The 8 Myths About Schizophrenia (and Why They Are Not True)
Schizophrenia is among the most complex mental disorders, and is therefore one of the most stigmatized. Furthermore, today there is no consensus among different professionals regarding various aspects related to this disorder, such as its origin or the most appropriate treatment; However, today we have numerous advances and research.
On the other hand, there are numerous myths about schizophrenia and among them we can highlight the following: that people with schizophrenia are usually violent and dangerous, that schizophrenia has no treatment, that all people with schizophrenia need hospitalization or that people with schizophrenia They are not capable of leading a productive and fulfilling life, among other myths.
In this article you will find several of the main myths about schizophrenia and an explanation as to why they are not true.
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder whose main symptoms are the following: hallucinations, delusional ideas, disorganized or catatonic behavior, disorganized language and some negative symptoms such as avolition, logia or emotional flattening, among others. It should be noted that to make the diagnosis, at least two of the aforementioned symptoms must be present for at least one month.
On the other hand, these conditions that are characteristic of schizophrenia would imply a series of complications in different areas of the patient’s life such as work or academic life and also social and/or family life for a period of at least 6 months. Today there are multidisciplinary treatments, where the use of psychotropic drugs is usually combined with psychotherapy, which offer very good results.
However, although there are many advances regarding the diagnosis and treatment of schizophrenia, There is a lot of ignorance among the general population and this means that this disease has become so stigmatized.
It is worth mentioning that stigmatization is one of the main causes of suffering of those people who have a diagnosis of a serious mental disorder such as schizophrenia due to the impact it generates on a psychosocial level.
Because of stigma we can see different things: singling out, discrimination, loss of employment, resentment of social relationships, greater difficulties in reentering the labor market or loss of status, among others.
The most important myths about schizophrenia (and why they are false)
All these negative consequences that arise as a result of the diagnosis of the disease have a series of myths behind them that have emerged around schizophrenia. That is why we are going to comment on them below.
1. People with schizophrenia are often violent and dangerous
Among the myths about schizophrenia that we can find, perhaps the most widespread is the one that refers to the claim that people who have been diagnosed with schizophrenia are often dangerous, carry out violent behaviors and are also unpredictable. Such a statement is still a myth since people with schizophrenia are actually no more violent than the general population. What’s more, people with schizophrenia more often tend to be victims of violent acts rather than perpetrators.
2. Schizophrenia develops solely due to genetic causes
Although genes can have a lot of weight in terms of the development of schizophrenia, in the research that has been carried out over recent years with patients it has been observed that, although schizophrenia is a disease that affects at the brain level, Other psychological and social factors also have an important weight. For this reason, it is still not known with absolute certainty what the origin of schizophrenia is, so there are various theories.
In any case, we cannot affirm that schizophrenia develops solely due to genes, and the hypothesis that suggests that various factors such as those mentioned above influence it is more limited.
3. Schizophrenia has no treatment
The statement that schizophrenia has no treatment is another of the main myths about schizophrenia since, although it has a complex prognosis because it is considered a chronic disorder, there are currently available multicomponent treatments that include pharmacology and psychotherapy that offer very favorable results.
Therefore, we could consider that schizophrenia does have treatment and is manageable with a good therapeutic approach, as occurs with other chronic diseases. The most important thing is to find the treatment that best suits the needs of each patient so that they can lead a full life.
It should be noted that multidisciplinary treatment for schizophrenia, according to some experts, should follow some recommendations aimed at addressing the symptoms of each patient depending on the phase of the disorder in which they are found.
If you are in the first phase, which is known as “acute or crisis”, the most recommended would be psychopharmacological treatment in order to stabilize the symptoms of the acute psychotic episode. If you are in the “stabilization” phase, you should focus on stress reduction and relapse prevention. If it is in a “stable” phase, the psychopharmacological treatment would have to be adjusted to minimize side effects and influence social skills training and labor rehabilitation in order to help the patient to readjust in the different areas of his life.
4. All people with schizophrenia need hospitalization
Here we find another of the most common myths about schizophrenia since a high percentage of people who have been diagnosed with schizophrenia receive outpatient treatment and live in their usual residence.
Normally they usually receive hospitalization after having suffered a crisis or psychotic episode and are discharged when the symptoms are stabilized, preferably opting for outpatient treatment so that patients can lead a lifestyle that adjusts as much as possible. maximum possible to their daily life prior to the first crisis. Besides, Being supported and surrounded by those closest to you can promote adherence to treatment and a better prognosis.
5. People with schizophrenia are not able to lead productive and fulfilling lives
Among the myths about schizophrenia we can also find the widespread idea that people diagnosed with schizophrenia cannot lead a productive or full life, when the reality is that in most cases, having received adequate treatment, the Symptoms will subside over time or at least improve positively to the point that a high percentage of people with schizophrenia can lead productive and fulfilling lives at the same time.
It is important to mention that the more integrated patients with schizophrenia are in the different areas of their life (e.g., work, academic, social, relational, etc.), the better their prognosis will be and the sooner their symptoms will remit or decrease. Furthermore, with adequate treatment, cases have been found in which the symptoms have subsided as the years go by, tending towards stabilization so that it is possible and feasible for schizophrenia to remit.
6. Normally all people with schizophrenia have the same symptoms
This would be another of the main myths about schizophrenia since there are actually different types of schizophrenia (e.g., paranoid, disorganized, catatonic, residual, etc.). Furthermore, it is quite common for them to present a very different symptomatology those people who have been diagnosed with the same subtype of schizophrenia. The same occurs with other mental health problems (for example, depression) where we can observe that, despite the existence of common or similar symptoms, each case and each patient is different and therefore no two identical diagnoses will ever be found.
You may be interested: “Hallucinations: definition, causes, and symptoms”
7. People with schizophrenia are less intelligent than the average population
This is another of the myths about schizophrenia that has spread the most when the truth is that it does not directly affect the intellect. In reality, what happens is that in the development of schizophrenia it is quite common to experience a series of difficulties in attention, memory, processing information or organizing ideas or thoughts, among others, which usually arise as side effects of the drugs used to treat schizophrenia; However, there are intellectual skills that can be found intact, as well as sensorimotor skills.
What’s more, there are people with schizophrenia who have intellectual abilities above average or who are simply within “normal” levels, so the fact of having this disease is not decisive in terms of the variation in intelligence.
8. Schizophrenia usually appears suddenly
Here we can observe another of those myths about schizophrenia because today we know that schizophrenia is a disease that develops over time. Normally, a series of strange behaviors are observed in the initial phases among which it is worth highlighting the neglect of hygiene and/or social isolation, among others. Later, as the disease develops, psychotic outbreaks begin and this would normally be the time when positive symptoms begin, such as hallucinations, delusional ideas, etc.
