There are various conditions throughout the world that distress people every day. Schizophrenia is one of these illnesses, and it affects every person around the disease. When a person has schizophrenia, they cannot live a “normal” life because of the illness. According to MentalHelp.net, schizophrenia only obtains about 1% of the earth’s population, but about 1.2% of the population in America. That is around 3.2 million people who have schizophrenia in America (“Schizophrenia Symptoms, Patterns and Statistics…”). Schizophrenia is an incurable illness of the brain that results in hallucinations and false interpretations of reality. There are many different options to treat schizophrenia, such as putting the ill in homes or getting the ill fulltime nurses, but it should be treated with antipsychotics, psychotherapy, and community support to help people with schizophrenia live a “normal” lifestyle.
The word schizophrenia itself is not even a century old, but the disease dates back so much farther. Schizophrenia originates from the Greek roots “schizo” meaning split, and the word “phrene” meaning mind. Documents show schizophrenic symptoms in old pharaonic Egypt and before Christ (“History of Schizophrenia”). Studies show that although the population was aware of the psychotic epidemics, there were no diagnoses of schizophrenia in the societies near ancient Greek and Rome (“History of Schizophrenia”). Moving forward in time, people who were considered “abnormal” with mental illnesses, retardation, or even physical deformities were all treated the same way. People in the ancient times believed these people were possessed or evil, so the treatments were to do exorcisms and find ways to get rid of the demons that were thought to be controlling these people. Another old treatment that was used was to drill holes into the skull of the ill so that the demons and evil spirits could be released. Eugene Bleuler created the term “schizophrenia” in 1911, and was also the first person to talk about the symptoms as positives and negatives (“The History of Schizophrenia”). The history of schizophrenia is critical to know when researching the illness because knowing where it comes from and the historical treatments will help with new modern treatments.
Schizophrenia should be treated using antipsychotics, psychotherapy, and using the community as a support system. When making a diagnosis, it is important to not only rule out all other illnesses, but to make sure the medicine prescribed works and is the correct medicine for the patient (“Defining Schizophrenia”). The drugs given to patients with schizophrenia are narcotic meaning they can be abused, so it is crucial to watch the medication given. Psychotherapy does not make the symptoms go away or even lessen them, but the combination of therapy and medicine can have an impact on the person’s life when dealing with schizophrenia. Therapy can be used in many ways, such as creating a doctor-patient relationship which can be a great way to help treat the patient. Lastly, community support impacts everyones life, but especially people who are mentally ill and stand out. These people are often known as the criminals or the people who cannot be in daily society, but that is not the case. People who do not have schizophrenia should be educated on the disease so that they can support others who suffer from it.
The first treatment plan is antipsychotics. This is the most impacting treatment because drugs can lessen the symptoms of schizophrenia. Living With Schizophrenia states that “about 70% of people experiencing psychotic symptoms who take antipsychotics will find their condition improves to some extent…” (“Living With Schizophrenia”). Starting in 1990, the new generation of medication was introduced in the US. These antipsychotic medications were said to reduce symptoms (Schizophrenia Revealed 125). When a person with schizophrenia takes antipsychotic drugs, it helps relieve the symptoms that cause them to act out. For instance, the symptoms of delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thinking, and anger are all results of the illness, but with the medicine, the symptoms can reduce (“Schizophrenia”). With the treatment, a person can choose between older or newer sets of drugs. There are two groups of medicine –conventional and second-generation. Doctors have found that second-generation (newer) drugs have had fewer side effects than conventional (older) drugs. If a person with schizophrenia takes second-generation antipsychotic drugs, then they have a chance to relieve some positive symptoms such as hallucinations, negative symptoms such as lack of emotions, and even cognitive deficiencies which can be scarcity of attention span or reduced mental functioning (“Schizophrenia”). Antipsychotics will not take effect immediately but the results will start to show between the first three weeks and the first three months. If there is no sign of change, the medication is changed after a few months with little to no change in behavior and symptoms. Antipsychotics can be given in many different forms such as tablets, syrups, or injections (“Living With Schizophrenia”). Doctors will also prescribe mood stabilizers or antidepressants when a person with schizophrenia is on antipsychotics to help alleviate the symptoms (“Living With Schizophrenia”). Overall, antipsychotics can help in many different ways for people who live with a mental illness such as schizophrenia. These drugs should be used to help relieve some of the symptoms a person has, to help them live a “normal” life.
The next form of treatment that should be used alongside medicine is psychotherapy –therapy for short. When a person goes to therapy, they might talk about stress, love life, work, or even relationships with friends, schizophrenics do the same thing (“Youth Seeking…”). When a person with schizophrenia takes medicine to relieve the symptoms, they should also be seeing a therapist so that the therapist can talk with them more about the treatment plan. Believe it or not, environmental factors can have an effect on schizophrenic outbreaks. In the book Schizophrenia: A Very Short Introduction, Frith and Johnstone talk about how stress can be an environmental factor which can lead to a schizophrenic episode. It is said that psychological trauma can cause a schizophrenic episode (Firth and Johnstone 108-109). Going to therapy as the person with the illness can also help with symptoms because it can build a doctor-patient relationship that might help the person feel more safe and relaxed in specific places. Therapy also helps schizophrenics work on communication skills, self-care, and forming and keeping relationships (“Youth Seeking…”).
