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What does John Nash (a Nobel Prize winning mathematician), Syd Barrett (the guitarist of Pink Floyd) and author Jack Kerouac have in common? They are all people who’ve been diagnosed with schizophrenia. It was traditionally believed that schizophrenia was a life-long debilitating disorder, but decades of schizophrenia research shows encouraging results as patients learn more about schizophrenia and how to adjust to the daily trials and tribulations of their mental illness.

Schizophrenia research reports some interesting findings. For instance, the mental illness is largely caused by a neuro-chemical imbalance of Dopamine, Seratonin and Norepenephrine. In a normal brain, the frontal lobe increases its blood flow and the “listening” part of the brain diminishes. PET scans reveal that in a schizophrenic brain, the frontal lobe is active but the “listening” part remains just as active. The sensory overload usually causes a hallucination. People who are born with schizophrenia generally have irregular brain cell patterns. Drugs and stress do not cause schizophrenia, but they can certainly exacerbate the symptoms. In some cases, family members who understand very little can agitate the symptoms by using an accusing tone of voice or reacting angrily to the sufferer.

Family members who know about schizophrenia can learn to recognize symptoms of an acute attack: a change in personality, social withdrawal, sleeplessness, agitation, using words that do not make sense and seeing things that aren’t there. It is important to create an environment that facilitates recovery. Keeping peace and serenity at home, helping the schizophrenic set realistic goals, sharing tasks, gradually increasing independence and encouraging new hobbies can all provide schizophrenia support.

Many recovering schizophrenics seek to educate the public. While 2.5 Americans have been diagnosed with the disorder, it is believed that many more suffer quietly, for fear of being further ostracized by the stigma of a severe mental illness. Myths propagate the media - insinuating that a few isolated cases of schizophrenia-related violence are representative of the whole. With further education about schizophrenia, more cases will move to treatment and more treatments will be successful.

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