Is Schizophrenia Treatable?

Schizophrenia is a serious and disabling mental disorder where the person loses touch with reality. Schizophrenia begins early in life, which causes significant and long-lasting impairments. For many years, when there was no treatment, it was seen as a degenerative disease, it was incurable and without any hope of recovery. The ultimate cause for it is genetics and environmental triggers.

Schizophrenia was described as having a long term deteriorating course and the clinical symptoms of hallucinations and delusions. Earlier, the only treatment of Schizophrenia was to dump the patient in Mental Asylums and treated cruelly. In 50s and 60s, anti-psychotic medications were introduced and it was a tremendous help in controlling psychosis. However, the comorbid disorders such as personality disorder and substance use disorder can make the prognosis poor. Nowadays, there are many researches going on stem cell treatment as well as targeted drugs for schizophrenia, clinical trials are also going on to find out new ways to prevent and detect this illness, which will be a significant step in the treatment.

According to WHO, there are 21 million people suffering from Schizophrenia and nearly 50% do not receive appropriate treatment because in the developing countries people still perceive it as some demonic possession or witchcraft, where the patient’s condition gets more deteriorated. Their beliefs and hallucinations are real and disturbing to them. So the best decision would be admitting the patient in Psychiatric Hospital where they would be treated with anti-psychotics, psychotherapies, psychoeducation, support and respect. Schizophrenia has been misperceived as a disabling disorder however treatment in Psychiatric Hospital is structured and patient oriented which enables the patient to identify the symptoms, manage it and seek help. The main motto of the treatment is to make the patient functional in bio-psycho-social aspects of life.

So, is there any cure for Schizophrenia? Probably not, because it’s like other illnesses which are not curable but can be treated well. Through the regular treatment people can regain their life and this process is called ‘recovery’. You will get to know about ‘Recovery’ soon…..

To be continued……