𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 & 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬

11. Schizophrenia

"Schizophrenia is a serious mental disorder in which people interpret reality abnormally. Schizophrenia may result in some combination of hallucinations, delusions, and extremely disordered thinking and behavior that impairs daily functioning, and can be disabling."

Mayoclinic's description above sounds pretty accurate but I did more digging to bring some much-needed awareness to this disorder.

A lot of people tend to think that those who suffer from Schizophrenia just have hallucinations and have even been the victims of pretty distasteful jokes I've found across the internet. I hope that this chapter will disprove all of that!

Let's start off with the symptoms of schizophrenia which include disorganized thinking or speech, disorganized/abnormal motor behavior, lack of empathy or emotional cues, withdrawal, insomnia, irritability, depression, delusions, and hallucinations.

These symptoms can be chronic, vary from severity over the years or at times, even disappear completely. While symptoms can be seen in a widespread range across adults, teens are less likely to experience delusions and more likely to have visual hallucinations.

Usual diagnoses of Schizophrenia start in the early-to-mid 20's for men and begin in the late 20's for women. Children are rarely diagnosed with this disorder and likewise, anyone above the age of 45 is also not susceptible.

I've never known anyone personally who has schizophrenia but I do seem to have a family history of it myself. According to a DNA test, I have 63 genes associated with the disorder meaning that I'm either a carrier for it or I'm susceptible to being diagnosed later on in my life.

I can't remotely imagine what it must've been like for someone to have this disorder in a day-and-age where there were no medicines to cure or treat them though. Or what it must have felt like to know that no one understood what you were going through.

But thankfully, today, there are medicines that can lessen the symptoms although it is not a complete cure. In fact, even now, there is still no known cure of Schizophrenia although studies have been on-going. It is treatable however and in a long-term sense, most people lead healthy, normal lives without a lot of the symptoms.

There are other methods to treating Schizophrenia though, including therapy which seems to very helpful in the long run.

The exact causes though are still relatively unknown although there is a genetic factor to the disorder as I described above. Studies suggest that besides genetics, it could be a combination of psychical, psychological and environmental factors.

For those who suffer from the delusions and hallucination symptoms of schizophrenia, it can feel as real to them as a person standing in front of you, talking. Which can make it even harder to discern an hallucination from reality.

Now, while hallucinations are based in the senses - touch, sight, sound, smell, and taste - delusions revolve around concepts, ideas and beliefs that are strongly held in the mind. So whereas with hallucinations, schizophrenics see things that aren't there, delusions can even be akin to paranoia, as in feeling as if someone or something is out to get you. So it's more based in theories and not actual visualizations of said theory or belief.

As I mentioned before, research is still being done and I hope sometime in the near future, not only can a cure be found but that there will come a day when schizophrenics are not seen as "crazy" for the symptoms that are beyond their control. I hope that one day people will understand not to judge others so harshly and that in the end, we're all the same underneath. No matter what our disorder or disability may be in this life.

I hope maybe with this chapter I was able to shed some light on Schizophrenia perhaps in a way you hadn't heard it before and to help people see things a little differently :)

Next up, I'll be talking about a rare condition, Congenital insensitivity to pain. I hope I can bring awareness for it :) Hope y'all enjoyed this one and will enjoy the next as well :)