New Theories Help Change Stereotypes about Schizophrenia

(October 22, 2007) -- John Forbes Nash Jr. won the Nobel Prize in economics in 1994. The 2001 film "A Beautiful Mind," a biopic about his life, won four Oscars.

But the Princeton University professor and math prodigy also suffers from schizophrenia. And his successes can prove that people living with the mental condition can and do lead successful lives.

With proper medication and care, many schizophrenics are able to function in society, said Dr. Shirley Taylor, a psychologist with Heartland Health Counseling Services. She compared the brain disease to a chronic condition like diabetes in that there are certain levels of dysfunction.

"Schizophrenia is a brain disease that is on a continuum, so not everybody who has schizophrenia is sick all the time," she said.

Despite advancements in treatment and a better understanding of the condition, there still are many misconceptions about schizophrenia. Some of the old beliefs still alive are that the person suffers from multiple personalities or is possessed by a demon. There's also the belief that it's brought on by a person's bad moral choices, drug or alcohol use or that someone drove them to the condition.

None of the above is true, said Kristina Hannon, clinical director of adult mental health services for the Family Guidance Center for Behavioral Healthcare. The conditions can be brought on by a number of genetic and environmental factors, she said.

"Most research shows that schizophrenia is caused by a complex interaction of a biological predisposition or a genetic predisposition and environmental factors," she said. "So it is a very complex interaction between those things. Neither of those things have distinctly been identified as the cause of schizophrenia, and we can't say exactly what causes it, but it is a complex interaction of those things."

Schizophrenia is described by the Web site schizophrenia.com as a chronic, severe and disabling brain disease that affects about 1 percent of the population. The condition affects men and women differently but appears earlier in men. Men usually develop symptoms in their late teens or early 20s while women show the disorder in their 20s or early 30s.

People who suffer from the condition often experience sensory hallucinations, such as hearing voices or imagining people, objects and smells.

Mrs. Hannon said there are both positive and negative symptoms of the condition. The positive ones that most people are familiar with include hallucinations, delusions and paranoid thoughts.

"The thought that somebody is out to get you or you believe that people are inserting thoughts into your mind or you believe you can read other people's minds, those are some of the positive symptoms we most commonly think of," Mrs. Hannon said.

The negative symptoms include being socially withdrawn, frightened, anxious or confused.

"Those symptoms are as difficult to treat as well as the positive," Mrs. Hannon said.

But newer anti-psychotic medicines enable more people who suffer from the condition to function better in society than those drugs of the past. Side effects from older medicines such as Thorazine, which was widely used to treat schizophrenia 30 years ago, often kept sufferers lethargic and confused beyond their condition. Newer drugs have fewer side effects and target certain areas of the brain.

"The way we viewed those with schizophrenia in the past, we would think of chronic patients at the state hospital, if they were so bad they needed to be in State Hospital, they were probably heavily medicated to control the hallucinations or delusions, so they weren't able to function in society, not only because of illness, but by being heavily medicated," Dr. Taylor said. "What we didn't take into account was all those persons with schizophrenia who made it somehow without being in the hospital and being heavily medicated. "

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With proper medication, counseling and family support, people with schizophrenia can live fruitful and productive lives, Mrs. Hannon added.

"Having schizophrenia can be a very difficult journey to go through by yourself," she said. "It's very important (that) families are supportive, and families need to seek out opportunities to get educated on what schizophrenia is."

Source: Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Last updated: 10/07

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