The Major Symptoms of Schizophrenia and How Close Family Members Adapt
Schizophrenia and its extreme symptoms have patients fearing their own life. Not only has schizophrenia taken hold of thousands, but it’s symptoms cause families to panic, stress, and sometimes even leave their loved one with out proper care. Included are the steps that family members can take in order to help the patient recover as well as making the family more comfortable about the illness. The side effects of a patient suffering from schizophrenia can range from hallucinations, “sensations that the person experiences but other people do not”, to anhedonia, “the decreased ability to feel pleasure or enjoyment”(Muesser, Gingerich, 2006, p.22, p.25). These symptoms including hallucinations, anhedonia, delusions, and cognitive impairment have serious
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Lori’s brother began to believe that the pressure that caused schizophrenia to become present in Lori would become present in him. Family members will often get scared that they will get or pass on through reproducing the illness to other family members. A family member’s reactions to a loved one suffering from schizophrenia are usually not positive. Learning about the disease and learning to cope with it can help ease the family into their altered lifestyle. Talking to the loved one suffering from schizophrenia is one of the first steps. This will allow the family member to see how the loved one is reacting to everything that is going on (Muesser, Gingerich, 2006, p.28). A family members attitude towards a loved one suffering from schizophrenia can ultimately alter the time it takes for the loved one to start to get better. The more anger the family member puts upon the patient suffering will prolong the damaging effects. In order for the patient to get better, they need the support of their family to help them recover. Samuel B. Woodward was quoted in saying in