The CDC classifies schizophrenia as a mental health condition that normally emerges in early childhood and late adolescence that impacts thinking, speech, and emotional behavior. The manifestation of the symptoms may be sudden or gradual, making it a lifelong condition with diverse symptoms. Henceforth schizophrenia affects people in different ways to exhibit some common symptoms (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], n.d.). These include lack of motivation, difficulty concentrating, psychosis, and lack of facial and emotional expression. However, before these symptoms, the affected individual may be anxious, lack focus, and act weird by announcing delusional and hallucinations communication. The symptoms are exhibited through social life that is characterized by isolation because of being paranoid.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health schizophrenia is likely to develop in a person subjected to a specific environment and genetic construct. Schizophrenia is genetically inherited, whereby if someone has no history of it, then the chance of them contracting the condition is one percent (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2020). The chemical fluctuation causing schizophrenia in the brain handles neurotransmission that are dopamine and serotonin. Environmental factors cause schizophrenia through viral infection, and psychological issues, such as trauma. However, it is noted that certain drugs and medications such as bang may stimulate schizophrenia in those subjected to them. It is, therefore, suggestive that persons with schizophrenia are more likely to consume cannabis.
The commonality of schizophrenia is that worldwide, it affects twenty million persons. This translates to the annual number of new incidences of schizophrenia such that out of a group of 10000, one person is affected. Schizophrenia is one of the top fifteen diseases causing disability. Schizophrenia over the years has prevailed among U.S adults, with an estimate of 1.5 million persons every year. This is according to a report by National Alliance on Mental Illness (U.S Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.). However, NIMH suggests that schizophrenia is often diagnosed in young people from their late teens and early 30s, with males exhibiting its symptoms earlier and later in with their female counterparts.
In schizophrenia, health disparities are engrained within a spectrum of socio-economic differences, considering the racial grouping in terms of wealth and income. Health and mental health care disparities are highly affiliated to access and lack of insurance in the minority groups. In the U.S, the racial groupings mainly comprise whites, blacks, and Hispanic persons. Disparities in health status are life expectancy stimulated by differential mortality among ethnic groups. In health care, disparities exist since there is a gap between recommended care and what is to be distributed (U.S Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.). Disparities in mental health status are not exhibited equivalent to those of health discrepancies such that they cannot be eliminated in brain healthcare provided in both psychiatric and primary care setups.
There are many preventive strategies in place to avert the occurrence of schizophrenia. To prevent conduct disorders, aggression, and violence associated with schizophrenia, behavior management, and multimodal school program approaches are acceptable. However, in preventing depression and depressive symptomatology associated with schizophrenia, protective factors among target populations should be founded. Anxiety disorders associated with schizophrenia may be prevented through early diagnosis (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2020). The population at risk of schizophrenia is children with anxious parents and the adolescent. Therefore, target groups should undergo diagnosis as early as possible to set the right treatment or preventive measures that are well informed for a recommendation.
Research on schizophrenia has taken a new perspective in which we should approach it while providing treatment and preventive guidance. Research on epidemiological studies has revealed that its methodological problems raise the alarm on the underserved casual hypothesizing. The etiology of schizophrenia has been developing in recent years (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2020). However, with no discovery of a single agent, there leaves a series of new knowledge into the functioning of the brain’s physiology of those suffering from schizophrenia.
The pathological effects of stress on schizophrenia manifest in different forms. Vulnerabilities of stress are enhanced on people with schizophrenia, whereby they react with more negative emotions to everyday stressors than do controls. This can be seen in between prenatal and postnatal stress activities, whereby clinical studies reveal that baseline cortisol is a risk factor for psychosis in prodromal patients (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2020). Fluctuation of the baseline cortisol is associated with demographic and behavioral characteristics whereby the target population is subjected to stress-related conditions, such as PTSD. Therefore, elevated cortisol reflects on physiological stress affiliated with relapse or aggravation of medical illnesses such as sclerosis, colitis, and asthma.
Various evidence-based stress management interventions would aid with preventing or curing schizophrenia. These stress management interventions take the form of prevention, treatment, and care. In preventive interventions, there should be communal mainstreaming programs on psychoses. Intensive home-based assessment of the target populations is appropriate to stress management and enhances problem-solving skills. In treating schizophrenia, there are various drugs responsible for inhibiting dopamine receptors (U.S Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.). However, high exposure to these drugs may cause side effects that are often distressing and dangerous. In caring for stress victims, family or group care interventions play a crucial role by training communication skills directed at improving the circulation of information.
References
American Psychiatric Association. (2020). The American Psychiatric Association practice guideline for the treatment of patients with schizophrenia. American Psychiatric Pub.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (n.d.). Diseases and conditions. Web.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Healthy People 2030. Web.