Understanding Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder that affects a person’s cognitive abilities.
This mental disorder is characterised by distorted thinking, hallucinations, and greatly affected daily functioning.

Symptom Categories

Schizophrenia symptoms are categorised into positive symptoms, which refer to abnormal experiences like hallucinations, and negative symptoms, which are reductions of normal emotions and behaviours.
Positive symptoms include phenomena such as delusions, which are false beliefs, and hallucinations, where the individual may see or hear things that aren’t really there.
Negative symptoms, on the other hand, might involve reduced emotional expression, absence of motivation, or social withdrawal.

The exact causes of schizophrenia are unknown, but it is believed to be due to a combination of genetic predisposition and environmental factors like stressful life events.
Neurochemical imbalance particularly of dopamine and glutamate, also plays a role in onset of schizophrenia.

Treatment for schizophrenia focuses on controlling the symptoms and includes the use of **antipsychotic medication.
Psychotherapy, specifically cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), is also used to help patients manage their symptoms, improve behaviours and help deal with the daily life.

Despite the available treatments, many individuals with schizophrenia struggle to maintain steady employment or relationships, and there is a high risk of suicide among this population.
An important controversy in psychology is the stigmatisation and misunderstanding surrounding schizophrenia, and the role of the mental health community in addressing these issues.
Another major debate revolves around the ethics and effectiveness of involuntary hospitalisation for individuals with this disorder.

Each of these aspects must be fully understood to develop a comprehensive understanding of the disorder as a whole.