10 Myths About Schizophrenia
Of all the mental illnesses on the planet, few remain as heavily and tragically misunderstood as schizophrenia. The mythology surrounding the condition lay thicker in the public consciousness than the actual realities, and the implications of this remain seriously grim. Perpetuation of these misconceptions means the further isolation of those suffering from the disorder from their friends, family, and peers, discouraging them from pursuing the therapy they sorely need to recover. Educating society on the true concepts, nuances, and machinations behind schizophrenia is the best way to ensure that its victims learn how to chip away at the symptoms and go on to lead full, enjoyable, and productive lives with the proper care and guidance from a mental health professional.
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Schizophrenia involves multiple personalities.
One of the most prevailing misconceptions regarding schizophrenia revolves around confusing it with Dissociative Identity Disorder. Not only do they have very little in common, but they belong to entirely different classifications in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition, Text Revision. DID, formerly known as multiple personality disorder, falls under the label of a dissociative disorder. The diagnostic criteria require the presence of at least two entirely unique personalities with easily distinguished behavior patterns, one of which must regularly assume control of the body over the other. These must be proven to not stem from any physiological or medical source whatsoever – it absolutely has to set its roots purely in a patient’s psyche. In addition, they suffer from blackouts and memory loss far beyond the lapses experienced by healthier individuals.
Schizophrenia, by contrast, is classified under the psychotic disorder spectrum. It contains 5 different subtypes, each with varying symptoms and diagnostic requirements. Delusions, visual and/or auditory hallucinations, disorganized speech and thoughts, dramatically erratic or outright catatonic behavior patterns, avolition, alogia, and a deadening of emotional responses may all indicate the onset of a schizophrenic episode. It shares symptoms with bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, schizophreniform disorder, schizoaffective disorder, and substance abuse issues – at no point does it cross over with DID. The confusion set in with the mainstream due to the Greek etymology of the word, where it literally means “I split.” Due to perpetual misrepresentations by the media, who almost universally portray schizophrenia as synonymous with multiple personalities rather than its actual symptomatic set, society has grown to perceive the two as interchangeable disorders.
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Schizophrenics are inherently dangerous people.
As with most mental illnesses, many people falsely adhere to the believe that all victims suffering from any such symptoms pose an immediate and non-negotiable threat to themselves and others. Schizophrenia is no different. Due to overarching misconceptions regarding the relationship between the mentally ill and acts of violence, many people perceive schizophrenics as universally dangerous. Like many other disorders, substance abuse runs the risk of amplifying the symptoms of schizophrenia and creating a disturbance where none previously existed. In these instances, the drugs or alcohol shoulder the brunt of the blame – even individuals living life without the influence of a mental illness become capable of brutality after reckless consumption of these mind-altering materials.
In reality, those with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders only comprise anywhere between 1% to 5% of violent crimes against other individuals. 10%, tragically, end up committing suicide – making those with schizophrenia more likely to stand as a danger to themselves rather than others. Many of them feel pushed to the brink of killing themselves due to extreme levels of marginalization and misunderstanding courtesy of mainstream society. In fact, schizophrenics are far more likely to end up as the victims of violent criminals rather than the perpetrators. However, with proper therapy – and, in some cases, medication – it is entirely possible to calm the symptoms which may possibly lead to later violence. Though only the minority of patients engage in such behavior, anyone suffering from the disorder ought to seek therapy in order to keep their thoughts and emotions under control and further reduce the risk of a suicidal or other violent incident.
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There is no reason for schizophrenics to receive psychotherapeutic treatment – they’ll just keep relapsing.
Treatment for schizophrenia usually involves psychosocial therapy, cognitive behavior therapy, self-help groups, family therapy, antipsychotic medications, or some combination thereof. By learning how to take control of their illness, schizophrenics may very well end up leading happy, productive lives once the proper blend of therapy and/or medication has been established. Upon the establishment of a gratifying, personalized method of treatment, the risk of a relapse drops significantly. Roughly half to 2/3 of schizophrenics undergoing a psychotherapeutic regimen that meets their needs improve significantly – if not outright recover. The psychological community defines recovery from schizophrenia as a complete sloughing off of the disorder’s symptoms. Patients function and integrate themselves in a healthy manner without the aid of therapy and medication. While no universal cure for schizophrenia exists, individual ones do – and when they are discovered they mean bringing the victim out of their encroaching darkness and back into a satisfying and stable life.
