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Famous people with schizophrenia 1usually suffer from this mental health disorder in their late twenties or thirties. It is one of those mental health issues that cause extreme suffering and abnormality.
People often think that celebrities and famous people couldn’t get diagnosed with mental disorders like schizophrenia. Still, celebrities have taken a step forward in breaking the false notion that people worldwide have about them. They publicly discuss their sickness and mental health issues and have always encouraged people struggling with schizophrenia2 or other mental health issues to come forward and seek help.
What is Schizophrenia?
It is a severely serious mental disorder that causes a person’s character abnormality. Schizophrenia results in hallucinations, abnormal interpretation of reality, delusional behavior, disordered thinking, and mental disabilities. This mental health disorder starts to show symptoms in the late adolescent stage of people, approximately late twenties and early 30s. According to studies, males develop and suffer from schizophrenia more than females.
It negatively impacts emotions, speech, thought processes, and almost all other areas of life that affect a person’s social life and daily activities. Schizophrenia affects not only the person suffering from it but also the people around them and in their life. Approximately 0.05% of people from all walks of life are diagnosed with Schizophrenia.
Symptoms of Schizophrenia
According to scientific reports, Schizophrenia is a heritable trait that could easily pass down through DNA. People with schizophrenia have this mental disorder, and often it is reported that they have delusional thoughts and hear voices. People with schizophrenia also suffer from other mental illnesses, such as bipolar disorder, depression, and anxiety.
The effect and symptoms of Schizophrenia 3vary in different people. The most common symptoms of Schizophrenia are as follow:
- Hallucinations
- Delusional thoughts
- Disordered thinking process
- Disorganized speech
- Hearing voices/sounds
- Lack of expression
- Inability to feel anything
- Lack of motivation
- Anxious behavior
- Unable to focus or concentrate
- Short term memory loss
- Cognitive dysfunction
- Lack of communication
- No facial expression
- Paranoid Schizophrenia
Causes of Schizophrenia
It is said, according to the reports, that Schizophrenia is a genetically inherited mental disorder trait, but there are other factors as well that cause this severe chronic mental illness. They are as follow:
- Misbalanced chemicals in the brain– Serotonin and Dopamine, which are the two most important neurotransmitters. If there is an imbalance of those two, then it causes schizophrenia.
- Medicines and Drugs- Using certain drugs or medication can lead to causing schizophrenia in a person, making their life difficult.
- Environmental Factors such as past trauma or some viral infections increase the risk of causing schizophrenia.
- Genetical Inheritance- If one of the parents has had schizophrenia, it is likely possible that there is a risk for the child to inherit it in his/her DNA.
How to Cure Schizophrenia?
Schizophrenia is a long-term mental illness that requires constant and effective treatment that helps in managing the symptoms and avoiding psychiatric hospitals.
Every person who has Schizophrenia has a different experience in suffering from a severe mental disorder. In most cases, doctors tailor-made treatment for the patients.
The best treatment for curing schizoaffective disorder includes counseling for coping mechanisms, special care like family time, socialization, education, and antipsychotic drugs prescribed by doctors.
Famous people with Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a disease that can happen to anyone no matter if they are rich or poor, male or female, celebrity or common people. It is a lifelong battle suffering from schizophrenia, and few courageous could only defeat it and came out strong and normal out of it.
There has always been stigma and false notions around discussing mental health in public. Celebrities suffering from schizophrenia have started to come out of their shell and narrate their experience with schizophrenia to make people inspire and aware of its symptoms and effects.
Here is the list of 5 famous people with schizophrenia who have shared their experiences and helped fight the stigma around mental health disorders. They are as follow:
1. Zelda Fitzgerald
One of the most famous people with schizophrenia in her early 30s was Zelda Fitzgerald, wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald. She was a writer, painter, and dancer with a lively and happening social life in the 1920s. Zelda, after the diagnosis of Schizophrenia, spent the rest of her life going around mental hospitals. Her struggle with chronic mental illness was known publically, and after struggling for 18 years with schizophrenia, Zelda took her last breathe in the year 1948.
2. Lionel Aldridge
In the list of famous people with schizophrenia, the American footballer for the team Green Bay Packers, Lionel Aldridge, is also included. During his 30s, the symptoms of schizophrenia started showing in Aldridge’s life, affecting his relationships and career. After diagnosis, he started making speeches inspiring and creating awareness among the public regarding mental disorder and paranoid schizophrenia. Ultimately, he won the battle from schizophrenia and unfortunately died in the year 1998.
3. John Nash
The Nobel laureate and mathematician John Nash, whose life and struggle with this chronic mental illness ‘A beautiful Mind’ movie has been made, is one of the famous people with schizophrenia. He has struggled with schizophrenia for 30 years, beautifully represented in the movie and portrayed brilliantly by Russell Crowe. Nash died in the year 2015.
4. Mary Todd Lincoln
The wife of Abraham Lincoln, Mary Todd Lincoln, is also included in the list of famous people with schizophrenia. Just like her husband, Mary too had a fierce passion for success in life. After her son’s death, Mary suffered from constant migraines and headaches and still supported her husband throughout his presidency.
5. Tom Harell
Tom Harell was the star of jazz, one of the famous people with schizophrenia, and inspired people through his inspirational speeches about his experience. Music and medication helped him in battling his serious mental health issues, of schizophrenia.
Famous people with schizophrenia have hugely inspired people worldwide with the help of their experiences and broke the stigma of discussing mental health. Schizophrenia is a serious mental disease, and it is a lifetime of suffering. Though there are several treatments and medications, there is no determined cure for it. People should help those who have schizophrenia and make them feel heard, known, and alive.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Is Schizophrenia Curable?
Although there is currently no cure for schizophrenia, many sufferers can successfully manage their symptoms with the correct medical care.
2. How Widespread Is Schizophrenia?
On a global scale, schizophrenia affects 1% of people. It often first manifests in late adolescence or early adulthood and is more frequently diagnosed in men than women.
3. What Are Some Factors that Increase the Risk of Schizophrenia?
A family history of the disease, some types of stress, the use of specific medications (like cannabis), and exposure to specific viruses or poisons during early development are some risk factors for developing schizophrenia.4
- Insel, Thomas R. “Rethinking schizophrenia.” Nature 468.7321 (2010): 187-193. ↩︎
- Darban, Fatemeh, et al. “Family achievements in struggling with schizophrenia: life experiences in a qualitative content analysis study in Iran.” BMC psychiatry 21 (2021): 1-11. ↩︎
- Jauhar, S., et al. “Cognitive–behavioural therapy for the symptoms of schizophrenia: systematic review and meta-analysis with examination of potential bias.” The British Journal of Psychiatry 204.1 (2014): 20-29. ↩︎
- Tandon, Rajiv, Matcheri S. Keshavan, and Henry A. Nasrallah. “Schizophrenia,“just the facts” what we know in 2008. 2. Epidemiology and etiology.” Schizophrenia research 102.1-3 (2008): 1-18. ↩︎
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