Schizophrenia

SchizophreniaSchizophrenia is a serious brain disorder. It is a disease that makes it difficultfor a person to tell the difference between real and unreal experiences, tothink logically, to have normal emotional responses to other, and to behavenormally in social situations. People with schizophrenia may also havedifficulty in remembering, talking, and behaving appropriately. Schizophreniais one of the most common mental illnesses. About 1% of the worldpopulation has schizophrenia. In the United States, there are about 2.5 millionpeople with the disease. Schizophrenia is the cause of more hospitalizationsthan almost any other illness. Schizophrenia most commonly begins betweenthe ages of 15 and 25. Although it strikes men and women equally, thesymptoms may appear later in women than in men. Very rarely, thesymptoms of schizophrenia can appear before the age of 12. Childhoodschizophrenia has a more chronic disease course and involves poor earlylanguage development. People with schizophrenia can have a variety ofsymptoms. Sometimes, these symptoms come on suddenly. Usually, though,the illness develops slowly over months or even years. At first, the symptomsmay not be noticed or may be confused with those of other conditions. Forexample, people with schizophrenia may feel tense, be unable to concentrate,or have trouble sleeping. They often become increasingly isolated andwithdrawn as their grip on reality loosens. They do not make or keep friends.They may stop caring about the way they look. Dropping out of school ordoing badly at work are other early signs of schizophrenia. As the illnessprogresses, symptoms of psychosis develop. The person starts to actstrangely and talk nonsensically. People with schizophrenia may developparanoid delusions. Examples of this would be that they might see, feel, smell,or hear things that are not really there. They may have physical symptoms,like frowning or unusual movements, and may stand or sit in strange positions.Some people become almost motionless. Others move around constantly.The severity of symptoms will vary from one person to another. Thesymptoms also tend to worsen and improve. When the symptoms areimproved, the person may appear to behave relatively normally, but usuallythere will be repeated episodes of the illness that will cause symptoms toreappear. Schizophrenia is a complex and puzzling illness. Even the expertsare not sure exactly what causes it. Some doctors think that the brain may notbe able to process information correctly. People without schizophreniausually can filter out unneeded information: for example, the sound of a trainwhistle in the background or a dog barking next door. People withschizophrenia, however, cannot always filter out this extra information. Onepossible cause of schizophrenia may be heredity, or genetics. Experts thinkthat some people inherit a tendency to schizophrenia. In fact, the disordertends to “run” in families, but only among blood relatives. People who havefamily members with schizophrenia may be more likely to get the diseasethemselves. If both biologic parents have schizophrenia, there is nearly a 40%chance that their child will get it, too. This happens even if the child isadopted and raised by mentally healthy adults. In people who have anidentical twin with schizophrenia, the chance of schizophrenia developing isalmost 50%. In contrast, children whose biological parents are mentallyhealthy – even if their adoptive parents have schizophrenia – have about a1% chance of getting the disease. That is...