How to recognize the first stage of schizophrenia: symptoms of the disease

One of the most complex and controversial psychiatric diseases of our time is schizophrenia.
Its symptoms are so diverse that only a highly qualified psychiatrist can diagnose the disease. The prerequisites for the disease can appear suddenly and unexpectedly. Therefore, it is necessary to be aware of such a mental disorder and its symptoms. This will allow you to recognize the disease in time and seek help in advance.

general information

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that has different clinical manifestations in men and women. Globally, the disease affects 0.6-1% of the population. The trigger for the development of pathology in the presence of a genetic predisposition are certain environmental factors. These include:

long-term use of alcoholic beverages, as well as drug addiction and substance abuse;
psychotraumatic situations in childhood, leading to changes in the psychological comfort of a child or adolescent;
organic diseases of the brain: traumatic brain injuries, tumors, infectious lesions, etc.;
chronic stress or acute stressful situations.

The main cause of schizophrenia in humans, according to physiology and psychiatry, is an imbalance of neurotransmitters. There are several theories that explain the symptoms of the disease by changes in the functioning of the dopamine, cholinergic and keturene systems. In psychology, much attention is paid to the development of the child in childhood, since the internal conflicts of the child in the psyche and external conflicts in the family and with peers come to the fore.

Treatment methods

Treatment of fur coat-like schizophrenia is carried out in a hospital. Antipsychotics or neuroleptics are prescribed. Despite the large number of side effects, haloperidol and aminazine are still preferred in the treatment of schizophrenia. Lighter medications can only be prescribed for schizoaffective disorder.

If catatonia or stupor develops, treatment may be supplemented with electroconvulsive therapy.

In Russia and some CIS countries, insulin shock therapy, banned in Europe and the USA, is still used. Despite the multiple risks, this method in some cases gives good results.

Types of disease

There are several classifications of schizophrenia. Depending on the type of course, pathology is distinguished with a continuous course, recurrent (periodic) and fur-like (paroxysmal). The periodic variant of schizophrenia is characterized by alternating exacerbations and remissions, the duration of which varies. In fur coat disorder, the symptoms of the disease are stable, but the severity of delusions, hallucinations and movement disorders changes.

You should not self-diagnose yourself or a loved one. Only a psychiatrist can conduct an examination and select therapy.

With malignant or progressive schizophrenia, productive symptoms come to the fore: delusions and hallucinations. This type of disease most often develops in adolescents and rarely occurs in adulthood. Depending on the predominant symptoms, the following variants of malignant schizophrenia are distinguished:

a simple form with pronounced negative symptoms. Patients are apathetic and emotionally cold. Speech disturbances occur early. Apato-abulic syndrome develops, characterized by inactivity, emotional and physical weakness. Auditory hallucinations are short-lived;
the catatonic variant is accompanied by severe catatonia. The patient experiences stupor and confusion of varying degrees of severity. During periods of catatonia, schizophrenics freeze in one position and do not move. They can be given any position, including non-physiological ones. Hallucinatory phenomena and delusions are episodic in nature;
paranoid schizophrenia is characterized by delusions that cannot be systematized. Therefore, emerging pathological ideas may be mutually exclusive. For example, a patient may simultaneously exhibit delusions of persecution and grandeur. The paranoid variant of the pathology is characterized by auditory pseudo- and true hallucinations. Catatonic disorders are mild;
hebephrenic disorder is manifested by foolishness and antics. The patient grimaces and is motorically agitated. Hallucinations and delusions are rarely detected. They are episodic and unexpressed.

Malignant schizophrenia is characterized by rapid development. Speaking about how long the pathology progresses, doctors note that after 3-4 years severe mental defects appear. They are irreversible.

Which doctor does the therapy?

A neurologist and a psychiatrist can help overcome this disease. It is best if these two specialists work together. The doctors' task is to:

Study how pathology manifests itself during attacks and between them.
Analyze the patient's life history.
Talk to the patient's loved ones.

Only after the diagnosis is confirmed and the form of the disease is determined, treatment tactics are chosen.

With the modern level of development of medicine, even the most severe mental disorders are treatable. It may not be a 100% recovery, but the patient’s quality of life can improve significantly, and remissions will have a longer period. If you have the slightest suspicion of mental pathology, be sure to visit a specialist; this is the only way to prevent the disease from worsening.

