, which increased my self-esteem, filled the gap in work history, and gave me a GLOWING reference from that manager. A truly glowing reference from a retail manager is better than a halfhearted one from a CEO. Best of all, it got me out with people, being positive and living life.
In any case, it is a good time to remove stressors, perhaps move into an easier job, take a vacation that you've always wanted (Caribbean/Bahamas, Hawaii, somewhere without too much stress or crime- don't go see the pyramids or Peru this time).
You've got to decrease stress and increase natural happiness.
Decreasing stress: Yoga is fantasic both physically and mentally. and most classes accomodate beginners. A daily walk reduces many negative feelings and blasts away stress.
Stop drinking coffee and switch to decaf, tea, or no caffeine at all. Green Tea actually has in addition to caffeine a chemical that helps you relax at the same time and cancels out the jittery aspect of caffeine.
Increasing potential for happiness: Comedy, laughs are excellent medicine. you can watch standup comics on the internet. There are lists of heart-lifting and funny movies published online also. These can be very uplifting and empowering.
A church community can be a nice place to get away and be treated nicely by other people. even if you aren't sold on religion, you can try a more liberal church such as unitarian if you are more of a deist.
There are Buddhist, new age spirituality, and other options in many cities.
Helping other people by volunteering is a huge secret key to happiness. It increases self-esteem. Help the homeless (you won't get dirty or catch any diseases, most shelters are pretty clean) or volunteer for something non-political.
If you can't handle these things for yourself or set them up, that's OK. Look for a support group and somewhere you can go to ensure that you are not isolated from other people.