Schizophrenia
Substance Abuse Treatment, Suboxone Management & Addiction Management located in Danvers, MA
People with schizophrenia hear voices and see people who aren’t there, hallucinations that make daily life a continual struggle. If you develop schizophrenia symptoms, Barbara D. Davis, FNP, and her team at Aseda Suboxone and Wellness in Danvers, Massachusetts, can help. They have extensive experience in diagnosing psychiatric disorders and assisting people in managing their symptoms for a better quality of life. Call Aseda Suboxone and Wellness to discover how the team can help you live better with schizophrenia, or book an in-person or telehealth appointment online today.
Schizophrenia is a serious psychiatric disorder that currently has no cure but is manageable with the proper treatment. It typically begins causing symptoms in early adulthood, although women tend to develop the condition later than men. It’s highly unusual for children or anyone over 40 to start showing signs of schizophrenia.
Schizophrenia causes distressing problems focused on difficulties recognizing reality. This manifests in two ways:
Hallucinations involve seeing or hearing things like people or voices that aren’t there. These sights and sounds (which are often unpleasant and stressful) are so vivid you don’t know they’re not real.
Delusions are beliefs you retain no matter how unlikely they are or what evidence disproves them. For example, you might be convinced there are hidden cameras in your home or people watching you.
This inability to recognize what’s real can be highly disruptive and lead to unsafe behaviors. Without treatment, people with schizophrenia find daily life a constant challenge that can be so intolerable they try to take their own lives.
In addition to hallucinations and delusions, schizophrenia might cause:
People with schizophrenia often lack insight into their condition (anosognosia), which means they’re unaware they’re ill. Anosognosia can make schizophrenia treatment particularly challenging.
The Aseda Suboxone and Wellness team treats schizophrenia using carefully managed medication and talk therapy. Antipsychotic drugs help control delusions and hallucinations. Other medicines, such as antidepressants or anti-anxiety drugs, might benefit some patients.
Psychotherapy (talk therapy) helps you work through the psychological difficulties of living with schizophrenia. In combination with medication, you begin to understand the hallucinations and delusions and learn to manage your condition more successfully. In addition to individual psychotherapy, couples and family therapy are also available.
Patients with a substance use disorder could benefit from the Aseda Suboxone and Wellness team’s expertise in medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid misuse. MAT uses Suboxone® (buprenorphine medication) and talk therapy to help you through drug withdrawal.
Call Aseda Suboxone and Wellness today or schedule a consultation online to access effective schizophrenia treatment delivered with compassion.