SCHIZOPHRENIA LEADS TO SUICIDE

 

SCHIZOPHRENIA LEADS TO SUICIDE

 By Momna Dar (BS Biotechnology)

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Introductory Paragraph

The human brain has prime importance in the entire body and is the central organ of the human nervous system as it is responsible for a lot of activities, i.e. control of the body, understand the information gathered by all five senses. Many of the skills that are directed by the brain are intelligence, creativity, emotion and memory. It is said that, the human mind is a defining organ between a human and other species because it gives us sensations of thinking, emotions, memory and speech. The brain is responsible for controls our breathing, digestion, heartbeat, swallowing, and eye movement and all are the vital functions. Hence, the brain is the most complex organ in vertebrate’s body.

If necessary care of the human brain, is not taken; it can lead to some highly threatening diseases. One of them may include - If a person is going through Long-lasting sadness or tremendously high and low moods, excessive fear, worry, or anxiety, social removal, dramatic changes in eating or sleeping habits then he or she might have some mental disorder like schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia

Usually, it is a misconception by people that if one possesses a riven personality, he or she may not be able to hold on their job with this but in reality, it is a very serious disorder in which people tend to understand realism irregularly. People having schizophrenia may have delusions, hallucinations or disorganized thinking.

Rate of schizophrenia globally

According to one of the researches conducted by the World HealthOrganization (WHO), 20 million people are being affected by this disorder worldwide. It is associated with considerable disability and may also affect educational and occupational performance. Schizophrenia patients are 2 - 3 times more likely to die timely than the general population. This is often caused due to physical illnesses, such as cardiovascular, metabolic and infectious diseases. Stigma, perception and defilement of human rights of people with schizophrenia are common.

Science behind schizophrenia

It is a mental disorder that affects different parts of the brain i.e., forebrain, hindbrain and limbic system. The forebrain is responsible for controlling different mental activities such as memory, intelligence, reasoning, emotion, will power, body temperature and some reproductive functions. The hindbrain, also known as rhombencephalon, coordinates functions that are necessary for survival like respiratory rhythm, sleep and motor activity. The limbic system helps in controlling emotions and moods. That’s the way the schizophrenia patients feel trouble while speaking and explaining what is actual or not actual. Neurotransmitters that carry information from one part to another are therefore connected directly to schizophrenia. They control the release of dopamine and glutamate. The high or low levels of these neurotransmitters can cause memory issues or learning disabilities.

Reasons behind schizophrenia

Research has not yet recognized any factor but it is thought the interaction of genes and a range of environmental factors are major factors in causing this disorder. Psychosocial factors may also subsidize to schizophrenia.

The behaviour of schizophrenia patients

Such patients show distinctive behaviour and they have false beliefs in their minds that are not based on reality. For example, they think that they are being harmed or harassed, they have exceptional ability or renowned that someone is in love with them.

For most of the cases, such patients see or hear things that don’t exist in reality. They have the full force and impression of usual experience. Sometimes putting meaningless words together that don’t make any sense this is known as word salad. Their behaviour may include resistance to instructions, complete lack of reaction or inadequate and extreme movement. They have disordered behaviour like wandering here and there uselessly, mumbling or laughing to self. They don’t have the ability to perform their functions normally. For example, such patients may neglect personal hygiene, they don’t make eye contact, doesn’t change their facial expressions while speaking or speaks in a monotone. They feel trouble in sleeping. They have a lack of motivation in them.

Difficulties

The most common thing seen in such patients is depression and chances of depression increases when the patients have a high level of family and personal expectations for success in life, critical behaviour of family towards them or lack of self-esteem support. When the patients are not in their senses that may start taking drugs or alcohol consumption which is unhealthy for them and this makes symptoms of schizophrenia worse. Such patients prefer loneliness over social gatherings and depression is the main reason that they isolate themselves from society. They have a high risk of victimization of both violent and non-violent types in them.

