Disorganized schizophrenia is one of the most severe types of schizophrenia. This article deals with the possible causes and symptoms associated with disorganized schizophrenia.
Among all the mental disorders know to man, schizophrenia is the most misunderstood one. In simplest terms it is defined as a mental disorder in which the person has an altered perception toward reality. These people do not have a sense of reality and often live in fantasy and delusion. They suffer from a mental disorder because their thoughts, emotions and behavior is affected. Disorganized schizophrenia is one of the types of schizophrenia.
What is Disorganized Schizophrenia
Disorganized schizophrenia, also known as hebephrenia, is one of the types of schizophrenia. Other types of schizophrenia include paranoid schizophrenia, catatonic schizophrenia, residual schizophrenia and undifferentiated schizophrenia. As mentioned above, it is one of the most severe types. This is because, people suffering from this disease have a complete loss of reality. Due to the loss of reality, these people often suffer from impaired or inappropriate thoughts and behavior.
They end up doing and saying things that do not make any sense. This can lead to frustration which can also result in violent behavior. There is a widespread misconception that all people suffering from schizophrenia are dangerous. This is not true. It is true that people suffering from schizophrenia are marked by violent behavior; but this happens rarely. In most of the cases, people suffering from schizophrenia are harmless. According to disorganized schizophrenia statistics, this condition usually develops at an early age (15-25 years).
What Causes Disorganized Schizophrenia
The exact cause of most mental disorders is unknown. Similar is the case with disorganized schizophrenia. However, certain factors like heredity, environment, certain diseases and disorder, etc. are believed to increase the risk of this condition in people. For e.g. people whose parents or siblings suffer from schizophrenia have a 10-15% chance of suffering from the disorder. However, it should be noted that schizophrenia is not only limited to genetics. It is only one of the risk factors that is believed to cause schizophrenia. Secondly, certain environmental conditions like an abnormal or abused childhood, loss of a very dear one at early age, etc. can also lead to this condition.
Thirdly, certain diseases and disorders like severe viral infections during birth or at an early age, low oxygen levels during birth, etc. are also believed to be some of the factors that increase the risk of schizophrenia. However, at the same time, it should be noted that in most of the cases, a combination of genetic and environmental factors lead to disorganized schizophrenia, but it is not limited to it. The exact cause is still unknown.
Disorganized Schizophrenia Symptoms and Treatment
The symptoms of this condition appear gradually as the disorder develops. As these people have a complete loss of reality, their thoughts and behavior are very disorganized and at times, completely opposite to what is expected in the particular situation. For e.g. they may burst out laughing in a sad situation; they may talk about irrelevant things; may jump from one subject to the other which are not related; have limited emotional range; may have a blank expression in most of the cases; have uncoordinated movements; may hallucinate. Due to their abnormal behavior, people suffering from disorganized schizophrenia often experience social isolation. It should be noted that there are high chances of suicide in case of people suffering from this disorder.
It should be noted that this mental disorder is incurable. However, there are treatment methods that can reduce the symptoms of this condition. Medication, psychotherapy, electroconvulsive therapy and hospitalization are some of the modes of treatment that are commonly used to treat this condition. According to disorganized schizophrenia facts, the prognosis of this disorder is also very poor. However, support from family members and family therapy will be helpful in avoiding conflicts.
Although schizophrenia is non curable, family members can help and support the person suffering from this condition to cope up with it. Take care!
