Schizophrenia Treatment in Noida

What is Schizophrenia?

Schizophrenia is a chronic and severe psychiatric illness that can lead to significant social, occupational, psychological, and financial dysfunction, if not identified and treated early.

What are the symptoms of schizophrenia?

The first indications of schizophrenia typically appear in the late teens and early twenties. A typical example is a high-school or college student who becomes socially isolated, acquires odd beliefs or hearing murmuring voices, and has deteriorating academic performance. Later, the person begins to report hearing voices observed by others as talking to self as they interact with those voices or have convictions about fixed false beliefs that people cause harm to them. They have irrelevant speech, decreased motivation to do activities, poor self-care, and diminished expressiveness leading to withdrawal from persons surrounding them.

How common is schizophrenia?

It affects one in 100 individuals worldwide and 2-3 per 1000 individuals in India.

Who gets affected more by schizophrenia?

Men and women are equally affected. But it is seen early in males (10-25 years) than females (25-35 years). It is seen rarely in children less than ten years and more than 60 years.

Is schizophrenia seen in children?

It is seen rarely in children (<12 years – 1 in 40,000) and in adolescents, one in 800 (13-18 years).

What is the treatment for schizophrenia?

Schizophrenia is treated using antipsychotics. More early the treatment is started, the better the chances of improvement. Delay in treatment initiation leads to inadequate response to treatment. Antipsychotics are usually started at lower doses and increased slowly based on the response. If necessary, if a fast treatment response is needed, like in persons with suicidal ideation, electroconvulsive treatment may be required.

For how long the treatment for schizophrenia needs to be continued?

The first episode is usually treated for two years and the second episode for five years, and for more than two episodes, treatment should be taken for life long.