Schizophrenia research

In this brief article, we will be talking about schizophrenia research, the latest schizophrenia research, schizophrenia research about psychosis, and more information about schizophrenia research.

What Is Schizophrenia?

Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder that is triggered by the changes in the brain and affects 1 per cent of the population.

When this kind of psychotic disorder is stimulated, various psychotic symptoms can arise such as hallucinations, delusions, unstructured thinking, and the loss of interest. 

Schizophrenia research has found that a treatment for this kind of psychotic disorder can help reduce psychotic symptoms.

Technically, there is no cure for this kind of psychotic disorder but there are psychological interventions that are making their way to treat this kind of psychotic disorder.

Schizophrenia research has opened up about the various causes of this kind of psychotic disorder such as genetics and brain chemistry.

The knowledge of these causes is giving way for new therapies and psychological interventions for this kind of psychotic disorder.

The complicated nature of schizophrenia allows for its prejudice from others.

For instance, this kind of psychotic disorder doesn’t mean that there is a split personality.

Symptoms Of Schizophrenia

When schizophrenia is triggered, there is the difficulty in recognizing the real environment from the imagined environment.

This kind of psychotic disorder is different in affected people such as the chronicity, the length of time the symptoms keep appearing, and the re-occurrence of these symptoms.

Schizophrenia research has found that these aspects of schizophrenia may decrease in time.

Although the use of negative behaviours such as self-medicating through alcohol and dealing negatively with stressful situations can increase the symptoms of this psychotic disorder.

The types of symptoms of schizophrenia that have been prominent in affected people are the following:

  • Positive psychosis symptoms: Hallucinations, such as hearing and listening to voices, paranoid delusions and exaggerated or distorted perceptions, assumptions and behaviours.
  • Negative symptoms: A loss or a deduction in the ability to initiate and make plans, speak, express emotion or seek pleasure.
  • Disorganization symptoms: Confused and unstructured thinking and speech, a complication with rational thinking and sometimes eccentric behaviour or abnormal movements.
  • Impaired cognition: Complications with attention, concentration, memory and a reduction in educational ability.

These symptoms of schizophrenia typically occur at the start of adulthood.

In terms of gender, this kind of psychotic disorder can occur in men who are at their late or early 20s while women may have some of these symptoms in their early 20s depending on the susceptibility of the person to the psychotic disorder. 

You can learn more about these kinds of symptoms in schizophrenia by buying this book on this website.

Risk Factors For Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia research has been minimal in its findings on the causes of schizophrenia but some reports have cited that an interaction with genetics, brain chemistry, and environment can influence the development of this psychotic disorder.

Complications in dopamine and glutamate which are neurotransmitters can trigger this kind of psychotic disorder. 

Schizophrenia research has found that there are fluctuating differences in the brains of people with this kind of disorder and brains of normal people.

This is also why mental health professionals have indicated that this kind of psychotic disorder is a brain disorder.

The following are the possible risk factors that can cause schizophrenia that was discovered in schizophrenia research:

  • Having a family background and history of schizophrenia
  • Some pregnancy and birth complications or infections such as malnutrition or exposure to toxins or viruses that may impact or affect brain development
  • Taking mind-altering whether psychoactive or psychotropic medications during teen years and young adulthood

From antipsychotic medications, there is clearly a snippet of a connection between schizophrenia and neurotransmitters in the brain.

Schizophrenia research has found that there is a fluctuation in the flow of the neurotransmitters of dopamine and serotonin in people with schizophrenia. 

This means that people with schizophrenia may have this kind of psychotic disorder due to these kinds of brain changes.

Maternal Inflammation May Risk Child Towards Psychosis

Schizophrenia research has also found that maternal inflammation can cause children to have an episode of psychosis which can be an early symptom of schizophrenia when not treated immediately.

This risk only occurs to children who have been exposed to the inflammation in the first half of life from pregnancy.

