Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is disease which has quizzed and puzzled people for years. It is one of the major mental illnesses and has been seen in varied forms, from calling it split personality to going and calling someone mad (wandering mentally ill).

You must have seen characters suffering from schizophrenia, in movies like –

English: The Beautiful Mind, Through a Glass Darkly..

Hindi: Sangharsh, Kartik Calling Kartik, 15 Park Avenue, Who Lamhe

and marathi movies like: Devrai, Ratra Aarambh, ek cup chya..

Let’s try and understand Schizophrenia.

 

Schizophrenia is a term coined by Paul Eugen Bleuler (April 30, 1857 – July 15, 1939).

It was derived from the word schisms (meaning) he gave four major symptoms of schizophrenia:-

ambivalence- inability to decide  to  or fro,

autism- regression of though process,

association- abnormal thoughts, and

affect- restricted  emotional response

What’s causes schizophrenia is still unknown but we know that there is dopamine imbalance in the brain. There is also strong evidence to suggest that family history increases the chances of schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia is characteristsed by Delusions, Halluctions and thought disturbances. Lets understand what are these.. The person suffering can present with any or all of the following-

Delusions are false unshakeable beliefs, eg. people are planning to kill me.

There are various types of delusions like:-

Persecutory- people try to kill me,

Grandiose- I am prime minister of India,

Infidelity- my partner is having an affair,

Hallucinations- perception without sensory

Stimulus- hearing voices, seeing things

Thought disturbances- someone is taking away my thoughts, everybody can  know my thoughts, thoughts being broadcasted, someone is commanding /controlling me.

There are many types and presentations of schizophrenia will be belonging about each every day.

- Dr. Rohan Jahagirdar

MD (Psychiatry)

Pune.

Mobile: 93 724 16 491

Clinic: 020 - 3240 5770