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Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia Treatments:
Cures, or Short-Term Fixes?

The medical dictionary defines Schizophrenia as: any group of psychotic disorders usually characterized by withdrawal from reality, illogical patterns of thinking, delusions and hallucinations, and accompanied in varying degrees by other emotional, behavioral, or intellectual disturbances. Schizophrenia is often associated with dopamine imbalances and defects of the frontal lobe and may have an underlying genetic cause.
While the current research on this disorder is lacking, at best, doctors are aiming overall for social recovery. Studies, from molecular to clinical, have shown that Schizophrenia is characterized simply as cognitive dysfunction. However, there are several variations of the disorder such as: Catatonic Schizophrenia, Disorganized Schizophrenia, Paranoid Schizophrenia and Residual Schizophrenia, to name a few. Television paints the illness in the most extreme light. Colorful characters who put tinfoil in there windows, who think God is speaking directly to them, all while the mob is after them. On the contrary, many who suffer from Schizophrenia try to live as normally as possible . In fact the Patient Output Research Team (PORT) think that psychosocial treatments such as family interventions, skills training and supportive employment lessens symptoms and leads to more productive and personally meaningful lives.
Others say, however, that neuroleptic   medications are far more useful in treating symptoms like auditory hallucinations. Antipsychotic meds are modest, at best, and some augmentation strategies   have proven promising, however only in small uncontrolled trials.
One thing is for sure; access to treatment decreases manifestations of the disorder. Whether it be as simple as moral support or a strict medication regiment, leaving it completely untreated is extremely costly to the patient.
One study at the University of Windsor, in Ontario, Canada, took 65 individuals diagnosed with...