How to Treat Schizophrenia

Many people are still under the illusion schizophrenia is manifested by multiple personalities. This is not true, however. Schizophrenia is characterized by hallucinations, delusions and imagined voices which torment the patient and cause them to behave inappropriately and self-destructively. Ten percent of people suffering from schizophrenia commit suicide. Proper treatment is an absolute necessity for these unfortunate victims to live functional lives.

Instructions

• 1

  Treat the disease as early as possible. Studies show the earlier this disease is treated, the less severe it is likely to be. It's important to have an experienced mental health professional diagnose and treat the disease, as the severity and symptoms vary from person to person and treatments must be tailored to an individual's particular symptoms.

• 2

  Try medication first. Many new drugs are approved for the treatment of schizophrenia, and, although there are those who do not respond well or at all to medication, there are many more whose psychotic episodes are significantly reduced by the correct dosage of prescribed medication.

• 3

  Try cognitive-behavior therapy to gain control of your symptoms. This treatment seems to help many patients in their attempts to think normally, using self-observation and mental exercises. Use a diary to record auditory hallucinations, their tone and the times they are heard. Cognitive-behavior therapy teaches you coping devices to deal with the voices and helps you find the sources of the delusions and deal with them objectively.

• 4

  Find social situations in which you can interact positively with others. There are health-care professionals who provide in-home support, which has been found to be successful. If you find paying work, as opposed to volunteer work, this has proved to help immensely in rehabilitation--as much as 40 percent of those in vocational rehabilitation show an improvement in all symptoms.

• 5

  Learn about a study designed for use on schizophrenic patients. It actually uses virtual reality to teach sufferers to recognize the falsity of their hallucinations. Psychiatrists believe simulating the schizophrenic's hallucinations and voices and then showing them the unreality of the situation helps them ignore their actual hallucinations. This technique has shown to help people overcome phobias and researchers hope it may prove helpful in treating schizophrenia.

• 6

  Keep up on new developments pertaining to treatment of schizophrenia. One promising study shows that an element in cannabis may prevent psychotic symptoms. Some researchers believe the tetra-hydracannabinol (THC) in the drug can actually cause schizophrenia, but cannabidiol (CBD) can diminish the symptoms. This study is still ongoing, but one finding signifies there are significantly fewer side effects from using cannabis than other drugs in present use.