Often times, the person diagnosed is not the only one who needs to master living with schizophrenia. The family and friends can suffer just as much. While health insurance plans don’t often stress psychotherapy as a schizophrenia treatment option, it is perhaps the most important. Drugs can help mitigate some of the positive symptoms, such as hallucinations, delusions and speech difficulty; however, the negative symptoms like social withdrawal, lack of motivation and flattened speech are more difficult to treat.

For severe cases of schizophrenia, it may mean a lifetime on anti-psychotic drugs like Clozapine, Zyprexa, Olanzapine or Perphenazine. These drugs can help schizophrenia patients overcome debilitating delusions, auditory and visual hallucinations, paranoia and anxiety. An anti-depressant, like Lithium, has also been effective.

While some people may require hospitalization, many schizophrenic patients find living with the illness quite bearable with medication. Take, for example, 27-year-old Charlie Chastain, a schizophrenic who was recently profiled by CNN. He was first diagnosed around age 15 when he began hiding in his room all the time, feeling constant paranoia and anxiety. Charlie has a college degree in psychology and works full-time at a mental health center in Clayton, Georgia. “I really think that if I went off my medication, I would end up in a psychiatric hospital,” he relates.

More On: Living with Schizophrenia

Technorati Tags: mental disease, schizophrenia, living with schizophrenia

Quickly bookmark Life Living With Schizophrenia at:                                                

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 23rd, 2008 at 9:03 pm and is filed under Health & Beauty. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.