Schizophrenia Treatment in California
Schizophrenia has proven many times to be a challenging disorder to treat appropriately. The mental health treatment team at Southern California Sunrise in Orange County offers health care for mild to severe mental health issues. Our team specializes in mental health treatment. The evidence-based processes and procedures we utilize to ensure our patients better outcomes than those who choose to deal with it alone.
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What Is Schizophrenia?
All substance abuse and mental health disorders should be taken seriously. Many of them require a specialized behavioral health treatment plan for the individual to find that sense of peace that they desire.
Schizophrenia is considered by industry professionals to be a complex mental illness that typically causes strong emotions of feeling completely out of touch with reality. Like bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, and many other mood disorders, the origins of Schizophrenia are thought to have developed because of the imbalance of different neurochemicals.
Psychological experts say that the imbalances are more commonly seen with the levels of:
Dopamine
Serotonin
Glutamate
It is common for symptoms of Schizophrenia to run within family members, and in fact, the mental illness can be passed down even through several generations. It rarely occurs, but the effects of Schizophrenia are usually not yet seen during the childhood years. Although reports show that a majority of the individuals who struggle with this illness are men, there is often an alarming number of both men and women who suffer from it.
Signs & Symptoms of Schizophrenia
Since dopamine is typically the main chemical in the brain that is linked with hallucinations and delusions, excessive amounts of dopamine have been seen as a contributor to the existence of Schizophrenia. Most of the signs and symptoms associated with this mental illness are quite troublesome for the individual.
Common side-effects that are seen in schizophrenic patients include:
- Paranoia
- Variety of beliefs that are not based on reality (delusions)
- Decreased or complete lack of emotion
- Fast slurred speech
- Portraying an exaggerated self-image to others
- Smelling, hearing, and even seeing things that are not there (hallucinations)
Unfortunately, despite the many challenges that are caused, mental health disorders are somewhat common. The National Institute of Mental Health has been on the record stating that there are nearly forty-five million adults in the United States who were living and diagnosed with a form of mental illness in the year 2016.
Treatment for Schizophrenia
These thought disorders can have long-lasting and devastating negative symptoms on adults of all ages, including teens and sometimes children. Some people knowingly struggle with a mental health disorder that has worked with doctors to find ways to manage their illness with medication, but not everyone is that lucky or fortunate.
People with schizophrenia may require more intensive residential treatment methods and forms of long-term therapy. for them to be able to be involved and participate in the daily tasks and responsibilities they have at home.
Participating in kinds of talk therapy like psychotherapy is often a big part of the overall treatment plan to help patients manage and better understand the symptoms they may be experiencing.
Fortunately, there is more than just one kind of psychotherapy, along with a couple of different types of medications. There is no perfect treatment method that works for everyone, so working closely with your doctor and researching each option is encouraged and often vital for a successful treatment plan to be developed.
A few of the common types of psychotherapy that are seen at mental health treatment centers like Southern California Sunrise MH in Orange County include:
Individual Psychotherapy
Individual psychotherapy sessions are great opportunities for a psychiatrist to teach the patient how to deal with their different thoughts and behaviors in effective ways. It is also a great time to gain a broader understanding of their illness and its accompanying effects. Helping to manage the patient’s various everyday tasks ad responsibilities life is a significant benefit of this form of therapy as well.
Dialectic Behavioral Therapy (DBT)
Developed in the late 1980s, this form of behavioral therapy is a more specific type of cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy introduced primarily to produce better treatment methods for borderline personality disorder. Since the time of development, DBT is used to treat many other kinds of mental health disorders that so many people find themselves experiencing.
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
This form of therapy is designed to help the individual alter their behavior and thinking habits. The therapist shows different ways that skills can be developed meant to deal with voices and hallucinations the patient would typically be struggling with because of the illness. With the combination of medication and these CBT sessions, patients can eventually learn to recognize and cope with the things that trigger their psychotic episodes.
Cognitive-Enhancement Therapy (CET)
Often referred to as cognitive remediation, this type of therapy helps teach people how to recognize social cues and deal with various triggers. Improving memory capacities, attention capabilities, and the ability to gather and organize thoughts are at the center of this therapy’s purpose.
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Schizophrenia Treatment in California
If you think that you or a loved one could benefit from a mental health treatment program, please do not hesitate to find that help. Southern California Sunrise Mental Health offers sustainable therapy and treatment options that are capable of making a lasting long-term difference in your life. Please speak to one of our specialists today to learn more about the mental health programs and treatment options that we offer in Orange County, California.
Frequently Asked Questions
Medications are the cornerstone for schizophrenia treatment. The most common prescribed drug for schizophrenia medication is antipsychotic medications.
Like any other mental health disorder, there is no one cure for schizophrenia. It is treatable and manageable with antipsychotic medication and behavioral therapy.
The exact cause of schizophrenia is unknown. Some factors that play into the cause of schizophrenia include a combination of physical, genetic, psychological and environmental factors can make a person more likely to develop the condition.
Schizophrenia involves a range of problems with the way a person thinks, behaves and shows emotion. Signs and symptoms of a person with schizophrenia include delusions, hallucinations or disorganized speech, and reflect an impaired ability to function.