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Schizophrenia is one of the most devastating diseases known to mankind. The disease has been misunderstood for so long that people that had it became known as crazy or someone who has a split personality but really it is a disease that gives people hallucinations, delusions and messes around with the way that people think. The word Schizophrenia means split mind. This explains why some people think the disease means someone has a split personality.
There are many symptoms of Schizophrenia. These are:
- Thought disorder
- Delusions
- Hallucinations
- Being unable to carry on a conversation regularly
- Showing no emotions
These symptoms are not all always present in someone who has Schizophrenia. Sometimes people that do not have the disease show some of the symptoms mildly. This is one of the reasons why Schizophrenia is so misunderstood.
People can get Schizophrenia for various reasons. Some of these are:
- Genes- Many people that get Schizophrenia get it because somewhere in their family history someone got the disease. You are much more likely to get the disease by being in a family who has a history of it then being in a family where no one has had the disease.
- Interpersonal- Some people that get Schizophrenia are believed to have gotten it because of pressures built up inside of them.
- Chemicals- Some people that get the disease seem to get it from an alteration in body chemicals.
- Everything- Some of the people infected with Schizophrenia are believed to have gotten it from a combination of interpersonal pressures, a family history of getting the disease and a chemical inbalance.
Those were some of the reasons there are for people getting Schizophrenia. There is not an exact cause that is linked to getting the disease.
There is no cure for Schizophrenia. Some people recover fully from having the disease. Many others recover to the point that they can live by themselves. These people often need to use drugs to keep their symptoms down. These drugs are usually anti psychotic drugs that prevent people from getting delusions and hallucinations. People also sometimes are helped by psychotherapy.
This is some information about the history of Schizophrenia.
Schizophrenia was first discovered by a German psychiatrist named Emil Kraepelin in 1896. He called the disease Dementia Praecox. In 1908, a Swiss psychiatrist named Eugene Bleuler corrected Kraepelin's theory of the disease and renamed it Schizophrenia. One change he made to the description of the disease is that it was not curable. Over the last 90 years these two peoples theories of the disease Schizophrenia, along with many advances in the medical world brought us to know a lot more about the disease of Schizophrenia.
Schizophrenia not only effects the person who has the disease but it also effects the persons loved ones. For starters, a schizophrenic often needs a family member to make sure that the infected person gets the proper treatment and understands what is going on. Since most patients are not capable of watching after themselves. Loved ones are also under the strain to watch the person after they are released from the hospital and make sure that the infected persons life is OK. To help members of a family with someone who has Schizophrenia the family often goes to programs to learn how to deal with and help the schizophrenic.
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