Schizophrenia Research Paper

1 Introduction

Schizophrenia is a complex and chronic mental disorder in which the illness prevents individuals from living a full and cohesive quality of life. The debilitating cognitive disorder affects how a patient thinks, feels and acts, where they can have difficulty in determining reality from fiction. The disorder is a long-term and acute illness that is undoubtedly disabling for each individual. Schizophrenic symptoms usually arise in males at an earlier age than females. Psychotic symptoms are a common occurrence for patients, in the form of hallucinations and delusions. Schizophrenia is a severe disturbance in an individual’s cognition. Its psychotic symptoms differs in each person, where they may see or hear things others do not,

A psychiatrist can only diagnose schizophrenia reliably by observing the individual over time. Many schizophrenics frequently having a decline in reasoning and memory abilities, anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts. General psychopathology (e.g. anxiety, depression) has shown to have been linked with schizophrenia where patients may experience these conditions; and along with negative symptoms, these have a negative relationship with quality of life. Antipsychotic medications and psychosocial therapy can aid the severity of schizophrenia, whilst in extreme situations hospitalisation may be required to ensure safety, sufficient sleep, hygiene and nutrition. Some patients may also be reluctant to take the medication because of the rare but serious side

It was found that the disorganised severity associated with worse QOL for schizophrenics, and that verbal memory deficiencies were linked. Accentuating the emphasis of developing and implementing treatment strategies addressing neurocognitive insufficiencies to improve QOL in schizophrenia patients and maximise recovery efforts are essential to a better life quality.

The quality of life cannot be measured precisely using a common method, however a general consensus exists that it is multidimensional (physical, psychological, social), subjective (QOL defined differently by individuals) and dynamic. Due to these features, quantifying QOL is complicated. The relationship between physical performance and disability has a significant association to activities in daily life reductions, where the limitations reduces the quality of life and independence within an