Schizophrenia + Original Articles
Research points to a complex combination of known factors.
As with many mental illnesses, schizophrenia remains, to some extent, shrouded in mystery. There is no single cause for the disease, but experts have long believed that it can be attributed to a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Rather...
Schizophrenia affects millions of Americans, but the illness and its causes are often misunderstood. Here, we dispel the disease's most common myths.
Although the word schizophrenia is less than 100 years old (the term was first coined by Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler in 1911), most experts believe the disease dates to antiquity. Back then, there were no diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia, and even now the disorder and its causes are often misunderstood among the general population.
Spotting the signs and getting an accurate diagnosis are the first steps toward treatment.
Schizophrenia is a chronic, disabling brain disorder that affects about 1 percent of Americans, according to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Although experiences and behaviors vary from person to person, the mental illness is most often characterized by impaired perception and/or expression of reality.
There is currently no cure for schizophrenia, but new research is improving the outlook for patients.
A diagnosis of schizophrenia can be scary for both patients and their loved ones. A lifelong mental illness, the disease has long been associated with severe, and even terrifying, symptoms--hallucinations, delusions, increased risk of suicide. But a growing body of research is giving patients new reasons to hope.
