“For years, I had resisted medication, making many, many efforts to get off. I felt that if I could manage without medication, I could prove that, after all, I wasn’t really mentally ill, it was some terrible mistake. My motto was the less medicine, the less defective.”
Because of the stigma surrounding mental illness, many people like Elyn Saks may be reluctant to seek help and expose their illness to those around them. Schizophrenia, like other mental disorders, manifests with several symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations that can make functioning in everyday life difficult or impossible.
Despite the severity of the symptoms of Schizophrenia, several routes of treatment are available. The most common form of treatment is the use of antipsychotic medication—with the most serious symptoms of hallucinations and delusions disappearing within days or up to a few weeks of using the medication (NIMH).
While symptoms may disappear through the use of medication, a patient’s journey does not end with the use of a drug. Symptoms of schizophrenia often begin to manifest between a person’s late teenage years all the way until their late twenties. (NIMH) As these symptoms begin to appear, hallucinations and delusions may interrupt a crucial portion of a young person’s life where they are either pursuing higher education or entering the work force. When used with anti-psychotic medication, rehabilitation treatments such as vocational training and money management workshops help people with schizophrenia develop skills that they may have previously been unable to due to their disease (NIMH). Other psychosocial or rehabilitation treatments include working on communication skills, developing and maintaining relationships with others, and self-care all help people with schizophrenia overcome difficulties presented by their illness and integrate into everyday life.
While no cure for schizophrenia exists—medical and psychosocial treatments to minimize the impact of the disease do. When used together, symptoms of schizophrenia fade within a few weeks and greatly increase the quality of life of people with schizophrenia. However, due to the stigma associated with mental illness, people with schizophrenia may be reluctant to seek help or accept the fact that they have the disease. The first step to living with schizophrenia is admitting that you have it—medication and therapy will help you with the rest.
References
1) http://www.ted.com/talks/elyn_saks_seeing_mental_illness
2) Schizophrenia. The National Institute of Mental Health (http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/schizophrenia/index.shtml?utm_source=publish2&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=www.kpbs.org). Retrieved April 28th, 2014.