Schizophrenia and Access to Treatment

Schizophrenia and Access to Treatment

Lauren Walters

University of Missouri- St. Louis

Schizophrenia and Access to Treatment

Introduction

Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder characterized by disturbances in thought, emotion, and behavior that can have a debilitating effect on both the victim and their families. The term psychotic refers to symptoms that suggest an impairment in the patient’s ability to comprehend reality. This includes delusions and hallucinations. In the DSM-V, it is described as an illness that is characterized by psychotic symptoms including hallucinations, delusions, disorganized thinking or speech, disorganized or catatonic behavior, and negative symptoms (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Schizophrenia typically arises in early adulthood or late adolescence. It is also more prevalent in men versus women. It is known that majority of people with schizophrenia live in low and middle income level countries, and in urban rather than rural settings. Schizophrenia symptoms can cause a person to lead an unstable lifestyle which makes it harder to seek treatment. Schizophrenia is treatable; however, the majority of people with this disease lack access to treatment for this and many other reasons. I will be looking at the causes and consequence of schizophrenia’s treatment and its effect on the society.

Causes and Consequences for Society

Previous research studies have considered the lack of progress in the care and treatment of schizophrenia due to various societal issues. A diverse set of factors are in play that prevent access to treatment. It is common for many different factors to be playing a role in the person’s access to treatment. For example, factors can include lack of awareness about schizophrenia, financial constraints, lack of insight, and lack of family support. Therefore, a complex and dynamic combination of several factors determines the person’s non-access to psychiatric care (Reddy et. al., 2013). Another example is that many people with schizophrenia that live in low and middle income level countries are less likely to seek care then the general population due to stigma or other factors. One study’s results found “that once the people with schizophrenia concurred with public stigma and internalized it, they were likely to show poorer adherence to psychosocial treatment” (Fung, Tsang, & Corrigan, 2008). The stigma, or humiliation, seen from people with schizophrenia is just one factor that contributes to this ongoing problem on access to treatment. The overwhelming lack of access to mental health services and other factors makes the prospect of treatment and intervention of this disease seem impossible.

        Not so far back in history, the treatment of the mentally ill in America was known to involve torturous practices and obscene handling of patients. Fortunately, as America has modernized, the treatments of mental illness have humanized drastically. However, there are still many issues with the treatment of mental illnesses involving access to care for schizophrenic people. The homeless and substance abusers with schizophrenia are especially at risk for the most severe symptoms and being involved in crimes that lead to jail time (Walsh & Yun, 2013). It is still common for jails to house mentally unstable people for committing petty crimes that could have been prevented if they would have been receiving appropriate care and proper medical treatment to become stable again.