mental illness and stigmas: saving the people with schizophrenia

This week I decided to do research on the mental disorder of schizophrenia.  This disease has always interested me, since I first heard about it.  In my nursing mental and behavioral health class, we touched on the subject, but I wanted to do my own research on the topic.  Moreover, I truly wanted to explore how people live with this disease every day and how it affects their human dignity every day. 

Approximately 1% of the world’s population will develop schizophrenia at some point during their lifetime. This severe, disabling neurological disease is chronic and there is no cure. Although it affects both men and women equally, men are usually diagnosed earlier, in their late teens or early twenties. Schizophrenia symptoms are complex and the disorder can be difficult to diagnose, particularly in its early stages. People who have schizophrenia often have terrifying psychotic symptoms such as hearing voices in their heads, or believing that others are controlling their thoughts, reading their minds, or plotting against them. These symptoms often leave them afraid and withdrawn, so people living with schizophrenia can be incomprehensible or scary to other people because their speech patterns and behavior are disorganized and bizarre.

The initial signs indicating schizophrenia often appear as behavioral changes that may be confusing or shocking. A sudden onset of symptoms is referred to as being an “acute phase” of the disorder. Psychosis is a common symptom of schizophrenia where the patient is mentally impaired by hallucinations, delusions, and the inability to discern what is real and what is not real. Less obvious symptoms may precede, occur along with, or follow severe psychotic symptoms. Some people have a single episode of psychosis, but others have them many times throughout their lives, yet they lead fairly normal lives between episodes. However, a person who has chronic schizophrenia usually does not recover completely normal functioning, and they often require long-term medical treatment, usually requiring medication, in order to control their symptoms.

There are treatments for schizophrenia that can relieve many of the symptoms, but very few patients recover completely and most continue to suffer symptoms of some sort throughout their lives. Suicide is a danger for people diagnosed with schizophrenia; approximately 10% of all patients commit suicide, especially younger males. Medications can other treatments can control symptoms when used regularly and as prescribed, but there are persistent consequences of schizophrenia that can be very troubling - lost opportunities, medication side effects, social stigmas, and residual symptoms that never go away completely.

Overall, people with schizophrenia do not live successful lives, healthy well-beings, or strong relationships.  Nothing is easy for them and they are constantly stigmatized in society.  They are looked down upon and are feared because they are not considered “normal”.  Based on these findings, the dignity of these human beings is greatly affected.  They become so hopeless and so depressed due to their own diagnosis and what people say that they kill themselves.  We need to step up and stop this stigmatization.  We can save lives, and save people’s dignity who have schizophrenia or any other mental illness.