The last form of treatment that should be used is community support and support groups. This means that schizophrenics should be going to support groups weekly. These groups provide rehabilitation, on-the-job coaching, and can help a person with a mental illness learn the skills needed to live in the community and be accepted (“Schizophrenia”). Community support is also a major factor in the treatment plans. What this means is that the community should have knowledge about mental illness and how it can affect the community as a whole. If more people were educated over schizophrenia, there would be more support groups and fewer mental health homes. There are very few people with schizophrenia who are unable to live independently, because the antipsychotics do not work, or because the symptoms are too persistent (“Schizophrenia”). With this being said, many people who suffer from schizophrenia can go to support groups and help the community understand more about the mental illness. When this happens, it is also helping the person fight the illness and live normally.
Speaking of antipsychotics, when a person is not on them and suffers from schizophrenia, they are a danger to themselves. People who suffer from a mental illness as aggressive as schizophrenia can suffer from depression. Schizophrenia depression often shows itself in older people who have suffered from the condition for years. The depression can also occur when a person ends a long psychotic episode, which is called post-psychotic depression (“Living With Schizophrenia”). At a given time, around 25% of people who suffer from schizophrenia also suffer from depression, which is less than the 15% of general population who suffers from depression (“Living With Schizophrenia”). The antipsychotics can help with depression and also help people form hurting themselves. The depression can cause a person to lash out and have another episode, which can result in suicide if the person is not medicated properly.
Treating the illness itself can lead to a normal life, which is the end goal with schizophrenics and the families involved. Using the novel The Price of Silence: A Mom’s Perspective on Mental Illness, narrator Liza Long explains her “normal”. Liza is the mother of Michael who goes to an alternative school because he has emotional behavior disorders, therefore he cannot be mainstreamed in the classrooms. Long states that, “As I said, on my good days, in many respects, my life probably looks quite a bit like yours as I juggle the demands and joys of children and work. But not every day is a good day” (Long 6). Liza proceeds to tell readers about the day the diagnosis was finally made. Michael had been on medication, going to psychotherapy, and even getting into support groups and special schools just to deal with his unknown mental illness. These treatments finally lead to a diagnosis. Long explains to readers about the struggles she went through as a mother and how it affected the whole family, but she also tells readers about how a mental illness can be treated. “Michael sees a psychiatrist about once every six weeks to manage his medications. He sees a psychologist… every other week” (Long 106). Throughout these treatments, Liza’s son Michael finally was diagnosed and learned to live with his condition and used specific treatment plans so that today he can live a normal life.
There are quite a few counterclaims that can be made to the schizophrenia treatment vs. non treatment plans. The first addressed is that people with schizophrenia should live in a mental institution or a home so that they can be monitored at all times. Arguers might claim that community living reduces stigma and helps the ill form relationships (“Finding a Good…”). This is not always true, though. People who live with severe mental illnesses would prefer living in the community as opposed to living in a mental health institution. In fact, about 80-90% of people with severe mental illnesses have claimed just that (“Finding a Good…”). One major drawback of living in the mental homes is the feeling of loneliness or isolation. People with mental illnesses still deserve to be treated like humans, but they are isolated to be monitored (“Finding a Good…”). If group homes are a treatment plan that families look into, then there must be some sort of regulation on the homes themselves. Becky Oberg writes that she lived in a group home because she suffers from a mental illness, and she also can tell readers first-hand of what goes on behind closed doors (“Reasons to Regulate…”). Group homes for the mentally ill are not at all regulated, the staff is not trained, and the families are not made aware of the rights given to each person (“Reasons to Regulate…”). These are some of the main reasons the mentally ill state that they do not want to live in the group homes. There is nothing but isolation and negativity in those homes, and that is not a treatment plan.
The next claim an arguer might make is that schizophrenics are a danger to people in the community and cannot be trusted to be left alone in public. For instance, Adrian Morrow wrote an inquest on Opposing Viewpoints in Context about a man by the name of Byron. Byron was said to have lunged at two police officers with a knife forcing them to shoot him from less than 10 ft. away. The police officer’s claims that they could not back down, for Byron was a danger to the public and had to be stopped (“Schizophrenic lunged at officers…”). Byron was reportedly walking down the street with a bottle of liquor singing when the police found him. When Byron was told to put down the bottle and obey the police, he mumbled an undefinable sentence, and proceeded to pull the knife. This is when police shot. After the encounter, the police soon realized that Byron was schizophrenic. The police had no way of knowing this, and they reported that they could not have changed the circumstances nor the outcome even if they had known (“Schizophrenic lunged at officers…”). Even with this evidence, this is exactly the reason the communities need support systems and treatment plans. If Byron had been medicated, he more than likely would not have been walking the street with liquor, nor would he have been mumbling words in an undefinable manner. When schizophrenics are not medicated, the chance of breakouts or episodes like Bryon’s are more likely to happen. If the police officers would have been trained on how to tell if a person has a mental illness or if a person is not in the correct state of mind, versus drunk or under the influence, Byron might still be alive. A psychologist who goes by the Philosopher, wrote on “Youth Seeking Understanding”, that schizophrenics are not a danger to others, but if any danger at all, it is to themselves (“Youth Seeking…”).
Altogether, people with schizophrenia should be treated for many reasons such as therapy, medication, and community support groups. People with schizophrenia are just like anyone else and deserve the same humane treatment as any other person who is sick or needs healing. Remember that approximately 7.2 people per 1,000 have schizophrenia, which can translate to 21,000 in a city of about 3 million (“Schizophrenia Symptoms, Patterns and Statistics…”). Every family who deals with schizophrenia needs treatment plans because according to Peter McGuffin, 80% of schizophrenia is genetics and only 20% is from environmental factors (“Nature and Interplay…”). Treating schizophrenia is the best idea to help the people who suffer from it. Schizophrenics are not a danger to society, but might even be a blessing. If the community could learn more about the illness, and get on board to help these people instead of throw them out like trash, the world of schizophrenia would be a better place.