Schizophrenia treatment is getting popular in the medicine field across the globe. Schizophrenia is a mental disorder followed by certain repulsive and chronic symptoms such as hallucinations, illusions, delusions, fatigue, and many more. This disorder more than likely makes the patient perceive reality abnormally and act differently from thinking to expressing emotions. The patients also experience and hear different voices, and even in cases these voices might even answer their questions, it is as perceived by the patient. There is no particular schizophrenia treatment but psychologists prescribe medications to the patients to help them deal with the symptoms. That is why Schizophrenia treatment is crucial on time before the person gets mentally disable.
Schizophrenia is observed quite frequently during the puberty stages in individuals who are vulnerable to it. It can also transfer genetically, and if any of your parents or siblings have it, there is a 10% chance you might have it too. And if both your parents have suffered from the disease at any stage or have it, the risk of you getting affected is likely to be 40%. Here another risk prevails that you can transfer it generically to a new generation. So, Schizophrenia treatment safeguards the upcoming generations from this mental disorder.
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has claimed that antipsychotic prescriptions are the only way to assist patients with Schizophrenia as well as all the other mental diseases in the phase of Schizophrenia treatment.
And therefore, the patient with any mental disorder is to be administered properly with proper medications for Schizophrenia treatment along with supervision all the time. An antipsychotic is a drug used to treat psychosis (psychotic disorders) and help relieve the patient’s symptoms as a permanent schizophrenia treatment is not yet available for any psychotic disorders. Although there is no permanent Schizophrenia treatment, however, introduced of any psychosis, these are the drugs that have helped humanity.
Thorazine and Haldo, the first authentic antipsychotic schizophrenia treatment medicines, also known as typical antipsychotics, were developed during the 1950s. Along with them, there are Stelazine, Navane, Prolixin, and many more. These antipsychotics are also known as major tranquilizers and are famous for their soothing effects. During Schizophrenia treatment They can cause varying sedation depending upon the dosage and type of typical antipsychotics. The sedation can be short-term as well as long-term. And there were certain cases where this sedation has crossed a line that resulted in the consumers’ problems.
Despite being very effective, these medicines used in Schizophrenia treatment caused serious sedative effects, which was why in the 1970s a new type of antipsychotics was introduced. These medicines are termed atypical antipsychotics and have proved very beneficial and effective in treating certain Schizophrenia’s symptoms, including delusions, misinterpretation of reality, and hallucinations.
Along with all the advantages of the atypical antipsychotics, there are certain side effects too faced by the consumer, including:
- Diabetes
- Weight gain
- Seizures in some cases
- Drowsiness
- And sun sensitivity too
So, these drugs should not be considered as Schizophrenia treatment either in clinical situations or in outpatient Schizophrenia treatment. But these side effects are ignored as they help ease the worst symptoms of Schizophrenia, and the patient might not even consider these side effects of any harm as compared to the irritability and pain caused by the symptoms of the disease.
Although these medicines have proved efficient, in relieving the patient’s symptoms for a certain while, one could not claim that any permanent Schizophrenia treatment is available. So, these drugs can only help improve a person’s life by releasing stress and managing hallucinations and delusions. Hallucinations and delusions disconnect the patient from reality as the patient starts seeing things differently from reality which causes abnormality in the patient’s behaviour. These symptoms are very important to be managed if a normal behaviour is desired from the patient’s side.
Do you want to overcome co-occurring issues of schizophrenia and a substance abuse disorder today?
Just give us a call so that we can help you or your loved one who is currently suffering from this disorder. Here in Dual Diagnosis Centers we provide efficient Schizophrenia treatment.
Clozaril as Schizophrenia Treatment
In Schizophrenia treatment, Clozaril has proved very efficient and is the most frequently prescribed medicine to help manage the disease’s symptoms. With its very effective effects on many patients, this type of Schizophrenia treatment has also shown some considerable negative impact on some users.
Antipsychotic drugs are currently the most effective Schizophrenia treatment, but they are not considered safe Schizophrenia treatment or ensure that there won’t be any more psychotic episodes. The dosage of medicine is fully individualized for every patient. People can vary significantly in how much drug is required to bring on a complete response to the drug without creating troublesome side effects. Psychotherapy is also one of the most effective Schizophrenia treatment. It’s worth finding a therapist if you feel you may have problems relating to your medication or have a tough time sleeping.
Agranulocytosis, a condition where the loss of white blood cells is observed, has been a major problem faced by users of Clozaril. The white blood cells are the human body’s defence system, which provides immunity to the body to help fight infections and diseases. The loss of these cells is not affordable for any human body at any cost. It will cause the body to infect with every single virus and bacteria, resulting in acute and even chronic diseases. Thus, a regular consumer of Clozaril is prescribed to get his/her white blood cells checked and monitored regularly, which is somehow an expensive procedure and can be time-consuming too. That is why, even being the most effective medicine to Schizophrenia treatment, the patients try to avoid it. Certain other atypical antipsychotic medicines have also proved effective in Schizophrenia treatment and are less likely to cause agranulocytosis.
