Symptoms and Treatment of Teen Schizophrenia

Teenagers affected by schizophrenia will show major changes in personality and thinking patterns, sometimes these can last for long periods, but other sufferers can have less severe changes, which last for shorter periods of time. But with this kind of illness strangely enough, the teen can experience and show times of normal behavior and thinking, before lapsing into schizophrenic behavior again.

Symptoms of Teen Schizophrenia

• The teenager may suffer from Hallucinations which involve the hearing voices giving the teen instructions or criticizing him/her. The senses of feel and touch can also be affected and to the teen these voices and sensations are very real!
• Sometimes the youngster may feel the Delusions that he/she is very powerful or is being persecuted, it is not uncommon for a sufferer to have great feelings of guilt for things which they have not done, can become so afraid of these feelings that they will often become reclusive.
• Disordered Thinking It can be very difficult to converse with a schizophrenic sufferer, their thoughts and speech are often jumbled and they will jump from one subject of conversation constantly, in accordance with their jumbled brain patterns.

There are other symptoms of the illness like loss of self motivation, difficulty in thinking clearly, and because the hallucinations and delusions seem to be so real to the teen sufferer, may cause them to believe that they are not ill at all, and refuse to take any recommended medication.

There is no absolute cure for teen schizophrenia, but it has been found that a combination of medication and counseling can help control the disruption in the daily life of the teenager.

Medical Treatment                                                                          

a).  Many teen sufferers need hospitalization following their first attack of the illness, but following medical treatment and support can go home and fit into community life reasonably well. The advent of modern medicines has given many teens a new lease on life.

b). The medicine treats the chemical imbalance (such as Dopamine) within the brain, and although past treatments have had some very unpleasant side-effects modern medicines are far more effective with fewer side-effects…

c).  For teens who suffer one episode of schizophrenia it is recommended that they maintain the medicine for at least one year, for those who have suffered more than one attack then the treatment should continue for up to at least 5 years.

Support Therapy. Much of the care for a schizophrenic teen will of necessity come from the family, but due to the nature of the illness this too can be problematic, the family may feel a social stigma themselves at having mental illness in the family, they might be frightened of catching the illness, however unlikely that is, and they will have to contend with a teen who does not believe her/him self to be ill anyway, and refuse to be treated either medically Serious outside counseling has to be seriously considered.