Schizophrenia Hallucination was first identified more than 10 years ago, but we don’t know the exact causes. It remains one of the most misunderstood stigmatized illnesses to this day. Let’s talk about it from symptoms to its cause and treatments.

Schizophrenia is considered as syndrome which means it may encompass a number of related disorders that have similar symptoms but very incuses.  Every person with schizophrenia has slightly different symptoms and the first signs can be easy to miss. Certain personality changes, irritability or gradual encroachments of unusual thoughts. Patients are usually diagnosed from the onset of schizophrenia which occurs in the late teens or early 20s for men and the late 20s and early 30s for women (according to research). Delusion, hallucination and disordered speech and behavior, these are called positive symptoms meaning they occur with people with schizophrenia and not in general population.

It is a common misconception that people with schizophrenia have multiple personalities, but the symptoms indicate a disruption of top processes rather than the manifestation of another personality. Schizophrenia also has negative symptoms. These are what are released in people with schizophrenia such as motivation expression of emotion or speech.

They are cognitive symptoms as well like difficulty concentrating, remembering information and making decision so what causes the onset of schizophrenia, they are likely even single cause but a combination of genetics and environmental risk factors that can contribute. Schizophrenia has some of the strongest genetic links of any psychiatric illness, though about 1% of people have schizophrenia. Children or siblings with this illness are 10 times likely to develop disease and an identical twin of some with schizophrenia has 40% fully chance of being affected often immediate. Relatives of people with exhibit mild diversion of traits associated with an extent that requires treatment. Multiple genes almost certainly played a role we don’t know how may or which ones. Environmental factors like explore to certain viruses in early infants might increase the chance that someone will develop schizophrenia and use of some drugs includes marijuana, may trigger the level of schizophrenia in individual. These factors don’t affect everyone the same way for those with large genetic risks factors will lead them to develop schizophrenia, for those with very high-risk moderating risk might top the balance. The antipsychotic drugs used to treat schizophrenia have helped research worked backward to trace signatures of disorder in the brain. Traditional antipsychotic in the brain blocks dopamine. It can be very effective in reducing positive symptoms which are linked in excess of dopamine in a particular brain pathway, but the same drugs can make negative symptoms worst.

New generation of Anti-psychotic aims to address some of these issues by targeting multiple neural transmitters like serotinin addition to dopamine. They have side effect like weight gain in spite of this condition, antipsychotic can be very effective, especially when combined with other interventions like cognitive behaviors or therapy. Early intervention is also extremely important after months or years of untreated psychosis, certain psychosis can become embedded in someone personality and yet the dehumanizing stigma attached this diagnosis can present people from seeking help. People with this illness are often perceived as dangerous but are much more likely to be the victims of violence than the perpetrators and proper treatments produce a likelihood of violence associated with schizophrenia that’s why education for patient communicates and families erase stigma and improve access to treatment.

How to know if you are hallucinating.

It’s possible to experience hallucination while being aware that they aren’t real. Let’s take an instance some people might be grieving the death of a loved one and momentarily hears the voices of the deceased or most times see them. Most people are also able to tell that the hallucination that happens when they are falling asleep or waking up isn’t real.  In this case you can use your environment to tell what you are experiencing aren’t real. However, some people do not realize they are hallucinating and that is what will lead to schizophrenia and also dementia.

Some temporary causes of hallucinations

• Sleep deprivation
• Severe dehydration
• Migraine
• Severe pain
• Trauma
• Alcohol or certain drugs such as marijuana, hallucinogens, cocaine
• Grieving
• Anesthesia recovering after surgery process.

Common ways to prevent acute hallucination.

In as much as majority of us once in a while experience hallucination, I would advise that we take preventive measures if it becomes so much occurring. These may not definitely help you to stop hallucinating; it will help towards the journey.

Seek for help:   Most times we tend to fix things by ourselves, without seeking for help. Most especially from a mental health therapist, they will help you get off some burdens with hallucinating.

Get enough sleep:   As much as it might sound so simple, it is highly recommended for your mental state condition. Many people glorify stress so much that they underrate the side effect of proper rest on our body. Stress will make you not to think effectively, its side effects are numerous and counting.

Free your mind: Free your mind from all the various thoughts that are accumulated, it does a lot to your mental health, the deeper it gets, the deeper it goes. Clear your head, you might lose a loved one who you constantly think of, maybe it’s being years or months, but you will have to make up your mind to arrest your thoughts, so it doesn’t end up eating you deep.

Do not stay alone: This might cone as a surprise but, do not stay alone in your house. Staying alone has its own good side and bad side entirely. But as someone suffering from chronic hallucination, you need the presence of people, their noise and interactions with you, will disrupt your thoughts. The company of friends, family, does a great wonder in reductions of hallucinations.

Thank you so much for reading through, I would love you to share this link to your friends who might be passing through terrible hallucination. Please I want you to know that this is not a disease and those who suffer such mental case should not be discriminated.

Kindly read more on various topics published on this site for any form of mental health journey you are passing through. Cheers!