Schizophrenia: symptoms and signs in women, danger of the disease

Schizophrenia is a mental disease that is characterized by disturbances in thought processes and loss of mental capacity. This disease affects 1% of the entire world population. Recognizing the signs of schizophrenia in women by behavior is quite simple; in the early stages, the disease announces itself with specific symptoms

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Clinical picture

According to experts, there is a certain age at which the first signs of the disease appear. Most often, mental disorder is diagnosed between the ages of twenty and twenty-five. The onset of the disease at a younger or older age is much less common. The first signs of schizophrenia in women completely change their behavior.

Obsessiveness, mood swings, increased irritability and the manifestation of groundless aggression are the main symptoms of a mental disorder. The clinical picture is complemented by such elements as attacks of hallucinations, emotional detachment, loss of interest in life and delusional ideas.

Often, the first signs of a mental disorder are expressed in the appearance of obsessive fear and senseless actions.

An example would be a situation in which a woman wipes a chair several times before sitting on it. Immersion in one's own thoughts is accompanied by complete detachment from reality and the absence of actions that can be explained from a logical point of view. Often the disease in question manifests itself in the form of fear of various diseases.

In such a situation, a woman begins to attribute various symptoms to herself. Parasites migrating to various parts of the body, rotten internal organs, reverse blood circulation are just a small part of the fantastic diseases that patients with schizophrenia attribute to themselves.

Features of delusions and hallucinations

Symptoms of schizophrenia in women, men and children are similar in the features of delusional ideas that completely take over the patient’s consciousness and cannot be corrected, that is, the patient cannot be dissuaded of the fallacy of his ideas about something.

The most characteristic for patients with this diagnosis is the so-called delirium of physical influence. It seems to the patient that he is being affected by hypnosis or some kind of radiation emanating from both earthly and cosmic installations. At the same time, he clearly hears the voices of those creatures that influence him at the moment, controlling his thoughts, emotions and even movements.

The patient can also see pictures or “films” that these creatures supposedly show him. There are frequent sensations of odors (mostly unpleasant), as well as feelings of drilling, burning, transfusion and shooting in the head.

How to recognize schizophrenia in women?

Diagnosing schizophrenia in women is quite simple.

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To do this, the doctor just needs to observe the woman’s behavior for several weeks. If he notices that her personality is beginning to change, this is a good reason to start therapy. This psychological deviation can also be recognized by a detailed history. Usually the first harbinger of schizophrenia is the appearance of obsessive ideas that the woman had not even thought about before. This deviation in the generation station can be recognized by:

1. sudden emergence of feelings of jealousy towards your loved ones;
2. paranoia, the woman thinks that everyone is watching her;

3. neglect of all household chores;
4. failure to comply with personal hygiene rules;
5. desire to quit work and dramatically change your lifestyle.

Women are more susceptible to developing schizophrenia, this is due to a more mobile and unbalanced psyche.

Over time, the signs of schizophrenia become more and more pronounced. It becomes difficult for a woman to cope with her emotions; she does not show them in any way. People around her begin to think that she doesn’t care. Because of this, serious problems can arise both in the family and at work. Many women lose interest in their husbands and children and try to ignore them. Also, with the development of schizophrenia, a woman becomes extremely indifferent and carefree, she is indifferent to any problems.

Groups of symptoms of schizophrenia

When defining schizophrenia, it is very important to distinguish between the signs and symptoms of this disease. For many diseases these parameters are identical, but for this mental disorder they will be different. Modern experts use the Blair tetrahedron to determine symptoms. There are stronger and weaker manifestations of schizophrenia. In general, to determine this lesion, the following signs must be assessed:

1. Alogia
   , or associative defect. This is the primary manifestation of schizophrenia, which consists of a lack of logical thinking. The woman becomes incapable of the thought process, which is why she starts asking a lot of questions. This manifestation is also characterized by a poor vocabulary and the use of short and incomplete sentences.

