Paranoid type schizophrenia is one of five different types of schizophrenia, which is a chronic mental illness marked by detachment from reality. What makes paranoid schizophrenia different than other types is the overwhelming paranoia that people are plotting, lurking, spying and out to sabotage them. Usually, these schizophrenics are better able to communicate, memorize and express emotion than other types of schizophrenics, but they are still incapacitated by their irrational fears, delusions and suspicions.

Life with paranoid schizophrenia is terrifying. The person hears voices providing a ongoing summary of his or her life. “Watch out — he’s watching you from over there, in the shrubbery,” says one voice. “Your professor is planning to murder you, so you need to kill first,” a different voice claims. “They’re watching you through the TV screens… break them,” one more demands. Paranoid schizophrenia is characterized by positive conditions including auditory hallucinations and delusions, more so than the negative symptoms of flat emotions, speech problems and poor memory.

To make a diagnosis of someone with paranoid-type schizophrenia, a mental health specialist will inquire about signs and symptoms and family history. He or she will look for paranoia, delusions and hallucinations as the major issues, with less importance on difficulties with memory, flat emotions, poor decision making skills and speech problems. Doctors will try to differentiate these mental disorders from medication-induced psychosis and epilepsy. Usually, it takes anywhere from a month to six months to officially make a diagnosis. Occasionally, patients experience severe psychotic attacks and go through periods of remission.

Other symptoms of paranoid type schizophrenia are the same as the other schizophrenia subtypes. For instance, social withdrawal, anxiety, loss of appetite, lack of hygiene, suicidal thoughts and a feeling of being “out of control” are all common among all schizophrenic patients. It can be difficult to define paranoid schizophrenia because the patients run the gamut from appearing normal in every way but occasionally speaking strangely, to appearing quite ill with bizarre behaviors catching attention. Some schizophrenics, for example, will wear aluminum foil hats to prevent their thoughts from “being broadcast” or will smash a TV to prevent “people from spying.”

Although mental health researchers have not yet uncovered the causes of paranoid type schizophrenia, they have identified several apparent triggers. For instance, the risk of developing schizophrenia increases from 1% to 5% for people who have an aunt, uncle, cousin or grandparent with the mental disorder; 10% for people who have a parent or sibling with it; or 50% for people who have an identical twin with schizophrenia. Since identical twins are not always both schizophrenic, researchers believe that it’s possible a pre-natal event, such as exposure to a virus or malnutrition while in the womb, may affect development and cause the condition to manifest later in life. Other at-risk individuals are said to have older fathers, abusive or traumatic childhoods and are between the ages of 18 and 35.

Far too often the term “schizophrenia” is tossed around without the user actually knowing what it means. It is a severely incapacitating mental illness that can leave the sufferer feeling isolated with paranoia. Even more frightening is that schizophrenia in children isn’t uncommon. Click here to learn more about schizophrenia disorder.

Tags: Mental Health

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