This inflammation in mothers can occur when there are malnutrition, excessive stress, and infectious disorders.

This schizophrenia research was posted on the Lancet Psychiatry website.

This maternal inflammation can be caused by bacterial and viral infections or disorders that can deteriorate the stomach, skin, lungs, joints, and affect the mother’s immune system.

Schizophrenia research has also found that the concentrations of 3 pro-inflammatory cytokines were dramatically higher than normal which can make the child have psychosis.

The causes of this maternal inflammation can serve as indicators in treating this condition to prevent the child from suffering from psychosis.

You can learn more about the details of this kind of research by buying this book on this website.

Research On Schizophrenia

The Schizophrenia International Research Society has an official journal of schizophrenia research which is read and contributed by several mental health professionals who seek the understanding of this kind of psychotic disorder.

Many universities have an online or printed availability of this journal which makes this kind of research more accessible. 

This journal has schizophrenia research that is making people and professionals understand the biology and the necessary treatments for these affected people.

This kind of journal has combined together the biological, social, and psychological studies for the understanding of these psychotic disorders

This kind of journal has different schizophrenia research papers.

The following are some of the famous studies in this kind of journal in the recent years.

  • Machine Learning in Schizophrenia
  • Stress and Schizophrenia
  • Neuroplasticity and Dysplasticity in Schizophrenia

This kind of journal creates an online community that is trying to understand schizophrenia through schizophrenia research and making their studies known.

You can read one of the studies on schizophrenia by buying this book on this website.

Schizophrenia Research On Treatment

Schizophrenia research on treatment has focused on how the patient complies to prescribed medications associated with their attitudes.

Patients who have negative attitudes toward their medications are more likely to have negative outcomes in their psychotic disorder.

Schizophrenia research has even found that these kinds of patients were more likely to die early due to non-compliance of medications.

Not surprisingly, these kinds of patients were also found to have a relapse of psychotic symptoms.

Schizophrenia research has also found influences that may make the patient not comply with the prescribed medications.

These kinds of influences are being male, at a younger age, being employed, living in an urban residence, and living alone.

Other influences found in schizophrenia research were shorter years of experiencing the psychotic disorder, later onset of this disorder, and regular admissions in the mental health hospital.

It also found that the severity of the symptoms whether positive or negative can make a patient not comply to medications.

Cognitive-Behavioural Treatment For Psychotic Symptoms

Schizophrenia research has found that sleep disruptions can occur in patients with psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions.

Sleep disruptions can be treated with cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) but this has not been tested with people who have psychotic symptoms.

That is why there was schizophrenia research on testing CBT on patients with insomnia and psychotic symptoms.

The severity of the symptoms was then measured using psychological tests such as the Insomnia Severity Index and Psychotic Symptoms Rating Scale.

The results of the schizophrenia research were then analyzed by the researchers.

They found that CBT was effective in treating patients with sleep complications and psychotic symptoms.

CBT has been found to make sleep better in these patients in the schizophrenia research.

The researchers can’t deduce if this treatment can reduce or increase the symptoms of this psychotic disorder in patients. 

Latest Scientific Research On Schizophrenia

The John Hopkins Medicine has evaluated schizophrenia research of patients having chemical imbalances in the brain, especially the neurotransmitter called glutamate.

This department has made a research that broccoli can manage this neurotransmitter and minimize psychotic symptoms. 

This department has concluded from the schizophrenia research that broccoli can be effective for people with this psychotic disorder one day since this food has chemicals that can manage glutamate.

The department also stated that further studies are needed for this conclusion.

There is also a need for schizophrenia research on the optimal dosage of broccoli that can minimize psychotic symptoms.

Also, it is also important to ask your doctor if you are allowed to take traditional medications such as broccoli.

The use of the chemical in broccoli called sulforaphane that can minimize psychotic symptoms is available in different products but it’s not regulated by the FDA.

