College Students/ Schizophrenia

Oct. 18 2017    By Andi Magnuson

 

Oxford, Miss-One percent of the world population may not seem like a big number, but for people with schizophrenia to be part of that one percent is a complete life changing experience.

 

This is an issue with college students across the nation because the age range of the onset of symptoms occurs as young adults are in college.

 

Schizophrenia is an uncommon disorder with 2.2 million sufferers in the united states during any given year.

 

The onset of schizophrenia usually occurs early during young adulthood with symptoms of auditory hallucinations and/or delusions. Auditory hallucinations is where people hear things through their ears that is not there and delusions is when people experience things that are not real such as delusions of grandeur where the person believes that they are someone they are not, but there are other kinds of delusions.

 

“The peak times are going to be around 17 and 18 to about 24,” Doctor Scott A. Gustafson, Director of the Psychological Services Center who has around 30 years of mental health research with an emphasis on psychotic disorders for most of those years said. “Women tend to develop it later with an initial onset very often around 20 leading up to about 28.”

 

Schizophrenia affects over 21 million people around the world. It is treatable, but only one out of 2 people with schizophrenia seek treatment. People with schizophrenia can seek care at the community level with active family members and with community involvement.

 

Kevin Carson, a psychology student at Ole Miss can still reflect on his initial onset, but continues with his daily life as a student.

 

“I went to the hospital November the eleventh and I stayed exactly one week,” Kevin Carson, an Ole Miss student said. “During that whole process, they told me basically what I had was schizophrenia.”

 

The sooner a person with schizophrenia gets help the easier it is for recovery. If you are hearing voices or seeing delusions seek help from a professional. At the University of Mississippi there are options for treatment.

 

“If you are a student at ole miss you can get help by going to the counseling center on campus or getting set up with a psychiatrist at the health center,” Carson said.

 

Severity during onset is different per person. If it is an emergency Ole Miss students can go to the hospital or to Student Health Services to receive help.

  

“Schizophrenia tends to affect men more than women, so men usually have more severe symptoms,” Doctor Gustafson said. “The general rule is, but this is not always the case, the earlier the symptoms start the more sever the symptoms are going to be.”

 

This disorder is not always easy to diagnose because there are other mental disorders that have psychotic symptoms. According to Dr. Scott a. Gustafson there are different types of diseases that are associated with Schizophrenia.

 

“Schizophrenia is not just one disease it’s about twelve different diseases that have similar presentations,” Doctor Gustafson said. “The final common pathway they all seem to have is an excess of dopamine in the brain.”

 

It is not likely for onset of Schizophrenia to occur later in life, but it has been misdiagnosed with patients who have Parkinson’s Disease.

 

“Parkinson’s Disease comes from not enough dopamine, so when you don’t have enough dopamine you start to get resting tremors in a place called the Basal Ganglia and the motor strip,” Doctor Gustafson said. Sometimes when people are getting treated for tremors or some sort of motoric activity they will give medications that will increase dopamine.” “If they get to much they will start developing symptoms that look like Schizophrenia.”