Partnering With Your Doctor to Manage Your Schizophrenia Symptoms and Improve Your Quality of Life

This article is for people who have lived experience with schizophrenia, or people who are care partners for those with lived experience of it. The goal of this patient education activity is to understand benefits of different kinds of therapies for schizophrenia treatment, including long-acting injectable (LAI) antipsychotics.

You will learn about:

• What schizophrenia is

• Different kinds of treatments for schizophrenia

• Ways to take schizophrenia medicine

• Working with your doctor to find the right treatment

• Questions to ask your doctor

Schizophrenia is a mental condition that affects how a person thinks, feels, and behaves. If you are someone who has lived experience with schizophrenia, you may hear voices or see things that aren't there, have trouble organizing your thoughts, or believe things that aren't true. It can make it hard to tell what's real and what's not.

Dopamine is a brain chemical that helps send messages. In schizophrenia, there's often too much dopamine in some parts of the brain. This can cause confusion and make people hear or see things that aren't real. It's like getting too many mixed-up signals. Medicines for schizophrenia help balance dopamine levels to clear up these signals.

It’s a lifelong condition, but recovery is possible with the right treatment for you.

Common symptoms of schizophrenia include:

• Hearing or seeing things that aren't there

• Strong beliefs in things that aren't true, or acting on them

• Trouble organizing thoughts or speaking clearly

• Showing little emotion or facial expressions

• Avoiding friends and activities

• Difficulty paying attention or remembering things

Medicines for schizophrenia are called antipsychotics, and they help block or balance brain chemicals like dopamine to make symptoms better. The main kinds of antipsychotics are:

• Typical antipsychotics, which work by blocking dopamine to reduce symptoms

• Atypical antipsychotics, which work by changing the balance of dopamine and other brain chemicals

Make sure to talk to your doctor about the side effects of each kind of antipsychotics.

Other treatment options may include:

• Talking with a therapist to understand and manage symptoms.

• Learning to interact with others better with social skills training (SST)

• Involving family to help and support you

• For more severe symptoms, visiting a rehabilitation center or hospital

There are many ways to take antipsychotic medicine for schizophrenia:

• By mouth or under the tongue, as a tablet or liquid taken every day

• As an injection with a needle into a vein, muscle or under the skin, taken every few weeks or months

• Through a patch to put on your skin, taken every day

If you have lived experience of schizophrenia or psychosis, you may find it difficult to take medicine on time. This can be due to side effects, believing that you don’t need medicine, forgetfulness, or your symptoms improving short-term. However, it’s important to stick with it, as suddenly stopping can make symptoms much worse.

Some antipsychotic medicines are available as long-acting injectables (LAIs) that make taking your medicine easier. Instead of taking medicine daily, LAIs are given at your doctor’s office, hospital, or a mental health clinic, and can work for weeks to months.

Be sure to work together with your doctor and talk about which way of taking your medicine would work best for you.

Common misunderstandings of LAIs for schizophrenia include that they are only for severe symptoms or that it is less convenient to go to a doctor’s office, hospital, or clinic to take your medicine.

Others fear needles or think LAIs don't work well. But LAIs help by giving steady medicine, so you don't have to remember to take pills every day. They can last a long time (weeks or months), keep symptoms away, and you don’t have to remember to take your medicine as often.

However, asking your doctor about whether LAIs or other treatments may work for you is important.

To find the right treatment, be open with your doctor about symptoms and side effects. Ask questions and share your worries, keep a journal of how you feel on different medicines, and be sure to stick with your appointments and treatment plan. It also helps to bring a family member for support.

If you have lived experience with schizophrenia, remember that recovery from your symptoms is possible. Don’t give up hope.

Here are some helpful questions to ask your doctor in working together to find a treatment plan:

• What are the pros and cons of each medicine?

• What are possible side effects?

• How long will it take to feel better?

• What should I do if I miss a dose?

• Are there lifestyle changes that can help?

• How often should we review my treatment?

• What should I do if I experience side effects?

• How can my family support my treatment?

• What resources are available for support?

Congratulations!

You have successfully completed the program Partnering With Your Doctor to Manage Your Schizophrenia Symptoms and Improve Your Quality of Life

View Additional Materials on this topic that you may find useful:

CURESZ Foundation Website

National Alliance on Mental Illness – Schizophrenia Page

National Institute of Mental Health – Schizophrenia Page

SAMHSA Treatment Locator