Living With Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia can affect every part of your life. It can make you experience things that aren’t real, which can make recognizing symptoms harder. But treatments can help.

Understanding schizophrenia

Schizophrenia can be scary. It affects your thoughts, emotions, memory and behavior. This can damage your relationships and make you doubt yourself and others around you. But you’re still you, no matter what.

Schizophrenia usually happens in three phases. It starts to cause symptoms, they gradually affect your life more and then improve after you start treatment. It may be hard to recognize symptoms in yourself. Try to trust friends or loved ones who express concern or share what they’re seeing.

You may experience some or all of the five most common symptoms.

Delusions

These are things you may believe, even if there’s plenty of proof that they’re not true. Sometimes, these beliefs can make you feel suspicious or paranoid.

Hallucinations

Hallucinations are things you see, hear, feel or sense that aren’t there. You might hear voices or think people or characters are telling you to do things.

Trouble speaking

It might be hard to organize your thoughts or communicate with others. Your thoughts may feel jumbled or it might be hard to speak the way you want to. Sometimes, it might sound like you’re talking with no emotion or feeling.

Disorganized movement

You might physically move your body in unusual ways. This might mean making repetitive movements or staying still for an unusually long time.

Negative symptoms

These are symptoms that make it hard or impossible for you to do daily activities. It may feel pointless to participate in your typical routine, like you’ve lost motivation to do anything. You may have depression or experience suicidal thoughts.

Treating schizophrenia

Your healthcare providers will suggest a combination of medications and therapy techniques to treat schizophrenia. Your care team will work with you to make sure you’re safe and feel confident managing the symptoms.

Managing schizophrenia is a lifelong process. Don’t be afraid to ask your healthcare provider lots of questions. They’re there to help you learn what works best for you.

Medications

You’ll probably need antipsychotic medications. There are lots of options that can help you manage symptoms and feel more in control of your thoughts and actions.

Therapy

Talking to a mental health professional for cognitive behavioral therapy can help you process your experiences. It can also help you manage other issues like depression and increased anxiety. Share any feelings you have with your therapist. They won’t judge you. They’re there to help.

Other treatments

Your provider might suggest electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). This stimulates your brain with safe, controlled bursts of electricity to improve your brain function.