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A Short Note on Schizophrenia-Psychotic Disorder

Melvin Selvar^{* *}Correspondence: Melvin Selvar, Department of Science, Chuo University, Tokyo, Japan, Email:

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Description

Psychotic disorders are serious mental disorders characterized by abnormal thoughts and perceptions. The most common symptoms include Delusions and hallucinations. Hallucination refers to see, hear, taste, smell, or feel something that isn't actually there. A delusion is a false belief that suggests an abnormality with the thoughts of affected person. Some of the psychotic disorders include Schizophrenia, Paraphrenia, Schizoaffective disorder, Delusional Disorder, etc.

Schizophrenia is a chronic mental disorder in which patients have aberrant perceptions of reality. Schizophrenia can include hallucinations, delusions, and extremely abnormal thoughts and behavior, which impairs daily functioning. Schizophrenia patients require lifelong treatment.

Symptoms of schizophrenia vary from person to person and are of 3 types namely positive, negative and cognitive symptoms. Positive symptoms include delusions, hallucinations, combativeness, insomnia, etc. Negative symptoms include affective flattening, a logia, anhedonia, etc. Cognitive symptoms include disorganized speech, thought disorder, disorganized behavior, poor attention, etc. The cause is unknown, but possible factors have been discovered by scientists who include genetics, brain-chemical imbalance, environmental factors, etc.

Types of schizophrenia

It includes the following:

1. Paranoid

2. Hebephrenic

3. Catatonic

4. Disorganized

5. Residual

6. Schizoaffective

7. Undifferentiated

Paranoid type is the common type of schizophrenia. It is dominated by delusions of persecution grandeur delusions. Catatonic type includes the continuous unusual movement of the limbs or retardation of the muscular movement.Disorganized type includes the disorganized behavior and speech which are difficult to understand and inappropriate emotions. Residual schizophrenia is characterized by a history of at least one episode of schizophrenia but with no symptoms at present. It represents a transition between a full-blown episode and a complete remission or it can last for years without any subsequent psychotic episodes.

Diagnosis and treatment

It can be diagnosed by physical and laboratory examinations. CT, MRI, PET, etc. imaging techniques are helpful in diagnosis. Although there is no treatment for schizophrenia, many patients manage to live with minor symptoms. Antipsychotic medications are useful in lowering psychotic symptoms that occur during the acute phase of the illness, as well as in reducing the likelihood and severity of subsequent acute episodes. Other therapies are targeted at reducing stress, promoting work, or increasing social skills, and psychological treatments. Cognitive behavioral therapy or supportive psychotherapy may reduce symptoms and improve function.

Substance abuse might make diagnosis and therapy more difficult. People with schizophrenia are more likely than the general population to misuse drugs. If a person exhibits indicators of addiction, addiction therapy should be combined with schizophrenia treatment. Transcranial Magnetic stimulation can also be performed for schizophrenia treatment but it is relatively an untested procedure for hallucinations.

Prevention

Prevention of schizophrenia is not possible. But by taking some measures, the symptoms can be treated. It includes the following;

1. Avoid illegal drug and alcohol use

2. Reduce stress

3. Be aware of risk factors of schizophrenia, so that early diagnosis and treatment can be done.

4. Getting adequate sleep

5. Avoiding social isolation

6. Intake of Vitamin D supplements

7. Intake of healthy diet with lots of vegetables and foods that are rich in omega-3-fatty acids

8. Avoiding brain injuries, etc.