The Science Behind: Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a chronic brain disorder, which affects how a person thinks, feels, and reacts to certain situations. It is a very complex disorder, and there is no cure for it, which makes it worse. In this article we’ll talk more about schizophrenia, the causes, and the symptoms, along with common misconceptions.
A person living with schizophrenia might have delusions, hallucinations, and disorganised speech, thoughts, and behaviour. Lack of concentration might occur because of this. Their senses may be heightened due to an increase of dopamine (a compound present in our body), and they may often hear ‘voices’ inside their head.
The exact causes and symptoms of schizophrenia vary from person to person. This makes it complex and confuses people. A person can have schizophrenia and not have hallucinations or delusions. If we look on a vast scale though, genes are a common cause; if a person’s family members have the disease, that person can have higher risks of being affected too. Other causes include substance abuse, i.e. high consumption of alcohol and drugs, and environmental disturbances such as pregnancy, birth complications, childhood trauma, etc.
Common Misconceptions
Schizophrenia= Split-personality
Most people don’t see the difference between split-personality and schizophrenia. You see, there’s no ‘split’ between your personality in schizophrenia.
People with schizophrenia are paranoid/psychotic/scary
For a long period of time many people considered schizophrenic behaviour “scary” due to lack of education about mental health issues. Even I thought people with this disorder see ghosts or something. That’s definitely not the case… yes, people hallucinate but that does not make them a monster. It's almost fascinating to see how one’s brain can create an image of its own.
3) Bad parenting causes schizophrenia
I don’t know where this might have come from. Genetics might be considered to be the cause of this disorder but there’s no research that proves schizophrenia is caused or even triggered by bad parenting.
I really do hope that this article gave you some knowledge about schizophrenia. Most people with mental health issues are considered paranoid, which is certainly not the case. It's very important to take mental health issues seriously and take help from specialists if required.
That's it for now………….Till my next article!
Sources:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/schizophrenia/symptoms-causes/syc-20354443
https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/schizophrenia/what-is-schizophrenia
https://www.aruma.com.au/about-us/blog/myths-about-schizophrenia/
https://www.webmd.com/schizophrenia/schizophrenia-myths-and-facts