2. Autism
   . This sign can be recognized by a change in a woman’s behavior; she becomes more withdrawn and moves away from the world around her. She also becomes indifferent to the lives of her loved ones and immerses herself in her own world. However, her interests become monotonous and limited.
3. Affective inadequacy
   . It can be recognized using simulated situations. If a woman begins to behave inappropriately, there is a high risk that she actually has schizophrenia. Also, many reactions in patients are inappropriate: laughter at a funeral or tears during some holiday. In such cases, the expressed emotions do not coincide with internal experiences.
4. Ambivalence
   . This symptom is characterized by the fact that a woman simultaneously experiences conflicting feelings towards the same object.

The signs listed above are positive. However, it must be borne in mind that they are not the norm. They received this designation due to the fact that a woman acquires such changes as schizophrenia develops. If you notice changes in behavior in your loved ones, consult a doctor immediately.

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Manifestation of the disease at different stages

Schizophrenic symptoms in women develop in three stages. At the initial stage, called pre-painful, only mild clinical signs are noted. At the height of the progress of the pathology, acute stages are combined and alternate with relapses, then a stage of short-term relaxation begins, the so-called psychological relaxation. At the final stage, psychiatrists note clinical symptoms with varying degrees of intensity of manifestation.

Typical manifestations of the disease are verbal deviations, the presence of visual hallucinations, and delusions. Often a “God complex” or manic persecution develops; patients talk to higher powers, acting on their instructions: standard hallucinations - God, aliens, mythical creatures, dead relatives and friends.

Doctor's advice

Not only schizophrenia is accompanied by apathy, depersonalization, hallucinations, and decreased interest in life. If a person finds similar symptoms in himself, then there is no need to automatically diagnose him with multiple personality disorder. Prolonged nervous tension, depression, and various psychoses can also occur. In any case, if you suspect that something is wrong with your mental health, you should consult a doctor. If you are afraid to go to a psychiatrist, then you can start with a psychotherapist.

Victoria Druzhikina Neurologist, Therapist

Later, auditory, olfactory and tactile hallucinations are added to visual hallucinations, replacing the patient’s real idea of ​​the world around her. This significantly complicates life and deprives the schizophrenic of the possibility of social adaptation.

In practice, the sequence of symptoms is as follows:

1. Signs of depersonalization appear, accompanied by a change in the attitude of the patient’s personality to the reality around her. Natural bodily sensations are replaced by artificial ones, which leads to mental destabilization of the individual. The patient trusts her hallucinations.
2. A persistent schizophrenic delusion begins, which demonstrates the patient’s personal essence modified by the disease. The woman does not notice this, but those around her can clearly see the inadequacy of behavioral reactions and strange speech. Other people's voices appear, bringing absurd thoughts to the consciousness of schizophrenics.
3. The patient becomes overly irritable and displays aggression when attempts are made to interfere in her life.
4. Emotional coldness develops, interspersed with bouts of extreme obsession.

These are typical signs of the early stage of schizophrenia , the timely identification of which helps prevent the worsening and stabilize the mental situation. Women are characterized by clear specificity of the first symptoms of the disease, although they do not manifest themselves acutely.

The nature of the intensity of the symptoms depends on the severity of the disease, the speed of its progression, and the characteristics of its progression.

Signs for which a woman needs urgent help from a psychiatrist:

• repeated bouts of mindless behavior;
• several obsessions;
• frequent panic attacks;
• excessive desire for order, cleanliness, minimalism;
• immersion in one’s own world of hallucination, episodic denial of real-life situations and things.

The second stage of schizophrenia is accompanied by hypochondria. Tactile hallucinations act as a background for the appearance of unusual sensations. For example, it may seem to the patient that microscopic animals are traveling inside her body, and that internal organs are rotting or freezing right in the body. There are an innumerable number of such examples, and each of them has a certain frequency of repetition.

Next comes the turn of somatoform disorders: the patient receives information from the outside and, based on it, comes up with new sensations, associating them with certain events in her life and transforming them into a new cycle of visions. The subconscious mind perfectly remembers new things, and then forms conscious pictures from this data that are as far removed from reality as possible.

