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Depression vector created by pch.vector - www.freepik.com and
Mental Health Challenges are NO less impactful than Physical Challenges.
— Dr. Jen Wolkin | ADHD + Trauma + Anxiety Info (
Trauma, Anxiety, Addiction, Depression, Bipolar, Schizophrenia, need the same urgency of treatment as a broken ankle, diabetes, autoimmune disease, etc.
Stigma stops HERE.
Mental Health IS Health.) October 28, 2022
In the last post, we saw how:
- There are Biochemical factors that are thought to be involved in causing schizophrenia, they include serotonin, GABA and Neuropeptides.
- Schizoaffective disorder presents with features of schizophrenia and mood disorders
- Monitoring the patient's clinical features and doing blood workups are important and could be life-saving.
Inkscape.org
Depression vector created by pch.vector - www.freepik.com and
Thread of how schizoaffective mood disorder (schizophrenia and bipolar) impacts me as a Black Trans man.
— ☀️ cal (he/they) 🏳️⚧️ (@Calvintbfh) October 22, 2022
Welcome to Medic Vibes, where we discuss mental health disorders and make sense of them. Dr Ebingo Kigigha is a medical doctor (aspiring psychiatrist) and creative person (illustration and music). This has been our routine for three consecutive months. This month will be dedicated to Schizophrenia. In the first month, we discussed Depression, and in the subsequent month, anxiety. We just finished with Bipolar affective disorder. We are done looking at research work done in Nigeria on schizophrenia.
In this post, we are looking at a Twitter Post. To learn more just keep scrolling down. You can also skip to the key point of the post if you which or go to the conclusion to get the summary.
Glutamate is involved in the cause of schizophrenia this is because phencyclidine a glutamate antagonist can cause symptoms similar to schizophrenia.
In the corpse of those who have schizophrenia, it was found that these patients have impaired receptors for these neurotransmitters in the mid-brain.
Throughout the 19th century, all the studies none on the brain to find the neuropathology of schizophrenia were not useful but in the 20th century, there was more to say about neuropathology. The main issue appears to be in the limbic system and basal ganglia. The abnormalities are not just neuropathological but neurochemical also. The volume reduction in the brain is a result of microscopic changes in nerve axons, dendrites and synapses.
One other theory tried to relate the early incidence of schizophrenia to the loss of synapses that tends to happen in adolescence. Computerize Tomography shows that the brain of those who have schizophrenia typically has reduced cortical volume and the ventricles are widened.
These features of reduced grey matter in the cortex are noticeable in the early stages of the condition. Many studies have tried to see if these abnormalities but some studies have concluded that they are not. Other studies have seen the opposite with lesions worsening as the condition progresses so a consensus has not been reached.
Schizophrenia and Stigma
Schizophrenia is Avery disabling mental condition characterized by delusion and hallucinations. It is Avery's difficult condition to treat but that doesn't mean the patient won't get better, they do. Those who have schizophrenia are called very derogatory names.
The stigma can come from different beliefs about schizophrenia that are derived from different places.
Movies- On television, there are countless references to bad characters that are schizophrenic and many of them have been violent. The truth is that schizophrenics are more violent than the general population but the cases of violence being seen in schizophrenics in society are very few.
People with mental illness are much more likely to be victimized by violence than they are to carry out violence.
The fact is that violence meets those who have mental health conditions more often than the violence is carried out.
In the movie industry, they lump every mental condition together in their descriptions and this lead to people seeing them in society as the same.
Community discrimination- Some countries are more known than others to be discriminatory to those who have this condition. The black community in the American community usually sees mental illness as a weakness. Only a third of black come to the hospital for mental health issues...
Self-hatred- Those who have schizophrenia may also likely have self-hatred because they think they are bad for society.
Institutional discrimination- The employer may not want to employ a person living with schizophrenia or the police may be inclined to believe that they committed a crime.
Stigma causes isolation in patients and, makes them unconfident. They can have problems with housing and this lead to a lot of the. They may not get treatment as early as they are supposed to because they are being shamed by the members of their community. They can be bullied and hurt physically.
The best way to deal with stigma is to let everyone in society know more about it and about those who are affected. Share this message today.
Treatment
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has been studied as an option for acute and chronic schizophrenia and it was found to be as effective as antipsychotics and more useful than psychotherapy in treating schizophrenia. Many have said that antipsychotics with ECT are more effective than antipsychotics alone. The antipsychotics are to be given while ECT is ongoing and after the procedure. surgeries are no longer done as a treatment for schizophrenia but for some very severe cases, it is done experimentally.
Psychotherapy is aimed at improving coping mechanisms and increasing the way they function in society. The key is to have them take care of themselves. This treatment is usually done in the hospital, the outpatient clinics or in social groups.****
Questions
- What did you learn about Schizophrenia?
Conclusion
- Glutamate, Acetylcholine have been named as possible causes. Then there are the Neuropathological causes.
- Stigma in mental health should be dealt with by disseminating the information known to others.
- Treatment is ECT has been noted to be as effective as Pharmacotherapy.
References
- Kaplan-Sadocks-Comprehensive-Textbook-Psychiatry
- Page demarcations made with Inkscape.org
- WEBMD