A schizophrenic patient who takes his medication is
no different from a normal person.
The diagnosis of schizophrenia for Mahmut Can Kalkan, a university student in Izmir who killed his parents by making them drink cyanide-laced syrup, has once again brought the topic of schizophrenia and the precautions that can be taken to the forefront of the national agenda. Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan offered important insights regarding schizophrenia and related cases
. Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, Rector of Üsküdar University and a psychiatrist, provided important information about the cyanide horror in Izmir and the disease of schizophrenia.
“Schizophrenia is generally a disease that can be diagnosed very easily through an examination when families notice certain behavioral and thought disorders and bring the patient to a doctor,” said Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan,
Schizophrenia is not a disease that can be cured with advice!
“Schizophrenia is a disease in which the decision-making region of the brain is impaired. A person perceives, interprets, and responds to information that comes to mind or is perceived from the outside. The frontal lobe of the brain performs this function. Research on schizophrenia shows that the frontal lobe does not function properly in these individuals. In other words, the frontal lobe causes flawed decision-making. This is a condition that requires treatment. Therefore, schizophrenia is not a disease that can be cured through advice, various forms of persuasion, or psychotherapy. Schizophrenia is a brain disease. The brain’s chemistry is disrupted, and the frontal lobe functions without establishing connections with other regions of the brain,” he said.
Schizophrenia is a brain disorder, not a mental illness
“Recent brain scans and brain function tests reveal the following: The frontal lobe (the decision-making region) of the brain in schizophrenia patients is not functioning properly. The connection between the brain’s sensory areas, interpretive areas, and decision-making areas is severed. “The latest research on brain functions shows that schizophrenia is not a mental illness but a brain disorder,” said Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, continuing:
A thought comes to these individuals’ minds.
A person with schizophrenia or paranoid disorder hears an inner voice saying, for example, ‘These people are not your mother and father; they are the devil disguised as your mother and father.’ Normally, the human brain should immediately perform a reality check. Since it cannot perform this reality check, the person believes that absurd thought and constructs a scenario around it. If the parents’ attitude isn’t open, transparent, and clear, that small doubt turns into delusion, and a schizophrenic condition emerges.
The parents’ awareness is of great importance
Schizophrenic patients exhibit inappropriate emotional states. That is, there are certain behaviors—such as speech, laughter, or rambling—that are inappropriate for the setting or situation. Whether this is schizophrenia or psychosis can only be determined through general observation and various examinations. The recent incident in Izmir needs to be investigated by forensic psychiatry units, and a definitive diagnosis must be made accordingly. Parents can sometimes be blinded by love; because they love their child so much, they are unable to question the child’s behavior. They interpret the behavior in a certain way and end up contributing to the progression of the illness. For this reason, parental awareness is crucial in this context. What parents need to do here is trust scientific knowledge. Traditional knowledge is valuable and beneficial only if it is validated by scientific evidence. But if it is not validated by scientific evidence, such situations often come at a high cost.
Instead of taking the person they suspect to a doctor, they take him to a psychic
In our society as well, when people suspect schizophrenia based on someone’s behavior, they don’t take that person to a doctor but immediately take him to psychics or people who practice magic. These individuals then keep the person occupied by saying things like, “You’ve been possessed by three-lettered spirits,” and so on. Meanwhile, these illnesses and cases continue to emerge.”
Schizophrenia requires biological treatment
Emphasizing that schizophrenia requires biological treatment to correct brain chemistry, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stated
, “Just as a broken leg requires treatment, schizophrenia also requires that kind of treatment. Schizophrenia is a biological illness. I believe this is an opportunity to raise awareness in Turkey that schizophrenia is a brain disorder—and just as one would seek treatment from a neurologist when part of the body is paralyzed, these individuals should also see the appropriate specialist.”
“If a person with schizophrenia takes his medication, he is no different from a normal person in terms of aggression”
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, Rector of Üsküdar University, stated, “If a person with schizophrenia takes his medication, there is no difference between him and a normal person in terms of aggression,” and concluded his remarks as follows
:
“People with schizophrenia generally do not believe they are sick; they lack awareness of their illness. For this reason, because they lack insight into their illness, they do not take their medication—for example, by hiding it under their tongue. In such situations, parents say, ‘Let’s try not having him take it,’ and that is how these incidents occur
. If a person has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, the top priority here—the red flag—is whether or not he is taking his medication. It is important for him to pay attention to this.”
