Only 20 per cent need long term medications for schizophrenia
   Date :25-May-2020

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Principal Correspondent ;
 
The per cent of people suffering from schizophrenia needing long term regular medications is less than 20%. This is what Nagpur Psychiatry Society President Dr Abhishek Somani stated. It is a very positive aspect for the schizophrenic patients. In fact the rate of persons getting cured is also very high. Of course early diagnosis and proper medication remain the key factor. Genetic factors have been found to be contributory in some aspects of schizophrenia. It means schizophrenia and related disorders occur at an increased rate amongst the biological relatives of patients with schizophrenia. Also biochemical factors in form of excessive release and transmission of neurotransmitter named dopamine in certain areas of brain, has been found to be the other major factor.
 
 
Apart from this stress, societal pressure, substance addictions are other reasons which have been found to play a role in causation of this grave mental illness, explained Dr Shrikant Nimbhorkar, noted Psychiatrist. Can anybody realise earlier about this ailment? Dr Nimbhorkar, Scientific Committee Chairman of PSN pointed out, “Patients suffering from schizophrenia have a disorder manner of thinking. They hold false and firm beliefs about many things, also called as delusions. They often experience hallucinations and see, feel, hear or smell things that do not really exist. They have grossly disorganised speech and behavior and they also avoid social interaction.
 
Even day-to-day activities become very confusing, and much of the world around them is hard to make sense of or to understand. Continuous signs of such disturbance should persist for at least 6 months, impairing their socio-occupational functioning to diagnose anyone as having schizophrenia.” Psychiatrists still face the challenge of diagnosing schizophrenia at an early age. “Initial signs often shown during adolescence typically include difficulty in focusing attention leading to academic decline, difficulties in managing relationships and social interactions leading to withdrawn behavior, problems with organizing information leading to blank staring expressions on face.
 
Anger outburst may occur on very minimal things and gradually the younger adult may start getting suspicious towards everyone around. This "prodromal" period - before the onset of schizophrenia - is the perfect time to intervene and seek treatment,” elaborated Dr Shrikant Nimbhorkar. “A common myth surrounding schizophrenia is that people suffering from schizophrenia have a "split personality" which is completely untrue. They just have one personality like any other normal person but these individuals have lack of coordination between thoughts, actions and emotions leading to confused thinking, delusions and hallucinations,” added Dr Nikhil Pande, well-known Psychiatrist and former Secretary of PSN.
 
Another myth regarding this illness is, person suffering from schizophrenia never gets cured - research studies have shown that, on early identification and treatment out of whole, 1/3rd patients never get symptoms in their lifetime. Another 1/3rd patients however need to take lifelong treatment but on regular medications they were able to lead their life like any other normal individual. Rest 1/3rd patients may suffer from exacerbation of their symptoms even being on regular medications and may need to be admitted. In conclusion, early diagnosis and treatment remains the key factor to reduce the percentage of second and third category of patients, added Dr Nimbhorkar. Schizophrenia patients can lead a normal life - on receiving regular treatment along with psychosocial therapies like social-skills training, vocational training, many patients definitely lead a normal, happy, meaningful and social life.
 
Electro-convulsive therapy ECT or shock therapy is an outdated barbaric treatment that causes brain damage is the sheer myth. ECT, is one of the most effective, yet least understood procedures in modern medicine. ECT has a success rate of over 80% and can produce a rapid remission of symptoms within one to three weeks for a number of mental illnesses. Many do not realise that ECT is an actual medical procedure performed by a qualified psychiatrist, anaesthetist and nursing team.