There is Hope: Treatment

• The real causes of Schizophrenia are not fully known. Consequently, the treatment given to Schizophrenic patients aren’t to prevent or cure the disease but only to calm or to eliminate the symptoms once the disease is diagnosed. Antipsychotic medication treats the positive symptoms of Schizophrenia. Although, it does not cure Schizophrenia, Antipsychotic medication hides the symptoms so that the patient can have a better quality of life. Drugs don’t work the same way with every patient. Different drugs have to be tried in order to find the right one for a specific patient. Medications such as Thorazine, Haldol, Etrafon and Prolixin which are some of the oldest drugs for Schizophrenia, can cause very uncomfortable side effects like muscle contractions, rigidity, restlessness and involuntary nervous quiver. That is why in the 1990s, new drugs were invented and developed so that treating Schizophrenia and softening the symptoms was easier. These new drugs rarely produced bad side effects, for example, Clozaril.
• Then there is the psychosocial treatment, which involves therapy and it is usually when the disorder is communicable and during the first phase. The therapist helps the patient adjust with the fact that they have Schizophrenia by educating them about the disorder. There are different types of therapy given to the Schizophrenic patient such as Cognitive Behavioral therapy and Self Help Groups. Psychoanalysis is also very important. The difference is that this perspective treats the patient by trying to discover the unconscious and traveling to their early childhood years to try to find some environmental feature that might have helped to develop the illness in them.

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