Schizophrenia is a mental illness that is difficult to narrow down because it can present itself very differently. There are typical symptoms, such as paranoia and delusional thoughts, but the emotional experience can also be strongly influenced. Schizophrenia is therefore in principle a disorder of stimulus perception and processing that leads to an impairment of the perception of reality. As a rule, the sick are not aware that their lived reality does not correspond to reality.
Psychosis is a special complex of symptoms in which there is, among other things, a changed perception of reality and self, as can also be the case with schizophrenia. Typically these are hallucinations, delusions, ego disorders, increased restlessness, concentration problems and the like. The cause of these changes does not matter, only the appearance is called psychosis. Psychosis can therefore be understood as an umbrella term for various diseases, all of which cause similar symptoms.
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Find out more about the topic here: The psychosis.
The definitions of schizophrenia and psychosis are often very vague because these diseases cannot be precisely narrowed down. It is particularly difficult to separate the terms from one another because they often overlap. For example, schizophrenia has psychotic components, namely in the form of the typical symptoms of the distorted perception of reality such as delusions, hallucinations, inspirations and so on. To call schizophrenia a pure psychosis is still not entirely correct, because the actually serious symptoms, which are the emotional disorder, do not occur in typical psychoses.
In schizophrenia not only the so-called plus symptoms, which are similar to those of a psychosis, but also the so-called minus symptoms, which represent the actual impairment of the patient. Plus symptoms are called so because they come to normal thinking and experience, as is the case with hallucinations, delusional thoughts and the like. The type of plus symptoms that occur depends on the form and severity of the schizophrenia. There is the typical paranoid delusion, or hearing voices, as it is known in society under the term schizophrenia. But there are many other, less typical manifestations.
$config[ads_text2] not foundMinus symptoms, on the other hand, occur in all types of schizophrenia, albeit to different degrees. They are referred to as such because they mean a loss of cognitive and emotional skills that do not regress at some point like the plus symptoms. Schizophrenia patients suffer, regardless of their psychotic attacks, a permanent restriction of their attention and ability to concentrate as well as a so-called affect flattening, i.e. a reduction in their emotional vibrational and processing abilities. That makes normal interaction and communication with those affected extremely difficult. They are indifferent to their environment and become more and more alienated from their relatives.
The result is complete social isolation and the loss of connection with society. At some point the patients live in their very own world, from which they can no longer be easily extracted. Participation in professional life is also no longer possible at this stage.
Unfortunately, these negative symptoms hardly respond to medication and are therefore difficult to get under control. Compared to schizophrenia, psychoses do not show these changes and can usually be easily controlled with common antipsychotics. Schizophrenia thus has psychotic components, but goes far beyond pure psychosis.
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Find out all about the topic here: The schizophrenia.
As much as the full picture of schizophrenia differs from psychoses in terms of cause, course and accompanying symptoms, there is some overlap in the plus symptoms described above.
$config[ads_text2] not foundDelusional ideas, ego disorders, loss of reality, hallucinations, psychological and motor restlessness and the like occur in many forms of schizophrenia, but also in psychoses. These productive symptoms can therefore be the same for both diseases. The terms are therefore often used interchangeably when describing the symptoms. For example, one speaks of a psychotic flare-up of schizophrenia or schizophrenic psychosis if a patient has these symptoms.
Many believe that psychosis is the umbrella term for all diseases with such symptoms - schizophrenia is therefore a sub-form of psychosis. This may apply to forms of schizophrenia in which the negative symptoms are weak. However, there are also types of schizophrenia in which there are hardly any psychotic symptoms and almost only impairments of affect are observed. Equating schizophrenia and psychosis is therefore correct in some cases and not in others. The manifestations of these diseases are simply too variable for precise delimitation.
Also read the article: The symptoms of schizophrenia.
If someone suffers from a psychosis that shows typical symptoms of schizophrenia, but cannot be schizophrenia for various reasons, one speaks of a schizophrenic psychosis. This is the case when, for example, the psychosis has a clear cause, e.g. drug intoxication, brain disease, electrolyte imbalance or the like. Because the actual schizophrenia, by definition, has no clearly identifiable cause, but is the result of various factors in genetics and the environment.
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In addition, schizophrenia is a chronic, relapsing disease with varying degrees of negative symptoms. If a patient experiences only one episode without any negative symptoms, the diagnosis of schizophrenia is exaggerated and one speaks only of a one-time schizophrenic psychosis. Even with diagnosed schizophrenia, this term is occasionally used if the schizophrenia is untypical and cannot be classified more precisely. There is therefore a non-uniform use of the terms not only in the vernacular, but also among medical professionals, as it is difficult to define mental illnesses precisely. In addition, much about these disorders is still unclear.
There are basically two approaches to treating any disease: eliminating the cause and relieving symptoms. If possible, causal therapy is preferable to symptomatic. Schizophrenia has no clear cause and therefore cannot be treated causally. With antipsychotics, only the plus symptoms can be brought under control, but a cure is not possible.
Psychoses can also be treated symptomatically with antipsychotics, but some of the causes can be eliminated if the trigger is known and treatable. For example, an electrolyte shift can be corrected in order to treat the cause of the resulting psychosis. Other psychoses, such as those in the context of dementia have a clear cause, but can still only be addressed symptomatically, since dementia is incurable. Thus, many psychoses are treated in the same way as schizophrenia, to alleviate symptoms. However, other psychoses can also be cured causally, if the trigger is known and elimination is possible.
Find out more about the here Therapy for schizophrenia.
