Schizophrenia

What is schizophrenia?

Schizophrenia is a chronic and severe mental disorder, a psychosis characterized by deterioration of thought processes, by inadequate emotional responses and by the disintegration of the personality and the loss of vital contact with reality. It most often affects the adolescent or adult before the age of 40-45, with a global lifetime prevalence of around 0,3-0,7%.

On men, it can debut around the age of 20, on women around the age of 30, and children and adults over the age of 45 are rare.

It is characterized by a mental dissociation accompanied by a chaotic invasion of the imaginary, which leads to major psychopathological manifestations, such as hallucinations, delusions, formal disorders of thought, affective disorders, behavioural disorders, personality disorder.

Schizophrenia is one of the most severe psychiatric disorders, with grave repercussions for both the patient and the caregivers, especially since the evolution of the disease can never be predicted, despite the modern treatments that have radically changed the prognosis regarding the social classification of the patients.

There are several forms of schizophrenia:

• Schizophrenia simple (inhibition, bizarre, nonconformist)
• Paranoid schizophrenia (unspecified delirium, abnormal fears that are organized on specific topics – the fear of making certain gestures, the fear of particular colours; the patient having, also, the impression that his thoughts are manipulated from the outside)
• Hebephrenia and hebefrenocatatonia (catatonia, gestures, and children’s actions, unmotivated and automatic repetition of words, gestures or attitudes, intellectual pseudo deficiency).

How do we diagnose it?

Clinical evaluation

• Psychological tests to diagnose schizophrenia. The psychological tests used to diagnose schizophrenia are personality tests, but also tests that are designed to detect the functions affected by the disease such as thinking or attention.
• PANSS, CDAS, and SPAS scales for the evaluation of schizophrenia. In the diagnosis of schizophrenia are also used the PANSS (Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale), the CDAS (Calgary Depression Assessment of Schizophrenia) and the SPAS (Short Psychiatric Assessment Scale). 

Which are the symptoms?

• The delusion – false beliefs that are not based on reality
• Hallucinations – hears or sees things that do not exist
• Disorganized thinking (speech), incoherent speech
• Abnormal motor behaviour – bizarre posture, excessive, unnecessary movement

How do we treat schizophrenia

Psychiatric treatment

Schizophrenia requires antipsychotic medication (chlorpromazine, fluphenazine, haloperidol, olanzapine, risperidone, etc.) and psychosocial therapy throughout life.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Schizophrenia requires antipsychotic medication (chlorpromazine, fluphenazine, haloperidol, olanzapine, risperidone, etc.) and psychosocial therapy throughout life.