“Schizophrenia demons live in my head”. Hearing, seeing, smelling, and feeling them appear to be real but only exist and are made like demons in a person’s mind, giving challenges in every people’s daily lives.

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Schizophrenia, a term from the Greek word “schizein” means “SPLIT” and “phren” means “MIND”. It is a chronic and severe mental disorder that affects a person’s mind, feelings, and behavior, causing a variety of symptoms including hallucinations, delusions, disordered thinking, and abnormal behaviors. It can develop at any age but typically appears in the late teens or early twenties.

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Based on the article published in 2022 by World Health Organization (WHO), schizophrenia affects approximately 24 million people or 1 in 300 people worldwide and this rate is 1 in 222 people among adults; which is a condition that is rare.

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Every person that has schizophrenia requires medication treatment to manage the symptoms of schizophrenia. Ph.D. Judy Ho said that clozapine is currently the most effective antipsychotic in terms of managing treatment-resistant schizophrenia, and many times, patients will have to go through at least a couple of different medication trials to find the right type of medication. She also explained Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), which teaches a patient how to manage thoughts and behavior of patients.

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The exact causes of schizophrenia are “NOT” fully understood but Ph.D. Judy Ho says, “Research suggests a combination of physical, genetic, psychological, and environmental factors can make a person more likely to develop the condition”. She also said that the condition runs in families, but there is no single gene has been found to be responsible for it. 

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Schizophrenia brings trouble to people who have it. They are troubled in organizing their thoughts, communicating,  and making relationships with other people. It can also result in suicide because their minds can control their actions.

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“There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t”, — John Green, 2019. Having positive thinking, and stepping outside of our comfort zone can help us build big hope, and will wake up our minds from an intense daydreaming