| Many family members struggle to understand what it | | | | up in a psychiatric hospital," he relates. |
| must be like living with schizophrenia. They aren't sure | | | | However, the drugs can only help most patients so |
| what's going on inside their relatives head. They often | | | | much. The ultimate goal for anyone suffering from a |
| don't know how to communicate effectively, or what | | | | mental illness is the ability to live independently. Living |
| boundaries to set. | | | | with this illness is often difficult because listlessness, |
| When is it ok to leave the person alone, and when is it | | | | depression and social isolation block normalcy. Duke |
| a dangerous sign of schizophrenic isolation? What sort | | | | University researchers found that only 10% of the 1,500 |
| of treatment options are there? Some people are | | | | schizophrenia patients surveyed held a job. |
| surprised to learn that millions of people afflicted with | | | | An American Psychiatry Association study of 25 |
| the illness lead seemingly normal lives, by taking | | | | women living with schizophrenia found that they lived |
| medication, visiting a counselor and adjusting daily | | | | as "invisible women," largely marginalized by their |
| behavioral patterns. | | | | mental illness and suffered limited social contacts. The |
| For severe cases of schizophrenia, it may mean a | | | | socio-interpersonal effects of people with mental illness |
| lifetime on anti-psychotic drugs like Clozapine, Zyprexa, | | | | is rarely studied or included in health insurance plans. |
| Olanzapine or Perphenazine. These drugs can help | | | | Most importantly, people living with schizophrenia |
| schizophrenia patients overcome debilitating delusions, | | | | require help through social support systems of friends |
| auditory and visual hallucinations, paranoia and anxiety. | | | | and family. It is important for the sufferers to know |
| An anti-depressant, like Lithium, has also been | | | | that it is not their fault, but they should continue on a |
| effective. | | | | lifelong path of living with the illness. Often times, people |
| While some people may require hospitalization, many | | | | on medication will make the rash decision to stop |
| schizophrenic patients find living with the illness quite | | | | taking it and will then relapse or feel severely |
| bearable with medication. Take, for example, | | | | depressed. |
| 27-year-old Charlie Chastain, a schizophrenic who was | | | | Behavioral monitoring is paramount in these cases and |
| recently profiled by CNN. He was first diagnosed | | | | it's often up to close family and friends to watch out |
| around age 15 when he began hiding in his room all the | | | | for abnormal behavior. Sometimes (in really severe |
| time, feeling constant paranoia and anxiety. | | | | cases) relatives are asked to keep records of what |
| Charlie has a college degree in psychology and works | | | | schizophrenia drug treatments are administered, what |
| full-time at a mental health center in Clayton, Georgia. "I | | | | the effects are and how the patient reacts. |
| really think that if I went off my medication, I would end | | | | |