What is Schizophrenia?
Episode Description
Schizophrenia is a chronic, complex mental health disorder that affects around 1% of people in the United States. In this episode of Mind Your Mind, host Tim Unsinn and psychiatrist Dr. Wayne Martinsen discuss the symptoms and implications of schizophrenia, touching on its many effects on individual and family life. Learn about how schizophrenia is treated, how it affects physical health, when it tends to develop, and how it is perceived between cultures.What to Expect
- The symptoms of schizophrenia
- Schizophrenia in men vs women
- Community support for people with schizophrenia
Resources: Learn More
- “What is Schizophrenia?” (Psychiatry.org)
- “Psychiatric Interviews for Teaching: Psychosis,” (University of Nottingham)
- “Schizoaffective Disorder – Symptoms and Causes,” (Mayo Clinic)
Things to Think About
- Schizophrenia can be frightening to experience, but the right combination of medication and therapy can often help schizophrenic individuals lead successful lives.
- Individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia tend to function better in less developed countries.
About the Guest
Dr. Martinsen enjoys working with a wide range of ages and diagnoses. His practice is largely focused on complex clients with multiple health challenges. He diagnoses psychiatric and behavioral health conditions, makes recommendations for treatment, and prescribes/manages medications for clients of all ages. Much of his work focuses on maximizing health, treating illness, and promoting healthy longevity through lifestyle medicine.
Transcript
What is Schizophrenia?
Featuring Dr. Wayne Martinsen, Psychiatrist, Dakota Family Services
Tim Unsinn:
Welcome to Mind Your Mind, a podcast presented by Dakota Family Services, an outpatient Behavioral health Clinic, located in Minot, Bismarck, and Fargo, North Dakota. In this podcast, I will talk with our experts about understanding and nurturing our mental health and wellness. I'm your host, Tim Unsinn. Join me each episode as we explore the intricacies of our minds, decrease the stigma of mental illness, learn practical tips for managing our mental health and wellbeing, and recognize when it's time to ask for help. Join me now to mind your mind. Welcome to this episode of Mind Your Mind. Our guest is Dr. Wayne Martinsen. Dr. Martinsen is the medical director and psychiatrist in Fargo and Minot for Dakota Family Services. Dr. Martinsen diagnosis, psychiatric and behavioral health conditions, makes treatment recommendations and provides medication management for clients of all ages. Dr. Martinsen great to have you on mind, your mind. Our topic is schizophrenia. However, before we get to today's topic, the question is why do you do what you do?
Dr. Wayne Martinsen:
I do it because I enjoy it and I feel like it gives something to the patients I have. I also actively teach a lot, and so I'm trying to reach into the next generation with my work with medical students, psychiatric residents, family practice residents,
Tim Unsinn:
It's all about giving back. I love that theme. Our topic is schizophrenia. So what is the usual age of onset of symptoms?
Dr. Wayne Martinsen:
So schizophrenia is a collection of symptoms that generally includes problems with the way we think in terms of hearing or seeing things that aren't there, or having beliefs, having a sense of paranoia or suspiciousness, of untrustworthiness. That's really profound, that shouldn't be there. And it's combined almost always with what are called negative symptoms, which is a lack of engagement with others, a lack of curiosity, a lack of energy motivation, drive. So what we usually see is somebody who develops reasonably well and then has a fall off in their functioning, sort of anywhere from the mid-teen years to the thirties, tends to affect males earlier than females. And you can see it develop as early as nine or 10 years of age, but that's rare. You can see it develop as late as 35, 36 years of age. But again, that's rare. So anywhere in there, probably age 20 to 25 would be the most common age of onset.
Tim Unsinn:
So are there some health implications of schizophrenia?
Dr. Wayne Martinsen:
There are. People with this disorder tend to live on average 15 years less than the average person. And there's a, there's a number of reasons for that. Without the motivation and drive, they tend not to have a lot of sense of wanting to take care of their health. So they don't get dental work done. They don't get in to see a physician to manage chronic health conditions. There's also an impact from the very medications we use to control symptoms which can increase weight and put them at risk of cardiac problems or cancer, other problems if they're not monitored closely.
