Schizophrenia is a common mental illness among mental disorders. Its main features include fundamental personality changes, split thinking, emotions, behavior, mental activity, and environmental disharmony. Schizophrenia not only affects one’s normal life but may also impact others, so it is crucial to understand some common knowledge of schizophrenia.
I. 4 Major Prodromal Symptoms of Schizophrenia
01. Excessive suspicion: Mainly suspicious, often manifested as hallucinations, delusions
Being particularly sensitive to others’ words and actions, always feeling targeted, believing that others are discussing or joking about them (reading hidden meanings in others’ gazes), even without any basis or evidence, and remaining convinced despite lack of persuasion.
02. Abnormal behavior: Primarily chaotic, disordered thinking, unpredictable emotions
Behaviors become eccentric, mysterious, or incomprehensible, preferring solitude, engaging in inappropriate pursuits of the opposite sex, acting shamelessly, talking to oneself, being lazy, staring blankly, sleeping excessively, wandering outside, or not returning home at night.
Disordered and childish behaviors, impulsiveness leading to physical violence and destruction of property, saying strange things, and surprising actions that those around them do not expect.
03. Personality changes: Drastic changes from the past personality
Previously outgoing individuals become lonely, lose interest in leisure activities, avoid interactions with friends and family, show indifference towards family members, becoming disheveled, lazy, neglecting personal hygiene, living in messy surroundings, spending recklessly despite being frugal before. Neglecting responsibilities, decreased efficiency in work or studies, becoming reserved, preferring solitude, staying indoors, unexplained fears, acting without considering consequences, often not easily recognized as ill by family members.
04. Nervous breakdown: Headaches, insomnia, vivid dreams, lack of concentration
Some people aimlessly roam, disregard rules, ignore advice from others, and may exhibit symptoms resembling neurasthenia: lack of enthusiasm for work, decreased learning and work performance, experiencing compulsions like fear of dirt, illness, or saying the wrong things, lasting for weeks. Early symptoms often include headaches, dizziness, insomnia, general weakness, indicating a group of neurasthenia symptoms, often misdiagnosed as neurasthenia.
II. Main Personality Traits of “Schizophrenia” Patients
â‘ Persecutory delusions
In the minds of patients with persecutory delusions lies a certain lack of confidence, easily activated by negative events. To protect this lack of confidence, patients tend to attribute negative events to external factors, projecting negative effects onto other entities, thus maintaining their surface self-esteem, though at the cost of living in a self-imagined subjective world.
â‘¡ Hallucinations
The cognitive system of patients experiences confusion, leading to deviations in information processing and thus impairing their ability to distinguish between internal and external information.
â‘¢ Lack of self-awareness
With good self-awareness, health and happiness are attributed to internal factors (e.g., self-effort in sports contributing to a good mental state). Schizophrenic patients lacking self-awareness attribute health and happiness to external factors (e.g., climate).
â‘£ Social withdrawal
The chronic course of schizophrenia, the patient’s negative self-concept, low expectations, and external sources of control are related. Under the long-term influence of these factors, patients develop a passive, submissive coping strategy, even feelings of hopelessness, leading to social withdrawal and avoidance of negative symptoms.
⑤ Schizophrenic patients may have accompanying depression
Some schizophrenia patients might exhibit symptoms of depression, such as losing interest in everything, self-isolation, disliking communication with others. They may get trapped in a cycle of self-doubt and over time, begin contemplating self-harm.
â‘¥ Other symptoms
Researchers suggest that schizophrenia involves external, hostile attribution. This tendency to attribute negative outcomes to stable external factors increases the risk of violent behaviors in schizophrenia patients.
III. How Family Members Can Help Patients in Daily Life
Provide emotional support
Family members should try to understand the emotional fluctuations of patients, offer them adequate care and support, making them feel the warmth and love of the family. Encouraging patients to express their feelings can help reduce their psychological stress.
Enforce a regular daily routine
Family members should help patients establish a regular daily schedule to ensure sufficient sleep and rest, which can help stabilize the patient’s emotions. Encourage patients to engage in appropriate physical exercises, improve physical fitness, and enhance resistance.
Healthy diet
Family members should pay attention to the patient’s diet, provide nutritious and easily digestible food but avoid excessive intake of stimulating substances like caffeine and alcohol to prevent exacerbating the condition.
Accompany medical visits
Family members should accompany patients for regular hospital visits for examinations and treatment, ensure timely medication adherence, closely monitor changes in the condition. If any abnormalities are noticed, prompt communication with the doctor to adjust the treatment plan is necessary.