Initial stages of schizophrenia

The symptoms of schizophrenia develop through certain stages, constantly progressing. The greatest effectiveness of treatment is at the embryonic stage of the development of the disease. However, patients rarely consult a doctor in the first stage of schizophrenia. Knowledge of the main clinical signs of the disease allows one to suspect pathology. These include:

human isolation. He begins to communicate less with his friends and family, and avoids contact with new people. When communicating, psychological fatigue, emotional lability and increased anxiety occur. This sign is easy to identify in people who were previously noted for being sociable;
hallucinations with disorientation in space and time. At the initial stage of the disease, the patient can share them with people around him. Schizophrenia is characterized by visual and auditory hallucinations that have different contents;
delusions are characteristic of any stage of schizophrenia. It can occur in two forms: associated with hallucinations or paranoia. In the first option, the patient feels that the people around him are condemning him, forming ideas of conspiracy, persecution, etc. Paranoid delusions are characterized by thoughts about the exclusivity of one’s own personality;
changes in thinking with deviations in emotional and intellectual abilities. A person has difficulty concentrating on his own thoughts or any activity, and may experience anxiety attacks. Characterized by apathy and indifference to people or events. For many patients, o is a condition in which a person constantly moves on to new topics of conversation, cutting off previous ones;
behavioral changes: staying awake at night and taking long naps during the day, insomnia, loss of interest in hobbies. Patients begin to behave sloppy and do not pay attention to their appearance and hygiene.

If these symptoms of schizophrenia are detected, you should seek medical help from a psychiatrist. Early diagnosis and selection of treatment can prevent the progression of the disease.

Psychiatrists do not know what determines the development of a particular form of schizophrenia. This is believed to indicate a defect in neurotransmitter systems.

Sluggish disorder

Sluggish schizophrenia occurs most often - in 45-55% of patients. The prognosis is favorable with timely therapy. This variant of the disease remains unnoticed by others for a long time.

Symptoms of schizophrenia develop slowly, usually over several months. The patient does not perceive the symptoms that have arisen and adapts to them. Gradual progression leads to an increase in the severity of clinical manifestations. Depressive disorder, irrational fears or foolishness occur. Delusional thoughts and hallucinations gradually develop.

Recurrent option

With a recurrent course, symptoms of schizophrenia occur periodically. In this regard, personality changes are weakly expressed, and the patient remains socially and professionally adapted for a long time. The attacks last for varying periods of time. Symptoms include: depression, auditory and visual hallucinations, delusions, disturbances in motor behavior and confusion.

Manifestations of the first stage of the disease

Schizophrenia of the 1st degree is characterized by the preservation of a person’s previous level of performance. Many schizophrenics do not attract the attention of others for a long time, since the symptoms of the disease are weakly expressed. Most often, changes in personality are noticed by close people, for example, a spouse, friends, etc. The main manifestations of the disease during this period are as follows:

depressive disorder not associated with any life events;
aggression towards others and emotional lability;
increased anxiety, fears regarding your personal and professional life. Panic attacks are possible;
sloppiness in appearance;
the emergence of thoughts and their systems that explain any events;
social isolation with apathy towards loved ones;
obsessive movements and thoughts of various contents.

The initial or first stage of schizophrenia often goes unnoticed even by doctors. At the first examination of a patient, specialists may make an incorrect diagnosis: depression, bipolar affective disorder, etc. As a result of incorrect diagnosis, the pathology progresses, which leads to the appearance of characteristic signs of schizophrenia - hallucinations, delusions, catatonic inhibition or agitation.

If one of the parents suffers from schizophrenia, the child cannot avoid a similar fate

It is believed that parents with schizophrenia give birth to a mentally ill child. This statement is fundamentally incorrect. Heredity cannot be ruled out, but it is not the disease that is transmitted, but the tendency to it. Therefore, it is wrong to give up on a child whose mother and father or one of them suffers from schizophrenia.

The theoretical probability of inheriting the disease is estimated at 67-88%. But in reality the numbers are not so scary:

in identical twins (even those with a genetic predisposition) - 45-47%;
Mom or dad is sick - 14%, both - 45%;
the diagnosis was made to close relatives – about 5%.

Various types of research continue to establish the degree of inheritance of schizophrenia. But so far the results are mixed and preliminary. Scientists already know specific genes that can trigger the development of the disease. This is revealed by reading genetic information and carefully studying it.

More precise data were obtained by trying to link this disease to changes in the gene component of several candidates. Thus, the majority of schizophrenics have a polyform type of serotonin, dopamine and COMT genes. But their presence can also be associated with other mental disorders. So, even if there is a complete breakdown of the genotype, it is impossible to give an accurate forecast of whether a person will develop schizophrenia or not.

