What a horrible disease. These people may be living normal, healthy lives, than BAM! They are crazy. It usually starts to manifest in the early 20's, when people are just getting their lives together. I have been thinking and reading about schizophrenia a lot since we have so many patient with it currently.
It is sad because it can affect anyone from any walk of life, although there is usually a genetic component (aka mom or dad had it). They can be successful business men that end up on the streets because they are so paranoid or they can't do day to day activities. It is true, a large majority of homeless people, suffer from schizophrenia. A lot of them are homeless due to their disease, not the other way around.
There is a women on the unit who has to have her arms and legs tied down to the bed because voices are telling her to hurt herself and others. These people realyl hear these voices and it is very much a reality to them. There is no cure or any thing you can say that make these voices or visual hallucinations go away for good. It has totally changed the way I look at "crazy" people.
I guess you learn something everyday. That is really, really sad. I didn't know it just comes out of nowhere. Scary.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-schizophrenia29-2009jun29,0,4834892.story
ReplyDeleteI read this article awhile back, you probably have already seen in, about the 7-year old with schizophrenia. Really sad and like you said there isn't much they can do, her parents have to get two places to seperate her and her younger brother so she won't hurt him.