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Almost 90,000 Austrians suffer from schizophrenia

Schizophrenia: Everyday things are often perceived as conspiracies and threats. Delusions, fear of persecution, hallucinations and anxiety are among the typical symptoms.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com/Olga Yastremska, New Africa, Africa Studio)

One in a hundred people in Austria will develop schizophrenia in the course of their lives. This mental illness usually emerges in young adulthood. Modern antipsychotics with a depot effect enable patients to adhere to their therapy without having to take tablets every day. There are a total of 90,000 people affected in Austria.

• Schizophrenia usually occurs for the first time in young adulthood. Reality and fiction become blurred in this severe mental illness, the self is experienced as alien, perception is distorted and thinking changes.
• Everyday things are often perceived as conspiracies and threats. Delusions, fear of persecution, hallucinations and anxiety are among the typical symptoms.
• The illness typically progresses in psychotic episodes.

According to psychiatrist and neurologist Georg Psota, the long-term prognosis and quality of life can be significantly improved with modern medication.

About depot medication

• Depending on the active ingredient, depot medication is administered every 14 days, once, twice or three months and then has a constant effect over the respective period.
• If the focus is not on the importance of taking daily medication, more space can also be given to non-drug therapies, such as psychotherapy or sociotherapy.

A lack of insight into the illness or delusions often lead to a refusal to take medication.

"This is always a big problem. With depot preparations, however, the daily decision of whether to take the medication or not is no longer necessary, and therefore also the daily confrontation with being 'ill'," says Psota.