With the sluggish type, clinical manifestations are almost invisible. But the patient often breaks into a scream, cries, and shows general dissatisfaction with what is happening.

Sluggish schizophrenia in combination with depersonalization is the key to the emergence of atypical clinical images, when it is impossible to predict behavior.

The only standard complaint of a patient with sluggish schizophrenia is expressed in obvious dissatisfaction with her appearance.

Mild schizophrenia is characterized by the appearance of alogia, antisocial behavior, autism, ambivalence, and affective inadequacy. In this form of the disease, delusional-halucinogenic syndrome (not the most dangerous manifestation of the disease) is replaced by partial or complete loss of personality.

There is complete apathy towards reality, immersion in imaginary worlds. Catatonic symptoms cause frequent stupors; the woman freezes in a certain position and remains in this position for a long time. This is a typical sign of mild schizophrenia. In addition, a schizophrenic woman strives to copy someone else's behavior.

The final stage is characterized by productive symptoms: delusions of persecution, illogical thinking, excessive aggression, and non-acceptance of the world around us. The patient complains of surveillance, and atypical thoughts of constant persecution appear. All actions are carried out under the influence of the order of “voices”.

All that most people know about schizophrenia is a very exaggerated idea of ​​attacks of antisocial behavior of patients. But this is only the first bell in a series of changes leading to a complete loss of personality.

Even in the absence of obvious violations, but if strange behavior occurs, you need to contact a psychiatric clinic for medical help so that a specialist can identify the extent of deviations from the norm. Schizophrenics can live a normal life only with proper treatment and under constant medical supervision.

If you still have questions, you can ask them to a psychotherapist or psychiatrist.

To learn how to recognize schizophrenia, watch the video:

This article has been verified by a current qualified physician, Victoria Druzhikina, and can be considered a reliable source of information for site users.

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Negative symptoms of schizophrenia

This type of symptoms of this psychological deviation is characterized by the loss of any qualities. They usually begin to fade after the disease manifests itself. A person begins to notice that his physical strength is leaving him, he becomes indifferent to the world around him, lacking initiative. Negative symptoms of this mental disorder include:

• constant desire for loneliness and loss of will;
• frequent mood swings;

• apathy, constant thoughts;
• passive behavior and emotional poverty;
• impaired coordination and thinking;
• affective flattening;
• low initiative;
• lack of will, low motor activity;
• low level of self-control;
• disturbances in thinking and sequence of actions;

• inability and unwillingness to maintain dialogue;
• dissatisfaction with life, lack of desire for self-development.

If you begin to notice any changes in behavior in your loved one, talk to him and insist on visiting a psychologist.

Recognize schizophrenia in its early stages

possible according to a certain set of manifestations. If a woman remains in a depressed mood for a long time, refuses to communicate, tries to stay alone longer, or has become secretive, this is a good reason to consult your doctor for advice. She also begins to neglect basic hygiene rules, which she had not observed before, it is also worth visiting a doctor.

What is psychotherapy for schizophrenia?

At individual meetings with a psychotherapist, the patient learns to accept herself as she is, not to be ashamed of her illness and to live with it as fully as possible. She begins to understand the absurdity of her phobias and obsessions.

In the format of group classes, the patient re-masters communication skills, learns to build a dialogue with others and express her position.

Family training is of great importance. Support from your immediate environment is always the key to achieving stable remission. In family classes, people are taught how to communicate correctly with a loved one who is sick, how to choose words wisely, and what emotions should be used. The main task of relatives is to create a warm atmosphere of comfort in the home, the maximum level of care and attention. In addition, relatives should not forget to ensure that the woman takes medications and strictly follows all the recommendations of the psychotherapist.

It is important to understand that even in mild cases, schizophrenia is a chronic, incurable disease. But it is quite possible to achieve such a positive result in its therapy that the state of remission will last for many years. Women with schizophrenia can easily live like everyone else, work full-time, have a family, children, friends and hobbies. To do this, you need to take medications regularly and avoid traumatic stressful situations.

