Here are some of the common myths about schizophrenia that you shouldn’t be believing

Schizophrenia is a chronic mental illness that causes psycho-social and physical morbidity among patients. Affecting almost 1000 people each year in the world, there exists very little understanding of schizophrenia. As a result, several social stigmas and myths are built around schizophrenia which makes the treatment of this psychiatric disorder way more difficult for the patient and their near ones. It’s important to debunk some of the common myths and treat the disease in time to increase the chances of recovery. Timely diagnosis and the correct treatment are the only way out from schizophrenia.

It is often believed that suffering from schizophrenia means having multiple personality disorder. However, the truth is it’s a neurochemical issue associated with the brain that affects a person’s ability to think and decide to cause delusions and hallucinations.

Many tend to believe that getting married or having a baby can resolve schizophrenia. The truth is, these two social practices can’t solve any illness, let alone be a chronic neurological disease. People suffering from schizophrenia struggle with emotions and cognitive deficits which makes serious life-decisions like marriage and pregnancy the worst ideas. In fact, it can increase their health risks.

Another strong stigma associated with schizophrenia is that the patients tend to be violent around others. According to doctors, violence in the cases of schizophrenia can be rare and these patients are more likely to become the victim of violence rather than initiating it. In a few cases of schizophrenia, one might witness anxiousness and lose control of emotions which can happen from out of fear among the patients. Remember, violence is also common among people other than schizophrenics and requires intervention.

As the medications for schizophrenia is complicated and long-term, people think that it can make the patients dysfunctional and more dependent. It’s not true. While some medicines might have side effects, but it’s completely different for each individual. Patients with early diagnosis and correct treatment tend to respond better.

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