Schizophrenia: Common But Manageable

It was a pathetic story punctuated with a little relief before it nose-dived into hopelessness again.

As told by his uncle, a young man, Gideon, suddenly became mentally ill when he was about 18. The general practitioner who first attended to him advised his relations to let him see a psychiatrist and he was taken to the psychiatric hospital. The psychiatrist later diagnosed his illness as schizophrenia.

They were hearing the term for the first time, and because of the difficulty to also correctly pronounce it, Gideon’s relations concluded that it was over for their young son. But the psychiatrist assured them that the case was treatable. And truly, after months of medications and counselling, Gideon bounced back to life.

He wrote his qualifying examinations and secured admission into the polytechnic, where he successfully completed his Ordinary National Diploma. That was the end of the beautiful story, though; as Gideon plunged back into his mental illness three years after the first diagnosis.

What is schizophrenia?

Mental health specialists define schizophrenia as a chronic brain disorder that affects 1.1 per cent of the world’s population. Speaking at this year’s World Mental Health Day organised by the Federal Neuro Psychiatric Hospital, Yaba, Lagos, Consultant Psychiatrist, Dr. Dapo Adegbaju, says globally, one out of 100 people suffer from this disorder; while in Nigeria, no less than 1.7 million people have schizophrenia.

Adegbaju warns that men and women are at equal risk of developing the disorder. Experts say that “men diagnosed with schizophrenia usually start to show symptoms between their late teens and early 20s; while women usually develop symptoms during their mid-20s to early 30s.”

Schizophrenia may be caused by an imbalance of chemicals in the brain that causes messages in the brain to get mixed up. And, like many other conditions, it may result from a combination of genetic and environmental factors, the psychiatrist says.

Adegbaju says the condition can be inherited from any of the parents. He warns that in terms of environmental factors, a child could become a victim of the disorder in future if he/she was born in an unhygienic environment where there is no certified health professional to take the delivery.

He is also of the view that social issues such as troubled marriage, joblessness, financial problems, etc., could make an individual become schizophrenic.

Symptoms

Being schizophrenic is a challenge for both the patient and the people who manage him, hence the need to recognise the symptoms in order to be able to help before things get out of hand.

Adegbaju notes that a schizophrenic may be deluded, such that he believes that what other people are saying is not true, especially where it concerns his health. Worse still, he may hallucinate, such that he hears, sees, feels or smells things that people around him do not experience.

And because it’s a form of mental illness, the patient’s speech may become disorganised and meaningless, while his behaviour may also leave much to be desired.

Again, the patient may lose interest in daily, regular activities such as maintaining personal hygiene (bathing, grooming, or getting dressed); he may become apathetic to people around him, and if you are not aware, you may start thinking that it’s because he doesn’t care about others.

Again, Adegabju says, the patient may exhibit inappropriate feelings in certain situations, while he may find it extremely hard to enjoy what was otherwise pleasurable to him before schizophrenia sets in.

“When you begin to notice many of these symptoms in a person, don’t take him to religious house, and don’t pity him; rather, help him to seek psychiatric help when there is still hope that he can be sorted out,” the psychiatrist says.

World Mental Health Day

For this year’s World Mental Health Day, the theme is, “Living with schizophrenia.” The World Health Organisations says the theme was borne out of the need to empathise with the patient on the one hand, and the care givers and the relations on the other.

“Living with this disorder means managing it effectively, such that the patient can live a productive life, and his loved ones don’t have to fear that he would become a destitute person living in the street,” the global body explains.

Treatment is no mean feat

“Though there is no cure for the condition, it can be managed effectively. Depending on the severity, apart from medications, there are opportunities for counselling and follow-ups towards reintegrating the patient into regular way of living,” Adegbaju submits.

In an interview, the Chairperson, Community Outreach of the Federal Neuro Psychiatric Hospital, Dr. Olufunmilayo Akinola, notes that treating any mental illness, one of which is schizophrenia, is not a one-off thing and that it could be expensive.

Akinola says, “This is because this illness requires multi-level treatments that feature many professionals, including psychiatrists, psychologists, counsellors, etc., especially because a schizophrenic patient is likely to also suffer from depression and substance abuse.

“And because of the huge amount of money that is sometimes needed to take care of the condition for a long time, patients and their relations are likely to stop accessing medical treatment once the initial symptoms disappear. And that is why a patient that was supposedly okay suddenly falls back on the symptoms, sometimes in a more violent way than he was at the initial stage.”

The General Secretary, Friends of the FNPH, Mr. Lanre Akeredolu, says the association recognises the financial difficulties that sometimes prevent patients from getting adequate care, revealing that the association helps indigent patients by providing financial succour and other help, all of which are geared towards restoring health and dignity to the patient.

Akeredolu says, “People living with schizophrenia and other severe mental illnesses have a higher prevalence of physical diseases, compared to the general population. That is why we appeal to the government on the one hand to subsidise the treatment, while we also appeal to members of the public to join hands with us in whatever way they can, with the overall aim of reducing to the barest minimum the incidence of schizophrenia in our society.”