These medicines include:
- Risperdal
- Seroquel
- Abilify
- Zyprexa
- Geodon
- Latuda
- Invega
Side Effects of Certain Antipsychotics in Schizophrenia Treatment
Any strong medications consumed by human bodies lately show their side effects too. The side effects can either be acute or chronic and short-term or long-term. It depends upon the drug taken, its dose, and how frequently it has been consumed. So is the case with psychotics. Psychotics can never be confused with mild drugs because the light or soft drugs can never manage any psychotic disorder. Therefore, antipsychotics are powerful and strong drugs which the patients with psychosis have to consume regularly. The intake of any drug, either mild or strong, regularly can more than likely show its side effects at a certain stage or period.
But still, there are certain patients with such pathetic and strong symptoms of Schizophrenia who tend to bear the pain caused by side effects to make the symptoms of the disease go away.
The side effects of these antipsychotics may include:
- Increased heart rate
- Fatigue
- Sensitivity to sun
- A blurred vision
- Feeling dizzy occasionally as well as experiencing fatigue quite regularly.
- The user might also feel sensitive to the sun and can experience skin rashes.
These side effects are not that serious of schizophrenia treatment medication, and a large number of consumers of antipsychotics tend to face them. But to deal with the symptoms of the disease, they ignore these side effects. In addition to the above-mentioned mild symptoms of antipsychotics, there are certain other side effects observed too, which have proved to be more serious.
The serious side effects faced by the consumers related to are:
- Frequent restlessness
- Muscle spasms and rigidity
- Tremors or shaking
- Rigidity
But the case mentioned above is not the case of every antipsychotic consumer. Certain circumstances have been observed where the antipsychotics have just worsened the symptoms of Schizophrenia rather than managing them or just have added to them.
So, the patients tend to go off these medicines to avoid the discomfort caused by them. After studying all these risks prevailing on the life of the victim Schizophrenia becomes crucial as soon as possible.
Substance Abuse and Schizophrenia Treatment
Substance abuse and schizophrenia treatment are closely related to each other. And the studies have proved that 50% of patients with Schizophrenia are observed to have various addictions, including alcohol addiction, illicit drug dependence, and most importantly, cocaine and cannabis addiction. They have to take schizophrenia treatment medication.
Moreover, nicotine dependence has exceeded the percentage by 20%, making it a whole 70% which is quite alarming.
Alcohol, alone, when consumed frequently, can give rise to hallucinations and, in the case of schizophrenia, can worsen the symptoms to a devastating level. That is why Schizophrenia treatment is the first step on the way to recovery from the addiction.
Even the antipsychotics may not prove effective in managing the Schizophrenia treatment as the patient continue to consume other substances. They are considering the situation of substance abuse in schizophrenia patients. It has also been claimed that it might be due to a dysfunction within the dopamine-mediated brain reward circuitry, and some solution drugs have also been introduced. But still, there is a need to consider the issue more seriously, and evidence-based strong prescriptions should be presented to help reduce the percentage of substance-addicted schizophrenia patients.
When multiple psychotic disorders occur in a person simultaneously, it becomes very threatening to deal with all the diseases efficiently. So, along with managing the symptoms of Schizophrenia and providing Schizophrenia treatment, it becomes mandatory also to take measures to prevent the consumption of substances and addictive drugs. If the addiction is not treated firstly, the antipsychotic medicines might not prove of any help to manage the symptoms of Schizophrenia. And all the drugs consumed by the body would be ineffective till the body continue to consume other harmful addictive substances.
It is a serious issue that should be seriously considered as schizophrenia treatment cases have been increasing rapidly and are necessary to be controlled and managed properly for our people’s mental health.
Mental health is as important as physical health or even can be rendered more important as patients with psychotic disorders tend to hurt other people and themselves. People with different psychotic disorders are more than likely to get fed up and irritated easily to a level where they might commit suicide; if not, they can possess suicidal thoughts quite frequently. Therefore, Schizophrenia treatment is vital.
Do you want to overcome co-occurring issues of schizophrenia and a substance abuse disorder today? Just give us a call so that we can help you or your loved one who is currently suffering from this disorder. All calls to Foundations Recovery Network are confidential. Here in Dual Diagnosis Centers we provide efficient Schizophrenia treatment.
Ben Lesser is one of the most sought-after experts in health, fitness and medicine. His articles impress with unique research work as well as field-tested skills. He is a freelance medical writer specializing in creating content to improve public awareness of health topics. We are honored to have Ben writing exclusively for Dualdiagnosis.org.