When a young person develops schizophrenia, parents are often unsure how to offer support. Parents may lack knowledge about what schizophrenia is and how it will impact a child’s life, and that can feel scary and cause anxiety. They may not know the best way to respond when a young person experiences hallucinations and delusions or how we can keep them safe.
All these feelings are normal, which makes it all the more important that parents receive comprehensive advice and ongoing support. Mental health professionals can help parents understand how best to support and care for a young person with schizophrenia so they can live a fulfilling and social life.
In this blog, we offer some basic information about schizophrenia, treatment and recovery. We touch on the impact of schizophrenia on the family, trauma therapy within schizophrenia treatment and the prevalence of the disorder in different places around the world.
What Is Schizophrenia?
Schizophrenia is a mental health condition that affects how people feel, behave, think and experience the world. Young people with schizophrenia sometimes experience reality completely differently from other people, and may see, hear and believe things that others don’t. This is known as psychosis. There may also be times when they want to withdraw from other people and be by themselves.
Schizophrenia is a serious mental health condition, but it can be managed and treated. Many people go for months or years without experiencing psychosis. Experiences of psychosis or withdrawal can also be managed, so young people can continue to live normal and full lives.
How Does Schizophrenia Affect Families?
One aspect of living with schizophrenia is its impact on the family. Families respond in different ways to mental health disorders within the family, including schizophrenia. The way families respond depends on how a family is organised, parenting styles, ways of approaching conflict and other dynamics.
In general, families that approach one another with warmth and avoid criticism, hostility and over-protection cope better when a young person develops schizophrenia. These environments also help young people manage their symptoms and recover.
But, however a family is structured, supporting a young person with schizophrenia can be exhausting, scary and confusing. Evidence underlines the importance of families receiving support, such as family therapy or other family interventions. These programs can also help families maintain or develop dynamics that nurture a young person’s recovery.
Equally important is support from friends and the community. Community-based family support groups and support from friends and community members can help families navigate the demands of everyday life and care for their young person. It’s important that families are ready to reach out for support when it’s needed, without feeling shame or judgment.
Having a Sibling with Schizophrenia
Parents often play a significant and valuable role in supporting a young person in managing their symptoms, and move in closer when they are struggling. But siblings can also be deeply affected by their experience.
A study exploring the perspectives of siblings of young people with schizophrenia found that most experienced an emotional sibling bond with a range of feelings, including love, sorrow and anger. They may use different coping mechanisms, including caregiving and avoidance.
Although the experience of siblings is often overlooked, it’s important that they receive support and recognition. When surrounded by stable family support structures, with access to professional therapeutic support, siblings are better able to navigate challenging times and look after their own well-being.
Why Can Receiving an Accurate Diagnosis Be Challenging?
When young people develop schizophrenia, it challenges their perception that they can rely on the reality of their thoughts and experiences. This can feel very scary and emotionally distressing for both a young person and their family.
Receiving a diagnosis can help some people understand their experience and make it feel less scary. It’s also a crucial step towards accessing the right support and care.
Unfortunately, stigma surrounding schizophrenia means that some clinicians hesitate to diagnose young people with the disorder, even when they meet the diagnostic criteria. This stigma can be accompanied by misconceptions that schizophrenia is difficult to treat and manage and that recovery is hard to reach. In reality, with the right support, young people with schizophrenia can live rich and fulfilling lives.
Sadly, these barriers to accurate diagnosis prevent some young people from receiving effective treatment that can help them manage their symptoms. Diagnoses are often delayed, meaning that treatment is accessed after young people have already experienced significant distress and harm to their daily lives.
Long periods of diagnostic uncertainty and misdiagnoses can themselves be very distressing for young people and families.
A Diagnosis Isn’t a Label
For some young people, receiving a diagnosis of schizophrenia doesn’t feel so positive. They may feel like it’s another attack on their identity or integrity or a label that defines them.
But, it’s important to remember that a schizophrenia diagnosis is just a way of describing parts of a young person’s experience, rather than a core part of their identity. Most basically, it’s a tool or concept that can help them access the support they require.
Treating Schizophrenia In Young People
Schizophrenia treatment for teenagers and young adults usually involves a combination of medication and psychotherapy. Every young person’s experience of schizophrenia is different, and so is the kind of treatment that works best for them.
Treatment plans should always be individualised and created collaboratively by health professionals, young people and families.
Medication
Anti-psychotic drugs can help reduce symptoms of psychosis and improve other symptoms of schizophrenia. Some young people find that symptoms of psychosis reduce significantly when they start taking anti-psychotic medication. Others may try several different kinds of medication until they find something that works for them.
Therapy
There are several different types of therapy that can help young people manage and recover from schizophrenia.
- Cognitive-behavioural therapy can support young people to cope with experiences of psychosis and other symptoms, such as social withdrawal or depression. It can also help with managing the side effects of medication
- Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) for psychosis addresses experiences of trauma that often underpin and contribute to schizophrenia
What Is the Connection Between Schizophrenia and Trauma?
Experiences of childhood trauma are common among people with schizophrenia. Data suggests that 17-46% of individuals with schizophrenia also live with post-traumatic stress disorder, compared to less than 5% of the general population.
Other people with schizophrenia have experienced childhood trauma without meeting the full criteria for PTSD. One study found that 94% of people diagnosed with a psychotic disorder had survived at least one traumatic event.
While it’s not clear exactly how trauma contributes to experiences of psychosis, experiences of depression, anxiety, and negative perceptions of the self seem to mediate the link. Sensitivity to stress and dysregulated stress response systems may also play a key role.
How Can Trauma Therapies Treat Schizophrenia?
As the association between trauma and schizophrenia has become clear, trauma therapies are now included in treatment plans for schizophrenia and other experiences of psychosis.
EMDR is one of the most-established forms of trauma treatment, using rapid movements to tap into the body’s inherent memory processing systems and integrate traumatic memories. While large-scale randomised-controlled studies are still lacking, current research suggests that EMDR may be a powerful tool in the treatment of psychosis, improving hallucinations, delusions, anxiety symptoms, depression symptoms, and self-esteem.
EMDR for schizophrenia and psychosis is a specialist skill and should be delivered by a trained and qualified therapist.
How Common is Schizophrenia Among Young People?
Although still heavily stigmatised, schizophrenia isn’t a rare disorder. Around one in 200 people may live with schizophrenia.
Schizophrenia is usually diagnosed in young adults, so schizophrenia among adolescents is less common, but teenagers and children can also develop the disorder.
A study on the prevalence of schizophrenia among youth in twenty countries found that most countries had a relatively similar prevalence of the disorder. Schizophrenia was most common in the United States, China and Australia. However, this might be because there is more awareness and recognition of the disorder in these regions.
Data showed that:
- In Indonesia, the age-standardised prevalence was 2.86 in 1000 people
- In Saudi Arabia, the prevalence was 2.57 in 1000 people
- In Japan, the prevalence was 2.96 in 1000 people
- In the USA, the prevalence was 3.54 in 1000 people
The Wave Clinic: Specialist Mental Health Support for Young People from Around the Globe
The Wave Clinic offers specialist recovery programs for children, teenagers and young adults. Our residential and outpatient spaces are dedicated to long-term well-being, transformation and personal growth. We combine a diverse selection of evidence-based modalities with exceptional expertise.
At the Wave, we do things a little bit differently. We set the global standard for young people’s mental health treatment, combining expert clinical care with education, community responsibility and enriching experiences. We specialise in complex trauma and family interventions, taking a broad approach to support and care.
If you’re interested in our programs, reach out to us today.
