Mental Illness and Schizophrenia

Mental illness is one of the most common causes of human suffering in society. Unlike a disease like cancer, it carries a huge burden of shame, stigma, discrimination and isolation. Generally people are apathetic when it comes to this sort of suffering, especially when one comes from a good home and has a good job. Common responses when asking a friend who does not understand mental illness are as follows: “What do you have to be depressed about?, or I’d kill to be in your position.” Rather then people getting close and trying to help, they move branch further away especially when the illness starts to erupt. I use the word erupt as it feels like a volcano has erupted inside and snatched whatever humanity you once had. The reactions you get can be fatal and many people have lost relationships due to lack of education regarding their mental state shifting. Getting back to more about mental illness, it usually occurs in adolescence to young adulthood, a time when finding one’s identity is critical. Due to this timing, many individuals are not diagnosed and the awkward behavior is thought to be caused by puberty and hormonal changes. Other times people are just dubbed as badly behaved or weak and oversensitive with difficulty coping. For this reason, many individuals remain in identity diffusion, and may suffer an identity crisis their whole life. Mental illness for the record, is treatable and is no way by any means a weakness. One of the most stigmatized mental illnesses is Schizophrenia which affects approximately 1% of the population.

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness that affects men and women equally. However, men usually start to show symptoms earlier in life. The exact cause of the illness is unknown but it is theorized that it occurs due to an over production of dopamine. A brain scan cannot tell if the individual is a sufferer of the illness in spite it being visible especially in twin studies that the 3rd ventricle in the brain-known as the ventricle in diencephalon is enlarged. Being a twin does greatly increase the risk of Schizophrenia and has been taught to raise the chance by 50% if there has been an individual in the family with the illness. Schizophrenia is characterized by positive symptoms-hallucinations, and negative symptoms-delusions, apathy and anhedonia-inability to feel pleasure. In very extreme cases it can have aspects of Lycanthropy-or the mentality that one is a werewolf. People with schizophrenia generally respond better to treatments when they exhibit mostly positive symptoms, and early detection is vital. Many people with the illness commit suicide or abuse drugs and alcohol to overcome the feelings of isolation. A strong support network is key to an individual reaching success. Many homeless people are actually sufferers of some form of the illness and find the means to cope via drugs. For this reason it is even stigmatized higher as these individuals tend to act on their paranoia and hurt others. Thus, the illness is still in beginning phases to being understood. Around 70% of people with the illness prefer competitive employment, yet under 10% manage to find any meaningful employment. People with Schizophrenia exhibit average to above average intelligence yet fail by standardized tests due to the way the illness manifests itself. There are four main types of Schizophrenia-Catatonic, Disorganized-Disoriented, Undifferentiated and the most common one-Paranoid. It is imperative to note that while the media may demonize people with Schizophrenia and suggest they are not functional, people with the illness can hold jobs, be doctors and even be mentors. I hope to talk more about this illness in a future story.