Unfortunately, due to overarching stigmas falsely regarding psychotherapy as the exclusive realm of the crazy, the misanthropic, and the living damned, many individuals suffering from schizophrenia and other mental illnesses shy away from pursuing it. Fearing stigmatization and further shoving towards the fringes of society, many refuse treatment with the ingrained mindset that it means something inherently hideous and incurable about them. By promoting a better understanding of and education in the facts and fictions regarding mental illnesses and psychotherapy, schizophrenics and others fighting the uphill battle may grow to feel more comfortable with seeking the advice of a counselor, psychologist, or psychiatrist.
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Schizophrenics are generally too far gone to work, and the ones who can rarely rise above the menial level.
In reality, schizophrenics run the gamut from a complete inability to work to highly functioning in an impressively accomplished career. Nobel Prize-winning mathematician and academically esteemed professor at Princeton and MIT John Forbes Nash, Jr. battles paranoid schizophrenia, as does bestselling author Robert M. Pirsig. All individuals – regardless of their mental health status – possess an individualized aptitude and capability for certain jobs, and schizophrenics are no different than anyone else in that matter. Only the most extreme cases may prove incapable of functioning in a work environment, usually those diagnosed with severe manifestations of catatonic schizophrenia.
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Schizophrenia is just a clinical term for a character defect.
Along with most other mental illnesses such as depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and eating disorders, one of the most common misconceptions about schizophrenia revolves around its status as a personal flaw instead of a serious medical condition. Due to its inclusion in the DSM-IV, TR, an official diagnostic manual in the psychology community, schizophrenia and all its subtypes are considered something far more serious than a mere chip in an individual’s character. It is a mental illness and must be approached and treated as such by the doctors, friends, and family surrounding the afflicted. Thinking of it as a trifling imperfection implies that a cure lay in little more than a conscious shift in mindset and careful attention to behavior patterns. As the disorder roots itself in far more than just an individual’s personality, these potentially destructive perceptions prove patently false.
Scientists have narrowed schizophrenia’s origins to genetics – possibly triggered by certain environmental factors – and a patient’s brain structure and chemical makeup. While far more research is needed to determine the actual roots of the disorder, studies show that it does in fact run in families, with the children or siblings of a patient 10% more likely to develop the symptoms over those with relatives lacking them. Some theorize it may result from a mutated or malfunctioning gene that determines brain chemistry and structure. Other research has revealed possible issues with the neurotransmitters glutamate and dopamine in addition to enlarged ventricles, irregular activity, cell distribution, and inadequate grey matter in the schizophrenic brain as well. The true cause of the disorder may remain obscured for a while, but few experts will deny that schizophrenia lay firmly rooted somewhere in a victim’s biology.
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Symptoms of schizophrenia are relatively homogeneous.
Because medical professionals recognize 5 different subtypes of the disorder (7 in Europe, the actual symptoms of schizophrenia remain far more diverse than many people think. All of them share at least 3 diagnostic criteria, with variances between the subtypes and some individuals. In order to be considered schizophrenic, a patient must display two or more of the following symptoms: auditory or visual hallucinations, delusions, a thought disorder, disorganized speech and behavior, catatonia, avolition, affective flattening, or alogia. He or she must also suffer from a social and/or career disruption, and all symptoms must persist for a minimum of 6 months. It must also be determined that the patient does not suffer from a mood disorder, pervasive developmental disorder, a medical condition or medication which may artificially create the symptoms in an otherwise psychologically stable individual, or chronic substance abuse.
From there, a patient receives a more specific diagnosis in one of the 5 subtypes as outlined in the DSM-IV, TR – paranoid schizophrenia, disorganized schizophrenia, catatonic schizophrenia, undifferentiated schizophrenia, and residual schizophrenia. Paranoid types are characterized by frequent delusions or auditory and visual hallucinations. Common psychoses for paranoids include a persecution complex, irrational phobias, the unfounded belief that certain individuals or organizations mean them harm, concern that others may be capable of reading and broadcasting their thoughts, and that some external force actually controls their actions. Thought disorders, affective flattening, and disorganized behavior patterns are not present in paranoid schizophrenics. Disorganized schizophrenics, however, display both affective flattening and thought disorders and avolition and alogia in many instances. Patients may occasionally battle delusions and hallucinations, but with significantly diluted intensity when compared to a paranoid type. Catatonic types either display almost entirely inert or entirely spasmodic movement with absolutely no purpose and no provocation. Many may fall into a stupor, suffer from waxy flexibility, or even die of exhaustion if not kept in check. Undifferentiated types meet the diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia and psychosis but none of the aforementioned subcategories. Residual schizophrenics only meet the bare minimum of symptoms required for diagnosis, and the severity of these manifest at a rather subdued intensity.
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Schizophrenia is an extremely rare disorder.
