Schizophrenia

What is schizophrenia?

• Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that makes it difficult to tell the difference between real and unreal experiences, to think logically, to have normal emotional responses, and to behave normally in social situations

Schizophrenia

• No one really knows what causes this disease• There is also no cure just medications that

sedate the hallucinations• There does seem to be a genetic link as many

people in the same family do get schizophrenia

Schizophrenia

• It affects about 1% of the words population • Both genders get it equally but women seem

to get it later in life and have a milder case of it

• It usually begins in early adulthood but can sometimes not set in until as late as 45 years of age

Environmental factors

• Researchers believe that environmental factors can speed up the effects of schizophrenia with people that already have the disease

• Complications during birth or traumatic events can cause schizophrenia to take hold earlier

Symptoms

• Psychological symptoms of schizophrenia include

• Having visual or auditory Hallucinations• Catatonic behavior• Delusions• Moods that show no emotion

Mental difficulties

• People with schizophrenia often have problems staying on task or paying attention

• Their thoughts can also jump around causing them to become confused or disoriented

Symptoms can vary among patients

• Paranoid patients often fell as if there life and family are in jeopardy, are anxious and and sometimes angry

• Disorganized patients often seem childlike and have difficulties expressing their emotions or thoughts

Varying Symptoms

• Catatonic patients are in a constant period of unrest, they also have rigid bodies and facial expressions and can be less responsive than normal.

• Some patients might have symptoms of all these types of patients

• Residual Types have some of these symptoms but not as bad as a full blown schizophrenic

Signs of Schizophrenia

• There is no medical test that for sure test for schizophrenia but there are some signs that they look at

• Family and genetic History• Developmental background• Response to medication• Changes in behavior due to illness

Treatment

• When ever someone has a episode, they should stay in a hospital that can provide them the basic needs under supervision

• There are some medications for it, but they suppress the symptoms and have many negative side effects( Sedation and weight gain)

Schizophrenia

• Many people deal with schizophrenia through family and support groups

• Many people have been able to be able to control many of their symptoms after years of having the illness.

Living with it

• My name is Rylan Baker and I am a paranoid schizophrenic

• I was born with it but it didn’t really set in til my second year of grad school

• My psychologist thinks that the high stress of my school work made the illness come on earlier

What I have

• I am a paranoid schizophrenic• I suffer from disillusions and auditory and

visual hallucinations• I did not know what I had until I was observed

talking in a room by myself

Hallucinations

• I believed that I was secretly working for The Company, an agency that secretly was controlling many of the things that where going on in our country

• Everything was going well until I crossed them and went on the run, I ran across the country believing someone was after me when it was all in my head

Effects on Family

• I had been married for one year when I was diagnosed with schizophrenia

• My wife was scared to death when I would wake her up in the middle of the night with a gun saying that the Company was coming for us

• I almost shot my neighbor when he came over to borrow some milk from my wife

Family

• My wife and children had to learn to deal with my hallucinations and how to deal with me when they happened

• After the medications took hold I was able to do things with my kids because I was so sedated and lethargic

The medication

• I took the pills that my psychiatrist gave me so my wife wouldn’t be scared to live in the same house with me

• The pills stopped some of my visual hallucinations but they made be heavily sedated and I gained thirty pounds in two months

Aftermath

• After fighting schizophrenia for over twenty years I have been somewhat able to controll it

• I was able to go back to work and became somewhat able to discern between real life and hallucinations

• Schizophrenia was by far the hardest thing ive ever had to deal with in my life

Disclaimer

• This is a project for a high school AP Psychology course. This is a fictionalized account of having a psychological ailment.For questions about this blog project or its content please email the teacher Chris Jocham at jocham@fultonschools.org