Categories: Health

Schizophrenia – Myths Busted

Schizophrenia is a disorder which causes hallucinations, delusions, and odd behaviors. There are many myths about schizophrenia and this article will attempt to dispel some of the most common.

  • Schizophrenia isn’t caused by the way you were raise or by living in poverty.

    In the past, there was a theory that it was caused by bad parenting, that’s not true. Mental illness does tend to run in families because it may be genetically inherited but that doesn’t mean your parents caused you to develop schizophrenia. It also means that being exposed to abuse didn’t cause schizophrenia. Yes, many trauma survivors can experience symptoms mimicking schizophrenia and often end up misdiagnosed – they should be given a trauma based diagnosis instead. Poverty also doesn’t cause schizophrenia. It is true that most people suffering from schizophrenia are poor, but research shows that schizophrenia causes people to be poor…not the other way around. Most sufferers are forced to live on disability allowances which place them well below the poverty level.

  • People with mental illness are more violent than the ‘average’ person.

    This is not true. Although the media is quick to cite mental illness as a possible cause for violence when something big happens, it’s often found to not be the case in the end or to not be able to be proven. People who abuse alcohol or drugs are far more likely to be violent than those with mental illnesses. In fact, those with mental illnesses are at an increase risk of being the victims of a violent crime.

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  • People with Schizophrenia can’t live a productive life.

    This also isn’t true. Today there are many treatments for those suffering from all kinds of mental illness. Those suffering from schizophrenia have access to medications called anti psychotics which can greatly reduce many of their symptoms. There are also services like case management, where a case manager will work with a person to connect them to resources and provide support to help them. Also, there are psycho social rehabilitation programs which can help people learn to function in the community again and prepare to hold down a job.

While schizophrenia is a severe mental illness, it can be overcome with proper treatment and sufferers can lead a rich and fulfilling life!

 




  • Lola

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    • My friend's daughter a schizophrenic stayed with me for 6 months as her mother had problems dealing with her. I also found it difficult to handle her. I sent her to a halfway home. She spent a year there. Today she is back with her mother and is on medication which she has to take without break her whole life. She is normal and has a job.
      It is the medicine that they have to take that can help them live a normal life.

      • Yes, especially for an illness like schizophrenia - medication is an extremely important part of treatment. It's great that she is now far enough along in her recovery that she is able to hold a job. As long as she continues to take care of herself and has support, she should be able to keep doing well.

    • You know, I hadn't realized that people actually believe schizophrenia is caused by poverty! I'd never heard that one...

      I used to work in one of several psychiatric wings of a veterans hospital, and most of my patients were schizophrenic. Some were the sweetest, gentlest guys you could ever hope to meet. I never felt unsafe with any of them.

    • Schizophrenia is nothing but terror in human soul causes Schizophrenia in mostly women not in men if is but less. I think that schizophrenia is a mental disorder that generally appears in late adolescence or early adulthood. Characterized by delusions, hallucinations, and other cognitive difficulties, schizophrenia can often be a life-long struggle.

      Individuals with schizophrenia may hear voices that are not there. Some may be convinced that others are reading their minds, controlling how they think, or plotting against them.

      This can distress patients severely and persistently, making them withdrawn and, at times, frantic.

      Others may find it hard to make sense of what a person with schizophrenia is talking about. In some cases, the individual may spend hours completely still, without talking.

      On other occasions, he or she may seem fine until they start explaining what they are truly thinking.

      The effects of schizophrenia reach far beyond the patient - families, friends, and society are affected too.

      Experts believe that an imbalance of dopamine, a neurotransmitter, is involved in the onset of schizophrenia. Other neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, may also be involved.

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