Schizophrenia with paranoia is also known as paranoid schizophrenia. This condition is a kind of mental disorder and is related to the detachment with external reality. This is one of the common disorder occurring mostly in adolescents and people in their early adulthood
What are the symptoms of paranoia with schizophrenia? Signs and symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia are similar to other mental disorders. It involves nervous disorders and the person suffers from various symptoms like having hallucinations, delusions and faces different kinds of unusual fears and anxiety.
The person posts the normal ability of distinguishing between real and unreal situations. Patient suffers from hallucinations which are mostly auditory in nature. He/she hears sounds and sees things that do not exist. They grow more and more suspicious and start imagining scenarios like someone is planning to poison their food, someone is trying to harass them etc. Due to this they also suffer from anxiety that becomes severe in some cases. Such kind of behaviour also ruins their personal and professional life.
Do patients suffering with paranoid schizophrenia are violent?
Very often people suffering from mental disorders become violent and tend to harm others. But in case of paranoid schizophrenia, the patient doesn't react violently to harm somebody but he/she will surely get uncomfortable due to mental disorganisation and symptoms like hallucinations. It is not just a matter of a few days.
Patient suffers this disorder for his/her whole lifetime. So, you should always keep calm in their surroundings and maintain a healthy and supportive environment for them as much as possible.
Is it treatable?
This mental disorder is not a matter of days. It is a lifelong suffering which does not have any specific cure but the symptoms can be calmed down using antipsychotic drugs, antidepressants and drugs for relieving anxiety.
The patient needs intensive care and support. Some therapies like behavioral therapy, psychotherapy and social therapy are also helpful in management of a meaningful life.
Treatment of paranoid schizophrenia
Treatment of this mental disorder is a lifelong process and involves chronic care and management of it along with medications.
For treatment, under your psychiatrist's guidance you have to go through several psychological therapies and medications even if you have a mild form of the disorder. In case of chronic condition you may be hospitalized.
Medicinal treatment of paranoid schizophrenia chiefly includes antipsychotic drugs. These drugs calm the patient and usually long acting antipsychotic drugs are given.
These antipsychotic drugs are available in different forms like pills, injectables or syrups. There may be a single type of drug or a combination of drugs can be given according to the patient's condition.
These medicines deal with the symptoms of schizophrenia and mostly symptoms reoccur if medication is stopped in between. Along with antipsychotic drugs, antidepressants and drugs to treat anxiety are also given.
Diagnostic procedures of paranoid schizophrenia
Diagnosis of mental disorders is always a cumbersome process as most of them have some similar signs and symptoms. They need to be differentiated from each other by the help of characteristic features of a particular disorder.
For the diagnosis, you have to reach out to a psychiatrist and he/she will evaluate your condition by the help of your mental state, history of drug consumption, hallucinogen intake, family history etc. Some screening tests like MRI are also done.
For evaluation of the mental disorder, psychiatrists may follow a manual named Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders which is published under American Psychiatric Association. Only medications won't do the magic.
Patients suffering from paranoia with schizophrenia need a lot of social support also. Some non-government organisations are working to help such patients. Care and love from family is also required for such patients.
