Schizophrenia and the effects it has on the family unit - Essay Example

? Schizophrenia and the effects it has on the family unit Schizophrenia and the effects it has on the family unit Schizophrenia is one of the complexand mysterious mental diseases seen mainly among the adult people across the world. The exact reasons for this disease are yet to be known and the symptoms of this disease appear in different ways among different patients. It prevents the patients from; rational thinking or critical thinking, segregating between real and unreal incidents, behaving normally in the society, showing normal emotions etc. According to Vaskinn et al (2011), “neurocognitive dysfunction is present in schizophrenia”(Vaskinn et al, 2011, p.499). Neurocognitive dysfunction can occur because of various reasons related to heredity and environment. As in the case of many other mental diseases, both genetics and environmental reasons seem to be the major causes behind Schizophrenia. It affects both men and women equally even though the symptoms may slightly vary among men and women. Even though Schizophrenia affects mostly the adult people, childhood schizophrenia may also occur in rare cases. Anxiety, sleeping problems, attention problems, lack of emotions, hallucinations, staying away from others, etc are some of the major symptoms of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia can affect not only the individual, but also the entire family members in various ways. It can destroy the peaceful atmosphere in the family in many ways. Schizophrenia patients need full support from all family members for a speedy recovery. Even if a single member in the family shows some displeasure towards the patient, recovery from the disease could be delayed. Even simple incidents may cause big impacts in the minds of the patient therefore effective cooperation from family members is necessary in the treatment of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia and its effects on family A Meta-analysis provides strong evidence that when family members are included in treatment program the relapse rate decreases markedly. It is well documented that family environment influences the prognosis of schizophrenia. A substantial body of research on expressed emotion (EE) has documented the important role of the family and studies have noted that level of expressed emotions in a family is highly predictive of relapse in recently discharged patient with schizophrenia who are in contact with their relatives (Nasr & Kausar, 2009, p.73) Medications have limitations in helping schizophrenia patients in their recovery process; however family has definite roles in the recovery process of the schizophrenia patients. Since hospitalization of schizophrenia patients are impractical and illogical, it is better to allow schizophrenia patients to stay with their family members or in a family atmosphere. However, it is very much important that the family members should provide a peaceful atmosphere to the patient. Medications will be more effective only when the patient gets a positive environment for his recovery. “When compared with healthy men and women, respectively, data indicate that men with schizophrenia are more likely to have neurocognitive deficits than women with schizophrenia are” (Vaskinn et al, 2011, p.500). Men and women have drastic differences in their behaviour because of the genetic differences between them. For example, men behave more aggressive than women because of biological differences between them. In other words, the genetic factors which controls neurocognition and social functioning are different among men and women and therefore the symptoms shown by men and women because of schizophrenia disease could be different. Male schizophrenia patients could be easily agitated than female schizophrenia patients because of the differences in their cognitive abilities and social interactions. In short, management of male schizophrenia patients could be more difficult than the female schizophrenia patients as far as the family members are concerned. According to Heerey (2010), “in situations in which behaviours and/or goals are rewarded on a daily or hourly basis, people with schizophrenia engage quite readily” (Heerey, 2010, p.483). The above findings clearly underline the importance of rewards in the speedy recovery of schizophrenia patients. There are many cases in which family members blame or criticize schizophrenia patients for their inability to behave normally. Instead of criticizing the deviant behaviours of schizophrenia patients, it is better to encourage them to show more acceptable behaviour with the help of rewards. For example, praising words will definitely encourage schizophrenia patients to repeat the behaviour which brought them praises from his family members. It is quite possible that schizophrenia patients behave like children. However, it is illogical to punish schizophrenia patients for their childish behaviour. Very often, patients with schizophrenia are discharged from the hospital into the care of their family; so it is important that family members learn all they can about schizophrenia and understand the difficulties and problems associated with the illness. It is also helpful for family members to learn ways to minimize the patient’s chance of relapse – for example, by using different treatment adherence strategies – and to be aware of the various kinds of outpatient and family services available in the period after hospitalization. Family “psychoeducation,” which includes teaching various coping strategies and problem-solving skills, may help families deal more effectively with their ill relative and may contribute to an improved outcome for the patient (Overview of Schizophrenia, 2002) Hallucinations, delusions, illusions etc are some of the common symptoms of schizophrenia. All these symptoms force the patient to think irrationally and behave abnormally. These abnormal behaviours can cause discomfort to the family members. For example, it is quite possible that a schizophrenia patient may complain that he had seen, felt or heard something unrealistic. Instead of blaming or criticizing the patient, family members should talk logically to him in order to expel such unrealistic feelings. People who have the habit of substance abuse may also exhibit the same symptoms as that of schizophrenia. Since schizophrenia is commonly seen among teenagers, family members can misunderstand the symptoms of schizophrenia as the symptoms of substance abuse. Thus they may start to criticize the patients without knowing the actual reasons for his abnormal behaviour. In short, it is quite possible that the schizophrenia patients may face lot of criticism from the family members because of misunderstanding which will increase the complexity of the disease further. “Individuals with schizophrenia often develop five symptoms that are difficult for the individual, parents, brothers, sisters, professionals and others to deal with. The symptoms are paranoia, denial of illness, stigma, demoralization, and terror of being psychotic” (How to manage 5 common symptoms of schizophrenia, 2004). Under normal circumstances, schizophrenia patients may not show any violent behavior. However, if the patient has the previous history of violence, aggressive behavior or substance abuse, the chances of violent behavior cannot be ruled out. Thus family members will be forced to live under uncertain conditions or under the threat of violence from the patient, which is not a comfortable thing for them. They will show reluctance in interacting with the patient because of the above fear. However, such reluctance in behaving normally with the patient will increase the frustration and discomfort of the patient which is not a good sign as far as recovery is concerned. So, family members should adopt a cautious approach towards the patient and they should make sure that their behavior never becomes offensive to the patient. Conclusions Patients with schizophrenia disease may show symptoms like hallucinations, delusions, lack of sleeping, lack of emotions, abnormal behaviours, lack of logical thinking etc. People or family members may take symptoms of schizophrenia as the symptoms of substance abuse since both these problems have similar symptoms. Factors, related to heredity and environment are believed to be the major causes of schizophrenia. In short, schizophrenia is a mysterious, complex psychological disorder which is difficult to treat with the help of medicines alone. The involvement of family members is necessary in the treatment of schizophrenia. References Heerey EA, Matveeva TM and Gold JM.(2010). Imagining the Future: Degraded Representations of Future Rewards and Events in Schizophrenia. Journal of Abnormal Psychology. American Psychological Association 2011, Vol. 120, No. 2, 483–489 0021-843X/10/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0021810 Database: EBSCOhost How to manage 5 common symptoms of schizophrenia, (2004). Retrieved from http://www.schizophrenia.com/family/mansymptoms.htm Nasr T & Kausar R. (2009). Effects of family psycho education On relapse prevention of Schizophrenia patients in Pakistan. Journal of Pakistan Psychiatric Society Date: July 1, 2009. Database: EBSCOhost Overview of Schizophrenia (2002). Retrieved from http://www.schizophrenia.com/family/sz.overview.htm Vaskinn A, Sundet K, Simonsen C, Hellvin T, Melle I & Andreassen O.A (2011). Sex Differences in Neuropsychological Performance and Social Functioning in Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder. Neuropsychology. American Psychological Association 2011, Vol. 25, No. 4, 499–510 0894-4105/11/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0022677. Database: EBSCOhost Read More