You can buy sulforaphane on this website but make sure that you ask your doctor if it’s alright for you to take this medication.

Research On Schizophrenia And Psychosis

As you can see, schizophrenia is very distressing for affected patients and their families.

Schizophrenia research has still limited information about the causes and treatments of this psychotic disorder.

The problem in the community as found in schizophrenia research is the non-compliance of medications in affected patients.

This kind of research is still focused on finding psychological interventions for this psychotic disorder by looking at the neurological background of this psychotic disorder.

Schizophrenia research on the symptoms has led to the possible psychological interventions of this psychotic disorder.

There are also ongoing investigations in treating the paranoid symptoms in affected patients.

The following are the fields in schizophrenia research where there are various studies lingering about.

  • Forensic Psychiatry
  • Neural Correlates of Gene Function
  • Neurobiology and Experimental Therapeutics
  • Neuroscience, Ethics and Society
  • Oxford Cognitive Approaches to Psychosis

You can learn more about forensic psychiatry by buying this book on this website.

Research On Schizophrenia Hospitalization

Psychiatric hospitalization has its eyes on the incidence and prevalence of this psychotic disorder in the community.

People with this psychotic disorder have been identified to have at least 1 hospitalization in the mental health hospital in their lives. 

A 1980s study has identified patients with schizophrenia in a community using the former diagnostic criteria of this psychotic disorder.

Most of these affected people were identified as hospitalized patients in the Psychiatric Registry.

Most of these people with schizophrenia were between the ages of 25-34 which is almost half of the working-age at that time.

There were future case studies from this study but it isn’t very accurate since there were other patients included in the record such as people who were diagnosed with premorbid non-psychotic disorder and some who were both diagnosed with affective disorders and schizophrenia due to confusion.

Mental health professionals have stated that there is the need for more psychiatric services for people with schizophrenia before generalizing these findings to the overall population.

Conclusion

In this brief article, we have talked about schizophrenia research, the latest schizophrenia research, schizophrenia research about psychosis, and more information about schizophrenia research.

If you have any questions about schizophrenia research, please let us know and the team will gladly answer your queries.

FAQs: schizophrenia research

What is the difference between the schizophrenic brain and the normal brain?

The difference between a schizophrenic brain and the normal brain is people with schizophrenia have up to 25% less weight or volume of grey matter in their brains, especially in the temporal and frontal lobes unlike people with close to normal brains.

These kinds of areas are known to be vital for the coordination of thinking and judgment.

How serious is schizophrenia?

Schizophrenia is serious through its symptoms that can bring the person to feel confused about reality and this kind of condition tends to last a long time.

Also, the schizophrenia cure hasn’t been direct towards schizophrenia unlike psychological treatments used for other mental health complications.

Is there any hope for schizophrenia?

Yes, there is hope for schizophrenia if the person with this kind of disorder believes that there is hope that his or her complication will improve.

There are many methods to treat schizophrenia, especially in a team approach.

These kinds of psychological interventions include medication, psychotherapy, behavioural therapy, and social services, as well as work support and educational interventions.

Why do schizophrenics smoke?

Schizophrenics smoke because these kinds of people also have higher levels of nicotine in their bodies because they tend to extract more nicotine from each cigarette than other smokers.

Nicotine and its receptors are included in functions such as cognition or thinking ability, pleasure, movement, and easing pain.

How do schizophrenics think?

Schizophrenics think through distorted methods which can be seen in their symptoms such as delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized thoughts.

People with this kind of disorder think that there is always someone talking to them even in an empty room.

Citations

BRAIN & BEHAVIOR RESEARCH FOUNDATION. Schizophrenia. 

Department of Psychiatry. Schizophrenia & Psychosis.

ELSEVIER. Schizophrenia Research.

Hindawi. Schizophrenia Research and Treatment.

Mayo Clinic. Schizophrenia.

NHS. Causes-Schizophrenia. 

ScienceDaily. Schizophrenia News.

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