hrenia is a serious catastrophic illness for those that are affected because of its early age of onset and the devastating effects it has on the victims and their families. Despite its rarity, the disease takes up an inordinate amount of resources “Schizophrenia fills more hospital beds than almost any other illness, and Federal figures reflect the cost of schizophrenia to be from $30 billion to $48 billion in direct medical costs, lost productivity and Social Security pensions” (Public 4).
There are many different symptoms of schizophrenia, but not all of them are found in all patients who suffer from the disease. Usually, the characteristics of the individual that are most affected because of the disease are their thoughts, perceptions, feelings, movements and relationships with others. All of these are generally negatively affected to some degree or another. Schizophrenia has its onset before a person reaches midlife. The first episode occurs in youth normally, but some people may have one episode and then resume a normal life. Others may have three or four episodes and then return to normal. Still, many others are plagued with the following types of symptoms for the rest of their lives, “Thought disorders may be observed as a failure to make logical connections or by the development of delusions. Hallucinations-particularly hearing one’s thoughts spoken aloud or hearing imaginary voices giving commands or making comments-are the principal perceptual problems. Emotional reactions to a situation appear to observers to be either flat or inappropriate. Disturbances in movement may appear as catatonia, or as apparently purposeless repetitive ones. Relationships with others are usually disturbed, often because the schizophrenic person tends to be withdrawn,” (Encarta, 1997: 1).
There is no known cure for schizophrenia. However, there are three treatment modalities that have been used to help the schizophreni...