What happens if schizophrenia is not treated?

Once schizophrenia is discovered, treatment cannot be ignored, because different types of schizophrenia cause different harms, which can easily cause patients to suffer from headaches, dizziness, mood swings, uncontrolled behavior, and even violent tendencies.

1. Simple type

It begins slowly in adolescence, usually without obvious triggers, and is characterized by loneliness, laziness, apathy, poor thinking, and lack of will. There may be fragmentary hallucinations and delusions. In the early stages, there are often neurasthenia symptoms such as headache, dizziness, insomnia, and general weakness, and it is often misdiagnosed as neurasthenia. The disease progresses slowly, often taking 1 to 2 years at the shortest and 3 to 5 years at the longest; therefore, it is easy to be mistaken for personality or ideological problems in the early stages. If not diagnosed and treated in time, it can gradually develop into chronic mental decline.

2. Youth type

The disease begins during adolescence between the ages of 16 and 23, mostly with acute onset of insomnia and excitement. He has disordered and childish behavior and often impulsively hits people and destroys things. Emotions are unstable, and emotions change unpredictably without any external stimulation, and they can change in an instant. There is an obvious breakdown in thinking, increased speech, and incoherent singing and speaking. There may be fragmentary bizarre hallucinations and delusions. This type focuses on early control of excitement symptoms, which are difficult to control if they develop into the full stage of the disease. This type of disease usually presents with recurrent attacks, and the patient is prone to mental decline after multiple attacks.

3. Nervous type

It occurs in young and middle-aged people, with an acute or subacute onset, and is characterized by apathy and behavioral inhibition. In the early stage, speech and movements are significantly reduced, and when it develops to a serious state, the patient becomes catatonic, lying down without speaking, moving, or eating, with no expression, just like a wooden man. But be aware that sometimes they will suddenly lose inhibition and become excited, suddenly getting up to hit people, destroy things, or run away. This often lasts for a short time before returning to a catatonic state. This type of disease has a good prognosis and can fully recover after treatment.