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Schizophrenia: When The Brain Lies To You

by — 2014-06-28 in Mental Health
Reviewed by Medical Team — 2023-09-28
The alteration in the chemistry of the brain can lead to the development of severe mental illnesses. Schizophrenics have to deal with these consequences and are often undiagnosed and badly treated. Get to now more about how a schizophrenic brain works.

The mind's inventions

John Nash, a mathematician, winner of the Nobel price in 1994, suffered from schizophrenia.  His life was portrayed in a Hollywood movie a few years back, but what is most important is to realize that, just as him, other 24 million people are affected by this mental disease, all over the world.

Some numbers on schizophrenia 

According to data provided by the World Health Organization (WHO), from the total number of schizophrenic patients, more than half of them are not receiving the proper treatment that they require and are therefore, suffering the consequences of this terrible disease without any psychiatric and psychological aid.

Schizophrenia is a chronic mental illness that affects people between the ages of 15 and 35 years old, and that causes a variety of psychological symptoms, including hallucinations and delusions.

The disease doesn’t distinguish among sex or race, since it is common in both males and females from different ethnic groups.

The causes of schizophrenia are not well defined. It is known that it has a very strong genetic component, since the risk of developing the disease increases if you have a direct relative that suffers from it, but it has not been linked to a specific form of inheritance. 

In fact, studies show that people with schizophrenia have different mutations in genes that participate in brain development, but there is not a single alteration in just one gene that is responsible for the illness.

There are also environmental factors that play an important role in the development of schizophrenia. For instance, scientists believe that certain viral infections, malnutrition during pregnancy and early childhood, as well as other factors, may increase the risk of genetic damage and brain diseases such as schizophrenia.

Disrupted chemical balance inside the brain

What is exactly happening inside the brain of a schizophrenic? Since the causes are still unknown, the mechanisms of damage are also not very well understood either. The disease is certainly a consequence of a disruption in the normal function of brain chemicals, known as neurotransmitters. Glutamate and dopamine brain chemicals are the most affected in the brain of schizophrenic patients.

In a normal brain, there is a balance between the release and retake of these neurotransmitters, in order to transmit the right signals, from one neuron to another, and create the correct response to whatever stimulus was sent to the brain.

In a brain from a schizophrenic patient, the balance is somehow disrupted, leading to the formation of abnormal signals and messages. As a consequence, the mind of a schizophrenic basically makes up things. 

See Also: Schizophrenia development

There is also evidence that the brain of a person suffering from schizophrenia shows signs of neuronal loss in certain brain regions, as well as alterations in the distribution and morphological characteristics of brain cells, causing the formation of mistaken neuronal connections. 

The consequence of these faulty connections between neurons and the imbalance in the production of neurotransmitters is the immersion of the patient into a psychotic state, characterized by hallucinations and delusions, which is very hard to handle by the patient and by everybody that surrounds him or her. 

Faulty Connections Lead To Aberrant Messages

The symptoms that schizophrenics experience are divided into three categories. These are positive, negative and cognitive symptoms. Here is a brief description of each one of them. 

Positive and negative symptoms

Positive symptoms refer to all those behaviors that make the patient look as if he or she had lost touch with reality. 

These include hallucinations, such as seeing, feeling, smelling or listening to people or things that are not real. The most common hallucination are the “voices” that tell the patient what to do or not to do.

Delusions, or false beliefs, are also positive symptoms. A delusional patient will often feel like he or she is being followed, or that people gossip behind their backs. Delusions can go as far as believing that someone can control their minds or that they are involved in some kind of conspiracy, which was the case of John Nash.

Thought and movement disorders also fall into this category of symptoms, and they are mainly detected as difficulty to articulate ideas, and to control of movements.

Negative symptoms refer to alterations in the patient’s emotional state.

These symptoms are similar to those seen in people with depression, because they usually involve lack of social interaction and interest in everyday life.

Cognitive symptoms and treatment of the disease

Finally, cognitive symptoms include subtle changes in brain activity and performance. For example, schizophrenic patients have a hard time focusing and paying attention, as well as memorizing and remembering facts and situations; they also have difficulties to acquire new knowledge and expressing themselves.

These situations could be followed by states of anxiety and depression. The fact that they start feeling that they can't control what they think and their actions makes them prone to develop other mental problems. 

Is this a treatable disease? Yes it is. Treatment focuses mainly on diminishing the symptoms and trying to give the patient the opportunity to have a normal life. But for a correct treatment a correct diagnoses is very important. 

Antipsychotics, like haloperidol, chlorpromazine and risperidone, are used to avoid hallucinations and delusions. Antipsychotics have several side effects though, including dizziness, drowsiness, rashes, alterations in vision and movement and weight gain. One of the main side effects is the loss of white blood cells, also known as agranulocytosis, which is mainly caused by the antipsychotic clozapine.

Psychosocial therapy is also a very important part of a schizophrenic patient’s treatment.

See Also: New solutions in Pharmacotherapy of Schizophrenia

Psychotherapy for schizophrenia is a therapeutic approach that involves one-on-one or group sessions between a person with schizophrenia and a trained mental health professional. Unlike traditional talk therapy, psychotherapy for schizophrenia often focuses on practical coping strategies and skill-building to help individuals manage their symptoms and improve their quality of life. The therapist works with the individual to explore their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, aiming to identify and challenge distorted beliefs or delusions.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is commonly used, emphasizing symptom management, problem-solving, and improving social functioning. Psychotherapy can help individuals understand their condition, enhance insight, reduce distress, and develop strategies to navigate daily challenges. It is often used in combination with medication and other support services to provide a comprehensive approach to managing schizophrenia.

These therapies help the patient in dealing with the disease and in knowing how to interact with family and people in general, in order to prevent patients from falling into alcohol and drug abuse, depression and suicide. Depending on the severity of the disease, it may be necessary to hospitalize the patient so that he or she can get the proper care from a health professional. 

There are diseases that can mimic the symptoms of schizophrenia. Among these are brain injury caused by trauma or embolism, brain tumors, epilepsy, narcolepsy, encephalitis, vitamin deficiencies and other genetic disorders. 

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