Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder that impacts a person's thinking, emotions, and behaviour. Characteristic symptoms include delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thinking, abnormal behaviour, and negative symptoms such as reduced emotional expression and motivation. Only 1% of the population is affected by this disorder. We interviewed psychologist Anna Khizhaeva on this topic.

Definition of Schizophrenia: 

Anna defines schizophrenia as a mental disorder marked by hallucinations and delusions. Individuals suffering from this condition often exhibit speech disorders. She explains, “They struggle to communicate effectively. Their speech is often jumbled and nonsensical. They say a lot of words, and these words usually don't make any sense, because they have some destroying in their mind, in their neurons. So, they can’t to make a good dialogue then.” 

Types of Schizophrenia and Their Treatments: 

Anna identifies various forms of schizophrenia, focusing on catatonic and paranoid types. 

Catatonic schizophrenia, a psychomotor disorder, involves periods of hyperactivity followed by complete immobility, sometimes lasting hours. “So, when people, for example, some part of the day are super-super active, and the another part, they just stop moving at all, they can stay in this catatonic state for hours and hours. So, they just don't move. And this is the first kind of schizophrenia,” Anna notes. Another characteristic of this type of schizophrenia can be a poor social ability. “So, these people are usually introverts. They don't communicate with people enough. They can't make good relationships. They are very closed. They think a lot. They are just, like, closed in themselves,” Anna explains.

Paranoid schizophrenia, on the other hand, features delusions and auditory or visual hallucinations. Anna provides some details: “If we talk about hallucinations, it can be sound hallucinations or even visual hallucinations. It's something that doesn't exist, but people or the person sees it.”

Symptoms of schizophrenia:

According to our expert, schizophrenia starts with insensibility, decreasing social connections, as well as a loss of empathy and emotional activity. Anna explains: “They're just calm and they don't have any emotions. People suffering from schizophrenia stop communicating with other people. They end their relationships and friendships.”

Another symptom can be talking in a way that does not make any sense. Anna provides more details: “So, when you hear that person talking incessantly, you may wonder what this person is talking about. You don't understand how these words are connected or if they make sense.”

Treatment of schizophrenia:

As our expert is a psychologist, not a psychiatrist, Anna provided a basic overview of how schizophrenia can generally be treated: “For treating schizophrenia, you definitely need medicine. You can't treat it without medication. And for making a correct diagnosis of schizophrenia, you should observe the symptoms for at least six months. It's not a case of, "Oh my God, today I don't have any emotions, I must have schizophrenia." No, these symptoms must last for at least six months.”

How can I get schizophrenia?

Our expert introduced three theories on how one might develop schizophrenia. 

The first and most popular theory nowadays is the genetic theory. Anna explains: “It is commonly known that if you have a family member with schizophrenia, you might also get it someday. So, if a child has one parent with schizophrenia, there is a 10% chance that he or she might develop it too. If both parents have schizophrenia, the probability rises to 40%.” 

The second theory concerns psychological factors. Anna says that it might affect someone who grew up in very adverse conditions – conditions full of ambiguity. She provides an example: “The parents of a child sometimes use words or phrases that can confuse the child, such as "I love you" and at the same time "How can people love such a bad child?" This very contradictory behaviour can cause schizophrenia.”

The third theory, as mentioned by our expert, is a neurophysiological one and involves direct changes in the brain. Anna explains: “This is about changes in the brain, and there are studies on individuals who had schizophrenia and their brain was studied by scientists after their death. Scientists found significant changes in their neurons. Additionally, an infection theory suggests that schizophrenia can also be caused by some neurophysiological infections in the brain.

Is it possible to heal schizophrenia completely?

The personal opinion of our expert is: “It's important to understand what we mean by complete healing from schizophrenia. For example, it is not possible for someone who has this disorder to be cured completely after treatment. However, it is possible to learn how to live with this disorder, to make good connections with people, and to be a part of society. Learning to live with this disorder is achievable, and it is also possible to live a good life. Schizophrenia is a chronic mental disease, and managing it means a lot of work: taking medication, going to the therapy, and learning to cope with it in social life.”