Answer:

Schizophrenia is a brain disorder that affects some 2.2 million American adults, most often before the age of 30. It interferes with the way a person acts, thinks, and feels and frequently causes difficulty distinguishing between what is real and what is imaginary. This, in turn makes patients prone to delusional beliefs about themselves or others. Schizophrenia also affects ordered thinking, making it difficult to concentrate, maintain attention span, or develop normal motivation. It can also affect the ability to experience normal emotions in social situations, often causing a person to become unusually unresponsive or withdrawn.

Answer:

Symptoms are divided into the following categories:

Answer:

Positive symptoms are those attributes that are added to the personality, such as delusions or hallucinations, indicating the person has lost touch with reality. In this sense positive does not mean "good", but instead refers to "extra" or additional brain activity that should not be there. 

Negative symptoms are those which are indicative of an "under-functioning" personality. Examples include a lack of emotional input or expression, or an inability to socially interact or take pleasure from interactions with others.

Answer:

No. There are five types of schizophrenia, some overlapping, but each affecting behavior in a different way. Moreover, there are varying degrees within each category.

The five types are:

1.        Paranoid schizophrenia -- This results in feelings of persecution that sometimes alternate with grandiosity.
2.        Disorganized schizophrenia -- This causes primarily incoherent speech or thought, but may not involve delusions.
3.        Catatonic schizophrenia -- In this instance there is total withdrawal from reality causing a person to not speak, assume bizarre body positions, and appear to be in almost a trance-like state.
4.        Residual schizophrenia -- While classic signs of schizophrenia may no longer be a problem, such as delusions, patients still have very little or no motivation or drive and little interest in life.
5.        Schizoaffective disorder -- This is a combined diagnosis that involves the classic symptoms of schizophrenia along with those of another mental illness, most commonly bipolar disorder (manic depression).

Answer:

Most people with schizophrenia have a clusters of symptoms, some of which can overlap with other mental illnesses, including depression, or more commonly, bipolar disorder.  For this reason, diagnosis by a psychiatrist or other mental health professional can take up to six months, during which time the patient's behaviors are monitored. In schizophrenia the patient virtually never has periods where their behavior would be considered normal.

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The main risk factor is heredity, with the incidence rising from 1% in the general population to nearly 10% in those whose parents or siblings have the disorder. The risk is also elevated but to a lesser degree if grandparents, aunts, uncles, or cousins have schizophrenia. The twin of a person with schizophrenia has a 50% risk of developing it as well.

Women are at greater risk than men, and both sexes are most prone during their teens and early 20s. Schizophrenia rarely develops after age 45, or in young children, though some as young as 7 have been occasionally diagnosed.

Answer:

No one knows for certain, but researchers believe it is a combination of genetics, which increase the risk, and environmental influences, which trigger the genetic predisposition. There is also evidence that changes in body chemistry during puberty may also play a role. More recently, researchers have linked schizophrenia to brain developmental problems that occur in a fetus when a woman contracts certain viruses during pregnancy – most notably influenza, toxoplasmosis, and rubella. Research also implicates genital or reproductive infections present in the mother's body at the time of conception with increasing the baby's future risk of developing schizophrenia. Brain injuries occurring after birth and poor parenting skills are not responsible for a child developing schizophrenia.

Answer:

The mainstay treatment is antipsychotic drugs, medications that work to alter brain chemistry in a particular way. Older antipsychotic drugs, including Thorazine, Haldol, and Prolixin, worked well but were fraught with side effects including persistent muscle spasms, tremors, and muscle rigidity. In the 1990s a new class of drugs known as “atypical antipsychotic medicines” was developed. The first, Clozaril, remains extremely effective even in those patients who do not respond to other medications. However, it also causes a problem known as “agranulocytosis,” a serious loss of white blood cells, requiring weekly or biweekly blood tests. Drugs developed after Clozaril include Abilify, Geodon, Risperdal, Seroquel, and Zyprexa. These newer drugs are linked to weight gain and may increase the risk of diabetes.

Generally speaking, most patients respond to antipsychotic drugs quickly, with hallucinations improving within days, and delusions under control within a few weeks. Most symptoms substantially improve after a few weeks of treatment.

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If symptoms are under control and medication regimens are adhered to, there is very little chance that a person with schizophrenia will be a threat to themselves or others. Moreover, most people with schizophrenia are not particularly prone to violence with most preferring to be left alone. Studies also show that if a person has no history of criminal violence prior to developing schizophrenia, and they are not substance abusers, they are highly unlikely to commit a crime after their illness develops. If someone with paranoid schizophrenia does become violent, it is most often directed at a family member and usually occurs within the home.

However, people with schizophrenia are at an increased risk for suicide and attempt to take their life more frequently than the general population. About 10% of people with schizophrenia are successful in their suicide attempts, most particularly young adult men.

Answer:

Because the teen years are a time of change, with many mood swings and behaviors that seem abnormal, it can be difficult to pinpoint very early signs. Moreover, symptoms of schizophrenia can wax and wane in the beginning, sometimes developing slowly over a period of months or years, making it even more difficult to spot.

In general, however, parents should look for the following in their teens:

1.        Emotional reactions that are continuallyout of context, including irrational, angry, or fearful outbursts.
2.        Inability to sleep or difficulty concentrating in the absence of specific problems.
3.        Extreme preoccupation with religion, a cult, or the occult.
4.        A change in personal hygiene or a loss of interest in appearance beyond what would be considered a "fad" shared by their peers.
5.        Deterioration of academic work, usually accompanied by an oblivious attitude.
6.          Displaying indifference in otherwise emotionally charge social situations.
7.        Persistent belief they are being watched or spied on (beyond what is normal rebellion in teens), particularly when shown evidence to the contrary.
8.        Speaking or writing in a way that does not make sense to parents, teachers, or peers.