Schizophrenia info
Books CBT & Online Self Help Programmes
About 1 in every 100 people are affected by this serious mental illness. Schizophrenia most often starts in the late teens or early twenties, although it can develop much later. It appears that the earlier the onset, the more effect it can have on the person's life.
Contrary to popular belief, it is not a 'split personality' but rather a condition in which the person suffers disturbances to their thinking, perception, affect (mood) and behaviour. Schizophrenia does not equate to dangerousness. The vast majority of people with schizophrenia are not violent. There are far more violent crimes committed by people without a mental health problem. The media though does tend to sensationalise events when a person suffering from a mental health problem is involved.
Positive Symptoms include
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Auditory hallucinations (hearing voices, hearing thoughts spoken aloud, hearing thoughts echo, the voices may come from outside or from within, they may also hear other sounds) |
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Visual hallucinations - not as common as 'voices' |
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Tactile hallucinations - sensations of being touched, or feeling insects crawling (again, less common) |
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Delusions - fixed false beliefs that are not in keeping with reality or the person's normal beliefs. For example paranoid delusions whereby the sufferer beliefs that others are trying to hurt or kill him/her, delusions about others inserting thoughts into them, or belief that their thoughts are being broadcast, delusions that are entirely impossible and irrational, delusions of grandeur or health anxieties etc |
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Thought disorder - thought blocking where there are sudden breaks in trains of thought, 'knights move' thinking where thoughts jump from one to another without appearing to be linked, 'word salad' where there is loss of the grammatical structure of speech, 'neologisms' where the sufferer appears to invent their own words |
Negative symptoms include
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Lack of motivation |
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Social withdrawal |
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Incongruity of affect - the person may laugh when the appropriate response may be sadness |
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Blunting of mood |
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Deterioration in personal skills including personal hygiene, poor social skills, recklessness etc |
Schizophrenia is treatable, but relapses are common. Finding the right medication
for you often takes some time, and it may be necessary to try 2 or 3
before finding the one that suits you best, with minimal side effects. 25% of
sufferers will recover completely.
Schizophrenia will infiltrate and potentially damage all areas of the person's life -
including home life, relationships, work and independent living.
Sometimes, the symptoms of schizophrenia can occur with a profound mood change - either
depression or more commonly mania. The person may then be diagnosed with Schizo-Affective Disorder.
See Keeping Well page for Self-Help Info
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Guernsey Information & Support Groups | |
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CBT |
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Surviving Schizophrenia |
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Living with Schizophrenia |
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The Voice Inside Coping with Voices |
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Accepting Voices |
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Hearing Voices - a Common Human Experience |
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Staying Sane |
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Serious Mental Illness - A Family Affair |
Self-Help Books for Mental Health
I do not endorse any of the above links - I have not checked the whole content of each site. In most cases I have only visited their Home Page
31 May 2008
Now Play This A Child's War 8 in a Bar