Common signs of schizophrenia in women

The peculiarity of the development of schizophrenia in women is that it develops gradually. Unlike men, the symptoms of such a mental disorder grow slowly and do not appear at once. If you pay close attention to the condition of your loved ones, you will easily recognize this pathology in them. First of all, the following signs appear:

• Speech disorders
  - an elderly woman begins to use monosyllabic phrases, her vocabulary is poor, and she makes a huge number of mistakes.
• Apathy for life
  , neglect of the rules of personal hygiene - a person does not see the point of doing something that will need to be repeated after a certain period of time.

• Low emotionality
  . You can recognize a woman suffering from schizophrenia by her lack of expressiveness, her constantly stony face, and her avoidance of eye contact with her interlocutor.
• Anhedonia
  is a loss of interest in objects or objects that previously aroused delight and attraction in a person;
• Low concentration
  , loss of concentration.

If a woman develops paranoid schizophrenia, she becomes more suspicious, cautious, and develops paranoia. Also, the patient can easily notice emotional inadequacy, which worsens as the disease develops.

What symptoms should you look out for?

One page on our website is not enough to describe all the symptoms of mental illness. You can learn more about them by reading other articles on our blog or in the section that lists the diseases treated by doctors at the Cordia Clinic. Here we list the main ones, those that you need to pay attention to first:

• Social isolation . A person ceases to be interested in those around him, he stops communicating and participating in common affairs.
• Decreased performance . Mentally ill people no longer cope normally with household chores and work. Children's performance at school sharply declines, and complaints from teachers are received more often.
• Thinking disorder . Problems arise with memory, concentration, and logic. A person does not understand the obvious, it is difficult for him to explain something to others, he cannot find the right words. In severe cases, speech turns into a meaningless set of words.
• Increased sensitivity to irritants . Patients can feel sounds, light, taste, touch more acutely, they avoid irritants that cause them discomfort.
• Apathy . You lose interest in anything at all, even in activities that previously brought you pleasure.
• Brad . A person talks about something that does not exist in reality. He greatly exaggerates or downplays his capabilities, believes that someone is watching him, pursuing him, trying to cause harm.
• Emotional problems . Frequent companions of mental illness are increased irritability, isolation, depression, anger, violent causeless joy and optimism, suspicion, and a feeling of internal tension.
• Unusual behavior . The person is clearly behaving inappropriately.
• Frequent and severe mood swings.
• Appetite and sleep disorders . Some patients become gluttonous, while others, on the contrary, do not eat anything. May cause insomnia or excessive sleepiness.
• Destructive thoughts and behavior . Very alarming bells are thoughts of suicide, the desire to harm yourself and others.
• Hallucinations . A person sees, hears and feels something that is not really there.

Patients often refuse to acknowledge the severity of their condition. They believe that everything is fine with them, but something “wrong” is happening to others. Any attempts to convince them of anything, reproaches and complaints lead nowhere and can only provoke a negative response. This symptom in psychiatry is called lack of criticism, and it clearly indicates a mental disorder.

Symptoms of schizophrenia in pregnant women

Girls aged 20-25 years are more susceptible to developing schizophrenia.

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This age is considered the most common among pregnant women. During this period of life, a woman’s body experiences enormous stress; almost everything in it changes. Against this background, mental disorders often arise. This disease can be recognized in pregnant women by the appearance of:

• psychotic-like behavior;
• obsession and jealousy;
• hallucinations and delusions;

• indifference, apathy;
• sudden aggression and excessive irritability.

You can recognize the prerequisites for the appearance of schizoid changes in the psyche of pregnant women by the emerging fears, strange and sometimes thoughtless desires. A person is completely immersed in his experiences, without paying attention to the world around him. This can manifest itself in strict adherence to various rituals; the pregnant woman becomes very careful. She develops irrational fears about her health, she begins to diagnose herself with many serious, sluggish pathologies.

