Schizophrenia

Often, paranoid schizophrenics will come to the attention of mental health professionals only when there has been some major stress in their life that has caused an increase in their symptoms. At that point, patients may recognize the need for outside help or act in a fashion to bring attention to them. Since there may be no noticeable features, the evaluation requires sufferers to be somewhat open to discussing their thoughts. If there is a significant degree of suspiciousness or paranoia present, people may be very reluctant to discuss these issues with a stranger. .
             There is a widespread spectrum to the nature and severity of symptoms that may be present at any time. When symptoms are in a phase of worsening, there may be some disorganization of thought. At this time, people may have more difficulty than usual remembering past events, speaking clearly or generally behaving in an organized, rational fashion. While these features are more characteristics of other types of schizophrenia they can be present to differing degrees in people with the paranoid type, depending upon the current sate of their disease. Supportive friends or family members often may be needed at such times to help the symptomatic person get good professional help.
             The next subtype of schizophrenia is the disorganized type. As you can tell by the title of this type the main feature is disorganization of thought. As a rule, hallucinations and delusions are less pronounced, although there may be some evidence of these symptoms. These people may have significant impairments in their ability to maintain the activities of daily living. Even the more routine tasks, for example, dressing, bathing or brushing their teeth can be often impaired or lost. A lot of the time there is impairment in the emotional processes of the person. For example, these people may appear emotionally unstable, or their emotions may not seem appropriate to the context of the situation.