Effects of Schizophrenia on Families
“EFFECTS OF SCHIZOPHRENIA ON FAMILIES”
Katrinka Joy L. Bañez
I. Introduction
A. What is Schizophrenia?
Schizophrenia is a complex brain disorder that makes it hard for people affected to think clearly, have normal emotional responses, act normally in social situations and tell the difference between what is real and what is not.
It makes people withdraw from the outside world and always act out in fear. People suffering from schizophrenia may see or hear things that don’t exist, speak in strange ways, think that people are trying to harm them, and always feel as if they are being watched. They have difficulty in doing activities of daily life.
This disease is caused either by one’s genetic make-up or abnormal brain structure. But the environment can be a cause too, as for the environmental factors, more and more research is pointing to stress.
Like any other disease, schizophrenia has its own symptoms like strange ways of speaking, inability to express emotion and irrational statements. It is in these symptoms that we can detect persons with schizophrenia. And it is important that we diagnose them for medical treatment for schizophrenia may lead to violent behavior.
B. Statement of the Problem
For, people with schizophrenia, there is a great need of their family’s continuous support. However, recent findings show that a family holds on to their schizophrenic relative only for a short period of time, especially if the development is severe. The family may feel frustration and tend to give up on the person. This will not be good for the person suffering because he might be inclined to give up on himself as well and worsen his condition, and if schizophrenia is at its worst, there can be deaths. Many of the serial killers caught were diagnosed as schizophrenics, paranoid schizophrenics to be specific, and these people didn’t really have understanding families. Take the case of
Katrinka Joy L. Bañez
I. Introduction
A. What is Schizophrenia?
Schizophrenia is a complex brain disorder that makes it hard for people affected to think clearly, have normal emotional responses, act normally in social situations and tell the difference between what is real and what is not.
It makes people withdraw from the outside world and always act out in fear. People suffering from schizophrenia may see or hear things that don’t exist, speak in strange ways, think that people are trying to harm them, and always feel as if they are being watched. They have difficulty in doing activities of daily life.
This disease is caused either by one’s genetic make-up or abnormal brain structure. But the environment can be a cause too, as for the environmental factors, more and more research is pointing to stress.
Like any other disease, schizophrenia has its own symptoms like strange ways of speaking, inability to express emotion and irrational statements. It is in these symptoms that we can detect persons with schizophrenia. And it is important that we diagnose them for medical treatment for schizophrenia may lead to violent behavior.
B. Statement of the Problem
For, people with schizophrenia, there is a great need of their family’s continuous support. However, recent findings show that a family holds on to their schizophrenic relative only for a short period of time, especially if the development is severe. The family may feel frustration and tend to give up on the person. This will not be good for the person suffering because he might be inclined to give up on himself as well and worsen his condition, and if schizophrenia is at its worst, there can be deaths. Many of the serial killers caught were diagnosed as schizophrenics, paranoid schizophrenics to be specific, and these people didn’t really have understanding families. Take the case of