Gender differences

In men, schizophrenia signs typically occur from the initial of 20s to mid-20s. In women, these signs typically begin in the late 20s. It's rare for children to be identified with schizophrenia and unusual for those older than age 45. It is 1.4 times more frequently detected in males than in females. Men with this disorder seem to have more negative symptoms than females. The average age of appearance is 18 in men and 25 in women.

Schizophrenia leads to suicide

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If schizophrenia patients are not treated well or left untreated; it leads to severe problems including suicidal thoughts or even suicide. People with this disease are identified to die earlier than expected. Some of the suicides of these patients are similar to the normal suicides like recent loss, mood disorder and drugs abuse.

Schizophrenia patients are going through difficult situations. The most common reason behind their suicide attempt is demotivation or lack of interest in daily activities. They are not able to perform any activity and thought that have been stuck in a particular situation. They wanted to change their mind thoughts but couldn’t and nothing inspire that person. Another reason behind their suicide attempt is their loneliness. The patients in this disease thought themselves useless because no one is there to listen to them, they don’t perform an activity like normal persons. Family and friends of such persons leave them alone and when they got used to it they hate meetings with different people, they feel safe in their rooms to be alone. Lack of confidence and no goal in life may also be its reasons but one major cause of their suicide attempt is their negative thinking and it is because of this society who continue to demotivate them, like if a person wanted to do something well; people instead of motivating him or her start saying that you can’t do that which demotivates, that is why he or she feels difficulty in achieving goals. This further leads their thoughts to be negative and in case if they couldn’t achieve their life goals, they thought themselves useless, meaningless and wanted to end up their lives.

Treatment

The treatment of schizophrenia is a long term process and all of above it requires patient’s satisfaction means that before starting its treatment you first must develop their faith on you. Some symptoms of this disease show that patient may inhibit to cooperate during treatment so therefore patient compliance is necessary for this treatment. Medications are the basis of schizophrenia treatment and most commonly used drugs in its treatment are antipsychotic medications. These are classified into two steps. 

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Second-generation antipsychotics

They are newer and have low risks of serious side effects these are preferred after first-generation because they lower down their effect.

·        Aripiprazole

·        Asenapine

·        Brexpiprazole

·        Cariprazine

·        Clozapine

·        Iloperidone

·        Lurasidone

·        Olanzapine

·        Paliperidone

·        Quetiapine

·        Risperidone

·        Ziprasidone

First-generation antipsychotics

These have frequent and potentially significant neurological side effects. These are often cheaper than second-generation.

·        Chlorpromazine

·        Fluphenazine

·        Haloperidol

·        Perphenazine

Another thing which is important in its treatment is psychotherapy; in which a trained professional assists those who are suffering from this disorder. The psychotherapist helps such patients by talking to them, listening to their problems and explaining their problems to them in a quiet manner. The treatment depends on the severity of the disorder. For example, if a person is at the initial stage, he or she might be recovered with few therapy sessions and if it is more severe then patients might need life-time treatment sessions.

Conclusion

Allah (GOD) has granted us many blessings and one of the best in them is our Brain. It is the part through which we understand, feel the emotions of others. So if we see a person going through this disorder it’s our duty to motivate him/her, try to understand what he or she wants. Put over them that life is a precious gift and suicide is not a solution to this problem.

Author’s inspiration

Momna Dar (BS Biotechnology) is the author of this article. She was inspired and encouraged by her mentor Miss Iqra Aslam (M-Phil Biochemistry), Lecturer of Biochemistry at University of Management and Technology, Sialkot, Punjab, Pakistan.

Reviewer and Editor information

Muhammad Numan (PhD Scholar) has reviewed and edited this article.

References

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/schizophrenia

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/schizophrenia/symptoms-causes/syc-20354443

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160404143843.htm

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3898678/

https://annals-general-psychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1744-859X-6-10#Sec2