Condition after childbirth

Certain changes occur in a young body after childbirth. Therefore, girls of this age who have given birth may be subject to varying degrees of development of schizophrenia if they have a predisposition to it. After giving birth, women may develop schizophrenia due to severe stress that affects their physical and psychological state. But this is an extremely rare occurrence. The following factors can lead to the development of schizophrenia after childbirth:

• loneliness;

• depressed state;
• postpartum depression;
• hereditary predisposition to the disease;
• lack of communication with other people.

A mental disorder in a woman who has given birth to a child is difficult to ignore. It is characterized by pronounced symptoms, which are not typical for a healthy person. The woman refuses to accept her child and fulfill new responsibilities. During this period, pathological delirium is often observed in patients.

After the symptoms of schizophrenia subside, women are left with a feeling of alienation towards their own baby. To cope with unpleasant symptoms and disease, a woman will need to undergo a course of drug therapy. Close people should help her in every possible way to achieve recovery. If they begin to pull away, the patient’s condition will worsen significantly.

At what age does schizophrenia appear?

The development of this pathology occurs differently in men and women. Thus, representatives of the stronger sex, as a rule, begin to get sick earlier than women (from about 20 years of age). By the age of 30, their pathology is already actively manifesting itself. In addition, even in adolescence, such boys show signs of increased aggressiveness and asociality.

When diagnosed with schizophrenia, symptoms in women usually appear 5 years later and are usually less severe. The disease takes on a sluggish form, complicated by periodic exacerbations.

Causes of schizophrenia in women

Schizophrenia is completely curable only if you begin treatment in the initial stages of the disease. To prevent a serious mental disorder, you need to know what can lead to such a disorder. Among the most common causes of schizophrenia are the following theories:

• Neurotransmitter
  - it comes down to the fact that the disease develops as a result of a long-term increase in the level of dopamine in the blood.
• Serotonin
  - its essence lies in the fact that the deviation is formed against the background of overly active work of serotonin receptors.
• Noradrenergic
  — schizophrenia in this case develops against the background of increased levels of adrenaline, dopamine and norepinephrine in the blood. The noradrenergic system is responsible for their production.

• Cognitive
  - a mental deviation of this type is caused by external biological factors that a woman is not able to independently influence.
• Psychoanalytic
  - with this nature of deviation, schizophrenia begins to develop against the background of a split personality.
• Dysontogenetic
  - its essence boils down to the fact that a person from birth has a predisposition to develop a mental disorder.
• Predispositions
  - if at least one parent of a woman suffers from schizophrenia, her risk of developing this pathology increases 10 times. If both parents suffered from it, the probability of a mental disorder is 80%.

• Autointoxication
  - some scientists believe that abnormalities in the functioning of the psyche can be caused by protein breakdown products that cannot be completely digested by the body.

Schizophrenia is a serious mental disorder that affects a person’s normal life. In the absence of proper treatment, a woman in advanced stages of the disease develops obsessive ideas to commit suicide or injure herself in order to save her loved ones.

Cost of treatment in our clinic

Who's at risk

The age at which the first characteristic signs of schizophrenia appear in women is 23-25 ​​years. Earlier manifestations are rare in psychiatric practice. In the case of childhood morbidity, girls experience rapidly progressing personal destruction, accompanied by severe dementia.

1. The first group includes women with an unstable nervous system
   . If mental tension persists for a long period of time, then in a state of severe stress the first hallucinogenic visions may appear. At the first stage of schizophrenia, women do not have any complaints about their condition, since pathological personality changes are still insignificant. But after a while, relatives begin to notice characteristic oddities, which is a prerequisite for contacting a specialized specialist.

2. The second group is women with a genetic predisposition to the disease
   . This is a completely convincing theory of the development of the disease, which is based on the assertion that schizophrenia is transmitted through the female line. Practice shows that children of both sexes can inherit mental disorders from a sick mother, but girls are at greater risk.

