When you hear the word schizophrenia, what is the first thing that comes into your mind?  You might think of a ‘crazy’ person. You may also think of a violent or dangerous individual. However, you may be surprised to know that not all people afflicted with this severe brain disorder are crazy, violent and dangerous. In fact, many of those with schizophrenia have the same average intelligence like the rest of the population.

Symptoms

Experts classify the symptoms of this condition into three categories- positive, negative, and cognitive.  Positive symptoms are those that come and go like hallucinations, delusions and disorganized thinking. Hallucination pertains to hearing ‘voices,’ while delusions mean false beliefs like thinking that they are someone else. Disorganized thinking is characterized by difficulty in organizing thoughts and making up meaningless words and phrases. Negative symptoms are harder to recognize compared to positive symptoms. Oftentimes, these symptoms may be mistaken for other conditions like depression. People with schizophrenia who exhibit negative symptoms usually don’t speak even when asked to interact. They also talk in a monotonous tone, and lack the ability to plan and enjoy their day-to-day activities.

Cognitive symptoms are even more difficult to recognize. These may only be recognized as symptoms of schizophrenia when other tests are performed. Cognitive symptoms include difficulty in paying attention, inability to understand information, and even memory problems. Judging by these symptoms, it is easy to conclude that people with schizophrenia are not violent and dangerous at all. In cases when people with this disorder commit any form of violence, those who are in the receiving end are usually family members.  And just 1 out of 10 schizophrenics die by committing suicide.

Causes

But what causes schizophrenia?  The most common explanation that science offers about this disorder is that it is caused by genetics.  In fact, experts at the Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland recently discovered that a gene mutation increases the risk of schizophrenia by more than 10-fold. The gene mutation is inherited from a common European ancestor. Around the world, schizophrenia impacts an estimated 51 million people representing just 1 percent of the entire global population.  The symptoms usually begin to manifest during the teenage years all the way up to the early 30s. Since the early warning signs of schizophrenia usually happen during the teenage years, it can be very difficult to diagnose this disorder in teenagers.  Consider that behavioral symptoms like irritability, mood swings and change of friends are all common among teens.

Treatment

Treatment of schizophrenia focuses on controlling the symptoms of the disease. The most common is antipsychotic medication that has been administered to schizophrenics since the ‘50s. Another medication prescribed for schizophrenia is Abilify. This drug has the active ingredient called aripiprazole that works on the various brain receptors like dopamine and serotonin receptors. Said receptors are critical to the transmittal of messages in the brain.

So in case you meet someone with schizophrenia, don’t fall for the mistake of thinking he or she is crazy or worse, violent.  With the proper treatment and support from their families, people with this disorder can lead normal lives just like you and do not really pose any threat to your safety.