User:Fr33kman/Schizophrenia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder[14] that has continuous or relapsing periods of psychosis.[5] Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions and disorganized thinking.[7] Other symptoms include social withdrawal and flat affect.[5] Symptoms typically develop gradually, begin during young adulthood, and in many cases are never ending.[3][7] There is no diagnostic test; diagnosis is based on observed behaviour, a psychiatric history that includes the person's reported experiences, and reports of others familiar with the person.[7] For a diagnosis of schizophrenia, the described symptoms need to have been present for at least six months (according to the DSM-5) or one month (according to the ICD-11).[7][15] Many people with schizophrenia have other mental disorders, especially substance use disorders, depressive disorders, anxiety disorders and obsessive–compulsive disorder.[7]
Schizophrenia | |
---|---|
Cloth embroidered by a person diagnosed with schizophrenia | |
Pronunciation | |
Medical specialty | Psychiatry |
Symptoms | Hallucinations (usually hearing voices), delusions, social isolation, flat affect, confused thinking[2][3] |
Complications | Suicide, heart disease, lifestyle diseases[4] |
Usual onset | Ages 16 to 30[3] |
Duration | Chronic[3] |
Causes | Environmental and genetic factors[5] |
Risk factors | Family history, cannabis use in adolescence, problems during pregnancy, childhood adversity, birth in late winter or early spring, older father, being born or raised in a city[5][6] |
Diagnostic method | Based on observed behavior, reported experiences, and reports of others familiar with the person[7] |
Differential diagnosis | Substance use disorder, Huntington's disease, mood disorders (bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder), autism,[8] borderline personality disorder,[9] schizophreniform disorder, schizotypal personality disorder, schizoid personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, psychotic depression, anxiety, disruptive mood dysregulation disorder |
Management | Counseling, life skills training[2][5] |
Medication | Antipsychotics[5] |
Prognosis | 20–28 years shorter life expectancy[10][11] |
Frequency | ~0.32% (1 in 300) of the global population is affected.[12] |
Deaths | ~17,000 (2015)[13] |
About 0.3% to 0.7% of people are diagnosed with schizophrenia during their lifetime.[16] In 2017, there were an estimated 1.1 million new cases and in 2022 a total of 24 million cases globally.[2][17] Males are more often affected and on average have an earlier beginning than females.[2] The causes of schizophrenia may include genetic and environmental factors.[5] Genetic factors include a variety of common and rare genetic variants.[18] Possible environmental factors include being raised in a city, childhood problems, cannabis use during adolescence, infections, the age of a person's mother or father, and poor nutrition during pregnancy.[5][19]
About half of those diagnosed with schizophrenia will have a significant improvement over the long term with no further occurrences, and a small proportion of these will recover completely.[7][20] The other half will have a lifelong impairment.[21] In severe cases, people may have to be placed in hospitals.[20] Social problems such as long-term unemployment, poverty, homelessness, exploitation and victimization are commonly correlated with schizophrenia.[22][23] Compared to the general population, people with schizophrenia have a higher suicide rate (about 5% overall) and more physical health problems,[24][25] leading to an average decrease in life expectancy by 20[10] to 28 years.[11] In 2015, an estimated 17,000 deaths were linked to schizophrenia.[13]
Treatment is often antipsychotic medication, along with counseling, job training and social rehabilitation.[5] Up to a third of people do not respond to initial antipsychotics, in which case clozapine may be used.[26] In a study of 15 antipsychotic drugs, clozapine was more effective than all other drugs, although clozapine's action may cause more side effects.[27] In situations where doctors judge that there is a risk of harm to self or others, they may impose short involuntary hospitalization.[28] Long-term hospitalization is used on a small number of people with severe schizophrenia.[29] In some countries where supportive services are limited or unavailable, long-term hospital stays are more common.[30]