Schizophrenia: What is it?
- Sanya Samant
- May 30, 2019
- 4 min read
Throughout the world about 1 percent of the population is diagnosed with schizophrenia, and approximately 1.2% of Americans (3.2 million) have the disorder. About 1.5 million people will be diagnosed with schizophrenia this year alone. Even without understanding what Schizophrenia is, these numbers are scary. However, knowing what it's all about makes the numbers all the more scarier. I am sure you must have come across the word at some point - so what exactly is schizophrenia?
Schizophrenia is a mixture of certain symptoms and behaviors that are out of the ordinary.
They primarily revolve around delusions, hallucinations, incoherent speech, diminished expression of emotions, and catatonic behavior. A person with the disease may at first, appear withdrawn or depressed, and later on express unusual beliefs. More often than not, the patents themselves are not aware of what the symptoms are, or even the fact that they are unwell. Hallucinations and delusions occur in the most critical stages of the disease. But what is the difference between the two? Are they not the same? No, hallucinations occur when the patient experiences something that does not exist in reality but only in their mind. It can occur in any of the senses (visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, etc). A delusion, on the other hand, is a false persistent belief that the patient hold, either about themselves or the environment around them. No matter what their family members or friends tell them they do not change their beliefs. For example they can portray their own thoughts on others, or get influenced easily what others say. They might even have an inflated sense of power or position.
Research has a shown that there are genes that may be linked with Schizophrenia. Some of these genes relate to a neurotransmitter called Glutamine (which plays a major role in brain development). The malfunction of glutamine in the brain could be one of the causes of schizophrenia. Another neurotransmitter called Dopamine is another factor which leads to Schizophrenia when it malfunctions. These are both like two tyres of a car, without which the car malfunctions and cannot move forward. Currently, there is no biological test for Schizophrenia. A psychiatrist makes a diagnosis, which is based on outward signs and symptoms of the disorder, and give the necessary treatment such as antipsychotic medications.
Genes are just one of the factors that contribute to the life - threatening disease. The diagram below shows the biological and genetic factors that are believed to contribute to the onset of the disease. There are cases where a person may have the genes for the disease but do not have the environmental factors that might trigger the disease. On the other hand, someone may not have the genes but the environment they live in triggers the onset of the disease. Further environmental factors (chronic stress) increase the trigger the disease. The early signs of Schizophrenia risk include neurocognitive impairments, social anxiety and isolation (shyness).
According to a study conducted in Finland, adopted children with higher genetic or biological risk of Schizophrenia, had an 86% lower rate of developing a disease when being brought up in a healthy functional family, as opposed to a dysfunctional family. In healthy families, only 6% of children have developed the disease but on the other hand approximately 37% of the children of dysfunctional developed schizophrenia. Another very intriguing fact about it Schizophrenia is that the symptoms usually start in males during their teen years and early 20s, while in mid-20 to early 30s in women. The symptoms very rarely occur after the age of 45, or before puberty. This is what makes the disease so deadly because it happens to a person in the prime of his life. The deadly disease pulls the person into the pit of death. Just when they are about to explore themselves and find out who they are - It strikes like a vile snake!
Since males get the symptoms earlier, they have a much lesser time to mature through the process of normal development which are cognition, emotion, thinking etc. Another very confusing fact about Schizophrenia is that men, generally, suffer from the greater mental dysfunction that women and men are less responsive to the medication. One specific reason is not known for this odd reaction of the disease, but there is one probable reason. Each hemisphere of our brain contains an IPL (no not the cricket IPL ), Inferior Parietal Lobe. In the left hemisphere, the IPL helps the brain during visual perception and inter - spatial relations, for example understanding how fast a car is moving. In the right hemisphere, the IPL helps the body understand where each part of the body is in relation to the other parts, a skill used in dancing or rock climbing. The right IPL also helps one to understand another person's emotions through their body language and facial expression. The gender differences in the size and asymmetry of the IPL could be one of the causes of Schizophrenia. Healthy males have bigger left IPLs than their right IPL, while healthy women, on the other hand, have a bigger right over left. In the case of men with Schizophrenia it is the exact opposite happens, in fact, the IPL is 16% smaller than regular IPLs and hence this leads to schizophrenia. This also explains why the activities governed by theses two lobes are negatively affected.
One thing is for sure. With a disease like Schizophrenia early diagnosis is the key. The earlier the disease is diagnosed, the higher the chances are to get it cured. The chances of getting rid of this disease may be low but they are not impossible.
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