3. The third group - women with pathological changes in the processes of exchange between brain neurotransmitters
   . The transmission of nerve impulses caused by a deficiency/surplus of such mediators as dopamine, acetylcholine, and glutamic acid is disrupted. In this case, the trigger is severe stress, which provokes a complex of pathological reactions in brain tissue cells, which becomes the cause of schizophrenia.

4. The fourth group is young mothers who are faced with the sudden need to fulfill adult social roles
   . Symptoms appear under the influence of a stressful situation, severe lack of sleep and emotional fatigue. However, in the context of such a development of the disease, it is important to take into account the genetic predisposition to mental disorders.

Our advantages

Treatment of schizophrenia in the elderly in St. Petersburg in medical practice is carried out taking into account advanced modern techniques adopted in world psychiatric practice. Our clinic is one of the few private clinics in the region that provides effective treatment for the entire spectrum of psychiatric pathologies. This is possible thanks to:

• excellent material base - hospital, equipment;
• experienced specialists. More than 40 qualified psychiatrists;
• confidentiality policy and tactful approach to patients;
• close cooperation with government clinics and scientific institutes.

Dynasty clinics are conveniently located in three districts of St. Petersburg, in addition, we provide treatment for schizophrenia in the elderly in Vsevolozhsk

Can schizophrenia go away on its own?

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder of a polymorphic type, accompanied by increased emotional reaction, deterioration of thinking function and other symptoms. Usually the disease is inherited. But it can arise due to somatic diseases and the influence of social factors. It is often formed due to the negative effects of alcohol or drugs.

Tissue destruction occurs in the brain, so the patient develops the first signs, which develop more and more over time. Schizophrenia cannot go away on its own; it is not completely curable. Even if it is provoked by somatic factors, after they are eliminated, tissue damage will remain in the brain that can no longer be restored. Therefore, psychiatrists prescribe medications that can control the condition during an exacerbation.

In the acute stage, schizophrenia is kept under control with medications. But the patient periodically experiences a period of remission. This means that signs of a mental disorder do not appear and the person feels normal. At this moment, he may think that the pathology is over, but in the near future repeated attacks and exacerbation of the pathology may occur.

What could be the course of the disease?

Schizophrenia, the forms and causes of which we consider in this article, depending on the characteristics of its course, is divided into continuous, paroxysmal and sluggish.

The continuously flowing form has a progressive, steady course, leading to the complete disintegration of the personality. There is also a malignant form, which leads to such consequences in a very short time.

During the paroxysmal course of the disease, periods of exacerbation of symptoms are replaced by light intervals of remission.

The sluggish form is not perceived by all specialists as schizophrenia itself. Manifestations of the disease are not so pronounced. This form of schizophrenia does not lead to asociality. Often the disease goes away on its own even without treatment.

Paranoid schizophrenia

Paranoid schizophrenia is a mental disorder with characteristic distortions in the system of perception and thinking. The main feature of this disease is the predominance of delusions and hallucinations in the overall clinical picture. The nature of the disease is not fully understood; scientists adhere to both the biochemical theory (the occurrence of the disorder due to disturbances in the functioning of the central nervous system) and the psychological theory (the development of pathology against the background of mental trauma, neuroses, stress).

There is no single view on the origin of the disease yet.

The course of the disease is very diverse and is accompanied by a number of specific syndromes and signs, the main one of which is delirium. Symptoms and signs of paranoid schizophrenia in women at the height of the disease:

• the presence of more than an idea and a change in the habitual behavior of people;

• joining real memories of fictional pictures from the past;
• patients' confidence in their special purpose, strength, or sensitive intuition and insight;
• the presence of delusions or hallucinations;

• the appearance of meaningless thoughts (abstract monologues) when answering the simplest questions;
• distortion of the emotional sphere (development of sullenness, anger, irritability, hatred, embitterment, indifference, etc.).

The disease develops gradually, progressively. In the initial period, obsessive and ritual actions, a desire to isolate oneself from social and professional activities, a sharp narrowing of the circle of friends and interests, and changes in emotional response may prevail.