Approximately 1.1% of Americans over the age of 18 receive a diagnosis of schizophrenia every year. However, due to mainstream society shaming and stigmatizing the mentally ill and the psychotherapeutic avenues they need to get better, it is sadly possible that many more suffer from the disease and never seek out professional guidance. As with many mental health conflicts, schizophrenia remains entirely blind when it comes to gender, sexual/gender orientation, ethnicity, or nation of origin. Symptoms begin their onset between the ages of 16 and 30, with males developing them earlier than females and delusions generally appearing first. Though rare, it is still possible for schizophrenia to manifest in a child. Mental health professionals especially struggle in diagnosing the disorder in teens and adolescents. Because some of the early indicators of schizophrenia involve irritability, apathy, sleeping issues, and social shifts, it becomes difficult to distinguish whether or not the individual in question merely deals with the average stresses associated with the high school years or a genuine mental illness.
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The most defining characteristic of schizophrenia involves hearing voices in one’s head.
Thanks to media stereotyping, the most “iconic” (as it were element of schizophrenia involves auditory hallucinations. While they certainly one of the many possible diagnostic criteria of the illness, not all cases of schizophrenia involve the clichéd voices in the head. Typically, paranoid schizophrenics suffer the most frequently and the most intensely from auditory hallucinations. Other types may experience them, though in the cases where they are present it is typically more sporadic and significantly less severe. Schizophrenia encompasses a diverse set of symptoms – only few of which genuinely unite all 5 recognized subtypes in the United States, and auditory hallucinations do not even stand among them. It is entirely plausible that the more dramatic elements of the disorder receive the most mainstream attention and have therefore come to represent the entirety of schizophrenia. Reducing this serious mental illness to only one of its basic components serves as something of a danger to those genuinely suffering from it. Friends, family, and other loved ones of an individual displaying the symptoms may not always recognize that they meet the diagnostic requirements, operating under the assumption that schizophrenia only involves hearing voices. The same can be said for an individual concerned that he or she may suffer from the disorder as well. More sympathetic and accurate depictions of schizophrenia by the mainstream media is one of the many ways of helping to dispel this all-too-common misconception and bring more of those victimized by its symptoms closer to therapy and recovery.
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A schizophrenic may only undergo rehabilitation upon attaining stability.
Once an individual has received a formal diagnosis of schizophrenia, rehabilitation must begin immediately in order to infuse him or her with all the tools necessary for the simultaneously most effective and swift method of treatment. Waiting too long for a patient to achieve stability prior to initiating the rehabilitation process may mean the difference between a recovery and merely doing better. Blending rehab with psychotherapy has proven a far more successful method of treatment than stabilizing the patient first. Both are integral for the victim’s future, imbuing him or her with the personal awareness and skill sets essential to overcoming their mental obstacles and function as smoothly as possible within social and professional situations.
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Schizophrenics have to be medicated the rest of their lives.
For schizophrenia patients who find a psychotherapy and medication regimen that efficiently quells their symptoms, the recovery rate remains startlingly high. Some professionals estimate between 25% and 50% of the schizophrenic population cease to display signs of the disorder upon responsible long-term cessation of their medications. However, whether or not they achieve a full recovery hinges on a number of different factors. First, a suitable combination of one or more types of therapy as well as medication must be found. Second, the victim must never waiver on taking medication as directed. With some antipsychotic medications, symptoms may disappear within days of beginning – but just because they seem gone does not mean they have completely disappeared. The patient absolutely needs to stick with his or her doctor’s orders, as the medications used to treat schizophrenia are highly volatile and may cause irreparable physiological damage if abused. Third, once the schizophrenic and his or her doctor determine that the time is right to end medicated treatment, it must be done so with progressively smaller doses over time. Inadequate weaning or immediate quitting may trigger symptoms, potentially bringing them back in a more dire or potent manner. Because of these variables, patients, doctors, and concerned family and friends must ensure that the patient stays diligent to taking his or her medication. Responsibly complying with directions from medical professionals and the pharmaceutical companies themselves may mean the difference between a full recovery and a full slip backwards into psychosis.
Numerous misconceptions regarding schizophrenia prattle about the public consciousness; while some stand as more vicious than others, all of them pose a danger to those suffering beneath its overbearing tutelage. The more the mainstream swells to accept falsehoods and half-truths as absolute reality, the further and further away victims of schizophrenia get from forging for themselves a comforting peace. As with most mental illnesses, ignorance makes for one of schizophrenia’s worst external challenges – from it bursts the isolation, marginalization, and bullying that discourage them from pursuing the necessary therapy. Deconstructing the fallacies and understanding where they come from leads to a well-informed ability to promote the truth, thus nurturing a more hospitable environment for schizophrenics to seek suitable psychotherapy. Under the influence of a mental healthcare professional, schizophrenics may forge for themselves a happy, fruitful future.
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