How Therapy and Medication Help Manage Schizophrenia Symptoms
Schizophrenia is a brain disorder that can affect all areas of a person’s life. This disorder disturbs the way that this person thinks, feels, and behaves. Schizophrenia is often misunderstood, which makes education so important. Educating yourself and others about this complex disorder is incredibly helpful to the mental health community and our society as a whole.
What is Schizophrenia?
Schizophrenia is a mental health disorder that is characterized by a person showing symptoms of hallucinations, delusions, and speech problems. Hallucinations are episodes of seeing things that aren’t actually there. When someone is struggling with their mental health, specifically schizophrenia, it may seem like they are not living in reality. Sometimes, these people will also struggle with psychosis. Unfortunately, when someone has schizophrenia, they will need treatment for the rest of their lives. This treatment will usually require a variety of tools, including therapy and medication.
Medication and Schizophrenia
Psychiatric medications can be used to help people with schizophrenia manage their symptoms over the rest of their lives. Two different types of medication are used to treat schizophrenia. These include typical and atypical antipsychotics. Typical antipsychotics work by blocking dopamine receptors in the brain, which can help reduce symptoms such as hallucinations. On the other hand, atypical antipsychotics affect both dopamine and serotonin receptors in a person’s brain. Through managing symptoms with medication management, patients with schizophrenia can have a better quality of life.
Therapy and Schizophrenia
Therapy can be used as a helpful tool for someone trying to minimize their symptoms of schizophrenia. Therapy can support recovery because it can help people build trust with their therapists and in their relationships. Therapy can also help people learn coping skills that can help them in their recovery long-term. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can be used to help reframe any distorted core beliefs or thoughts they may have.
Why Combining Therapy and Medication Helps Manage Symptoms of Schizophrenia
Combining both therapy and medication to treat schizophrenia is effective because both can promote a decrease in symptoms of this mental health disorder. Treatment for schizophrenia is available for people to live a better quality of life. The benefits of both therapy and medication will increase the likelihood that the person will be able to maintain stability in their lives.
Schizophrenia is a complex mental health disorder that can disturb almost all areas of a person’s life. However, if a person is diagnosed with schizophrenia, there is hope for an improvement in symptoms of this disorder. Both medication and therapy can be used together to give a patient the greatest chance of living a life free of their symptoms. Educating yourself and those around you is a way to help people who struggle with schizophrenia. If you or someone you love struggles with symptoms of schizophrenia and would like to seek therapy or medication management services with us, please reach out to us here.
References
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/schizophrenia
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/schizophrenia/symptoms-cause
https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/schizophrenia/overview/
https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/schizophrenia/what-is-schizophrenia
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4159061/
Keywords: online counselor [Michigan], mental health, medication management, psychosis