Treatment programs

Treatment of depression

Panic attacks

Treatment of schizophrenia

Neuroses, phobias

Second period of illness

The second stage of schizophrenia leads to the fact that the patient is aware of the presence of pathology, or the symptoms progress. In the first option, early seeking medical help allows you to control the course of the disease and achieve a full recovery. Schizophrenia cannot disappear on its own.

In the absence of therapy, a person quickly adapts to existing symptoms. He begins to take into account existing delusions and hallucinations when making decisions and adjusts his behavior. In the absence of therapy, clinical signs develop and the following symptoms occur:

complete apathy with a lack of emotional reaction to current events and loved ones;
the emergence of complex delusional systems that take into account various spheres of human life;
dementia typical of older people;
disturbances in motor activity with its depression or constant motor agitation.

Symptoms of schizophrenia in the second phase become chronic. Contact with other people may disappear completely. Patients develop somatic disorders: headaches, disorders of the digestive system, general fatigue, etc. When talking with the patient, confused speech, sharp transitions between thoughts and incomplete sentences are noted.

Transformation of consciousness

Delusions and hallucinatory experiences are integral manifestations of schizophrenia. These also include pseudohallucinations. These are false auditory perceptions of a strange nature. The voices that the patient hears, in his opinion, can come either from the head or from any other organ - arms, legs or stomach.

A schizophrenic cannot escape the feeling of the presence in the body of something unpleasant, forcefully imposed. He can engage in a discussion, ask questions, or argue about anything with this voice. At the same time, the audible voice, as the patient claims, does the same. The continued development of the disease is characterized by the addition of delusional ideas to hallucinations.

Delusional formation comes in various directions:

delusion of persecution - the belief that someone is following a person or is constantly watching him;
delusion of relationships - a strong belief that everything happening around them is directly related to the patient;
delusion of influence - a person thinks that someone is directing his thoughts, and he cannot control them on his own;
delusion of special meaning - a belief in one’s own greatness, power, or possession of unique abilities.

As schizophrenia develops, a condition called emotional-volitional defect occurs. It gives rise to a lack of strong-willed qualities and complete indifference to the world around us. Habitual everyday tasks that every person performs every day, without even thinking, are a real feat for a schizophrenic. He cannot bring himself to do such simple things as:

brush your teeth;
wash your hair;
cook food;
go to the shop;
do basic cleaning of the apartment.

The emotional sphere of the patient suffers. This is expressed by the loss of the ability to show tenderness, affection, sympathy, affection, tact, and frugality. Such a person changes noticeably, he becomes tough, indifferent and cold, and sometimes even cruel. Sometimes this can even manifest itself in aggressive attacks. Relationships with loved ones change for the worse because they do not understand his condition.

Symptoms of the third phase

The third degree of schizophrenia is characterized by degradation and disintegration of a person’s personality. The patient loses the ability to compensate for psychological disorders, as a result of which pronounced emotional and intellectual deviations are revealed. The main manifestations of this stage are disorientation in space, time and self. Delusions and hallucinations are mild. At the same time, the schizophrenic becomes inadequate and poses a threat to himself and others.

The third stage of the disease is accompanied by apathy and lack of will. The patient's actions and statements cannot be rationally explained. This leads to complete social and professional maladjustment.

Examination of the patient

Only a psychiatrist makes the final diagnosis and selects treatment. Self-therapy for schizophrenia is unacceptable. The examination includes several stages:

Collection of existing complaints and anamnesis of the development of the disease. The specialist must talk with the patient’s relatives, since they are the ones who can note pathological deviations in his behavior.
Study of the patient's mental state. Schizophrenia can be expressed in changes in mood, the appearance of delusions, hallucinations and other symptoms. The neurological status is also examined, since complaints may be associated with organic changes in the anatomy of the central nervous system.
General clinical research methods: clinical and biochemical blood tests, ECG, etc. Allow you to assess your general health and detect concomitant pathologies.
Electroencephalography (EEG) is used to look for negative changes in the functional activity of the brain.
Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging evaluate the structural integrity of the central nervous system. In this case, MRI is of great value, as it allows one to identify minimal deviations in the structure of the central nervous system.

A comprehensive examination of the patient is necessary to make an accurate diagnosis.

Schizophrenia can exist for a long time with minimal clinical symptoms. Due to the fact that the effectiveness of therapy depends on the timing of seeking medical help, if any signs of pathology appear, it is recommended to immediately consult a psychiatrist.