Tim Unsinn:
So what are the implications for educational achievement, relationships and career?
Dr. Wayne Martinsen:
There tends to be problems in all of those. And again, Tim, if you look at the research as a group, women tend to fare better than men do with the same disorder. So a lot of the women are going to, they're going to finish high school. They may get married, they may have children. With men, what you tend to see is a lot more negative symptoms earlier onset, greater impact on education, to the point that a lot of them perhaps won't finish high school. They have difficulty maintaining even part-time employment. If they're in a relationship, they tend not to stay with a relationship. Some do. They tend to be less actively involved as fathers. And so for really all of those roles that we think of in terms of relationship, education, work, parenting, they tend to struggle a whole lot more than other people.
Tim Unsinn:
So what are common comorbid conditions?
Dr. Wayne Martinsen:
With psychiatry generally, Tim, you get a lot of clustering of problems. So you, you seldom see schizophrenia all by itself. So it's commonly seen with addiction issues. The biggest of those is nicotine, but also other addiction, other substances, depression, ADHD, anxiety, all of those complicate the picture and make it even more difficult to help this person.
Tim Unsinn:
You're listening to mind your mind. Our guest is Dr. Wayne Martinsen and Dr. Martinsen, any final thoughts on schizophrenia?
Dr. Wayne Martinsen:
It's an interesting situation. If you look at third world countries, countries where they don't have the financial success of the western nations like Europe, north America, for example, what you see is people with schizophrenia tend to function better in their communities. They're more likely to hold a relationship, hold a job, have a meaningful role in their communities. And there's a couple of reasons for that. Education is much less required to work in in a third world country, but it's also much more family, family-oriented, community-oriented setting where we don't separate out people who have a disorder and they're more integrated into life and families will push them to take on those roles.
Tim Unsinn:
So what are some ways to get help if somebody is diagnosed with schizophrenia? What is the prognosis and how do they get help?
Dr. Wayne Martinsen:
The prognosis varies based on the severity of the illness. So like you can have a mild headache or you can have a pounding migraine so that you can't move. And schizophrenia also has levels of penetration or levels of intensity. So a part of it is, you know how severe is the illness. Medications can help with the hallucinations, with the delusions, the paranoia. Medications don't help for that negative symptomology. The lack of energy, the lack of drive, the lack of curiosity that we see in people normally. So the medications can help with the worst of the symptoms that would get patients hospitalized. But beyond that therapy and getting help for the family so that they understand what their family member is going through and they don't just get frustrated so that they can feel good about holding this person accountable to be their best, their best selves, and yet at the same time give them the support they need for those roles.
Tim Unsinn:
So what about community involvement?
Dr. Wayne Martinsen:
That's a good point, Tim. A lot of the support that comes for people with schizophrenia comes from our human service centers. They provide case management, they can provide assistance for housing, assistance for employment, so these people are not just left trying to fend for themselves and succumbing to homelessness or poverty that is so common in communities where those services aren't available.
Tim Unsinn:
Our topic has been schizophrenia. Our guest, Dr. Wayne Martinsen. And before we wrap up, there's always that final question I ask all of our guests, how do you personally mind your mind?
Dr. Wayne Martinsen:
I try to do that in a number of ways, Tim. I try to focus on my social relationships, spending time alone with my wife, getting exercise, holding my grandchildren and seeing my children, spending time with friends. I meditate. I try to eat well and I try to stay active.
Tim Unsinn:
Thank you so much. Always appreciate you sharing your time and talent with us. Thank you for joining us for Mind Your Mind, a podcast presented by Dakota Family Services. You can't have health without behavioral health. Remember to mind your mind. For more information, links to additional resources, contact information, and much more. Go to Dakotafamilyservices.org.
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