Is schizophrenia a disease?

Overview. Schizophrenia is a chronic and severe mental disorder that affects how a person thinks, feels, and behaves. People with schizophrenia may seem like they have lost touch with reality. Although schizophrenia is not as common as other mental disorders, the symptoms can be very disabling.Click to see full answer. In this regard, is schizophrenia really a disease?Schizophrenia is a chronic brain disorder that affects about 1% of the population, according to the American Psychiatric Association. Symptoms can vary from hallucinations to disordered speech to attention and decision-making problems.Secondly, what does schizophrenia do to the brain? Brain Messenger Chemicals It also plays a role in other psychiatric and movement disorders, like Parkinson’s disease. In schizophrenia, dopamine is tied to hallucinations and delusions. That’s because brain areas that “run” on dopamine may become overactive. Antipsychotic drugs stop this. Just so, how does schizophrenia start? Symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions usually start between ages 16 and 30. Men tend to experience symptoms earlier than women. Most of the time, people do not get schizophrenia after age 45.How does schizophrenia affect a person?Schizophrenia is a potentially debilitating type of mental illness that is marked by disorganized thinking, delusions, hallucinations, disorganized or catatonic behavior, and negative symptoms such as diminished expression. Schizophrenia greatly impedes everyday activity and affects actions, thoughts, and awareness.