Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness. People who have schizophrenia often have what health professionals describe as ‘positive symptoms’ – delusions, hallucinations, disordered thinking – during episodes of psychosis. People with schizophrenia can also have what health professionals call ‘negative symptoms’. They may have no energy and lose the motivation to do anything; they may lose interest in friends, family members and activities they previously enjoyed. They may also have memory problems and find it very hard to concentrate. They may no longer care about their personal appearance and become isolated and withdrawn. People with schizophrenia may not feel unwell or think that they have a problem, and may not want to ask for help or treatment.
The experiences and symptoms each person has will differ and last for different periods of time. Some people are unwell for only a short period. Others experience the symptoms for months, or even years. A few people have just one episode of psychosis in their lives. Many people have episodes of psychosis that come and go over time. A small number of people have distressing symptoms that continue.
The symptoms of psychosis diminish and often disappear following treatment with medication and talking therapies. However, antipsychotic drugs don’t work for some people. Mental health professionals call their illness ‘treatment-resistant’, or ‘refractory’ schizophrenia.
Sometimes, antipsychotic medication controls the symptoms of psychosis, but people still experience the negative symptoms of schizophrenia, and these may last for some time.
People with schizophrenia often also have depression, anxiety or a personality disorder. Recent research showed the risk of suicide for people with schizophrenia is 12 times higher than the general population risk.
About one in every 200 people currently has a diagnosis of schizophrenia.
Over a lifetime, one in every 100 people will develop schizophrenia.
People can develop schizophrenia at any age, but the illness usually starts for men when they are in their late teens or early 20s. Women tend to develop schizophrenia when they are slightly older, in their late 20s. A small number of people develop schizophrenia in middle age. There is now some evidence to show that children in their teenage years or younger can also have symptoms.
Anyone can get schizophrenia, though children of a parent who has the illness are slightly more likely to become unwell. Even though genes play a part in the development of schizophrenia, there is no single cause and many contributing factors. Just because one person in the family has schizophrenia doesn’t mean that other family members will inevitably develop the illness.
Sometimes the illness starts suddenly with an acute, and often frightening, episode of psychosis.
However, a first episode of psychosis is often heralded by what health professionals call a ‘prodromal period’ when people’s behaviour begins to change.
People are often depressed or anxious, may find it difficult to concentrate or have problems remembering things, stop seeing their friends, act in a strange and uncharacteristic way, be less interested in study, work or hobbies and care less about how they look. They may become socially withdrawn and spend much more time alone.
They also sometimes have experiences resembling the symptoms of psychosis – hearing voices every now and then, being occasionally suspicious and paranoid for example. Not everyone who has these sort of experiences will go on to have a first episode of psychosis. A large proportion of people who do have an initial episode will get better with treatment. Others will improve but may have further episodes.
Research has shown that the quicker treatment is given, the better people recover from the symptoms. People who don’t access mental health services when they first get symptoms may get better slower, or be less likely to get completely better, and have an increased risk of relapse in the future.
