Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a serious mental health disorder defined by psychotic episodes that make you lose touch with reality. With consistent treatment, you can lower your risk of future psychotic breaks and gain the tools you need to live your best life. The Mental Health Counseling and Wellness Center providers in Las Vegas, Nevada, offer exceptional help for schizophrenia through virtual psychiatry appointments. If you need psychiatric care for schizophrenia, call the office or request an appointment online today.

What is schizophrenia?

Schizophrenia is a severe brain disorder that affects the way you interpret reality, interferes with your ability to think and manage emotions, and disrupts the way you live and relate to other people. Most people are diagnosed with schizophrenia between late adolescence and their early 30s.

What symptoms occur if I have schizophrenia?

People with schizophrenia go through episodes when their disease is active and their symptoms are severe. Each episode, called a psychotic break, is followed by periods when you have few or no symptoms.

During a psychotic episode, you lose touch with reality due to a disruption in the way your brain processes information. It’s also common to have memory loss and trouble concentrating.

Schizophrenia symptoms fall into three categories:

Positive symptoms

Positive symptoms appear during a psychotic episode. These symptoms include paranoia, delusions, hallucinations, and distorted or exaggerated perceptions.

Delusions occur when you firmly believe something that’s not grounded in reality. For example, you may be certain someone is trying to kill you. When you have hallucinations, you hear, see, smell, taste, or feel something that’s not there. The most common hallucination is hearing voices.

Negative symptoms

Negative symptoms refer to things you normally do, but then they disappear when you have a psychotic episode. For example, you may stop making plans to engage in activities and struggle to speak, express emotions, or socialize.

Disorganized symptoms

This group includes: 

• Confused and illogical thinking
• Jumbled or rambling speech
• Abnormal movements
• Bizarre behaviors
• Repetitive movements
• Responding to one topic with an unrelated topic
• Repeating what another person said

You may also develop catatonia, a condition in which you don’t move or respond to your environment.

How is schizophrenia treated?

Mental Health Counseling and Wellness Center takes a holistic approach to treating schizophrenia, recommending a combination of medication, therapy, and self-help strategies. Combining medication with therapy typically achieves the best results. This comprehensive approach lowers your risk of future episodes or needing hospitalization.

Antipsychotic medications control some of the most difficult symptoms, including delusions, hallucinations, and distorted thoughts. You may need other medications to improve negative symptoms. However, many patients overcome these symptoms with therapy.

During your telemedicine appointments, your provider also helps you identify self-care goals that improve your general health, lower your risk of a psychotic episode, and help you manage stress and the life challenges that come your way.

If you need help with schizophrenia, call the Mental Health Counseling and Wellness Center or use the online booking form.