Many people with schizophrenia wind up in drug and alcohol treatment. Sometime the person has substance induced psychosis, but other times they do actually have schizophrenia. Many drug rehabs shy away from accepting schizophrenic patients out of fear, but generally someone with schizophrenia is easier to manage and treat than other patients with “less severe” psychological diagnoses. The most common problem with schizophrenics in treatment is their med-compliance, but a schizophrenic in drug rehab who is med compliant is generally a joy to be around, and much easier to manage than someone with borderline personality disorder or histrionic personality disorder.
The Schizophrenic Brain:
We now know that there is a genetic predisposition for schizophrenia. There are structural brain abnormalities in the brain’s of people with schizophrenia. Some individuals show sings of cerebral damage and larger ventricles produce shrinkage in the prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex plays a key role in a person’s ability to function normally. It has also been found that people with schizophrenia have damage to their cingulate and medial temporal cortex brain regions.
