For example, antidepressants, antipsychotics, antianxiety, and impulse-stabilizing medications may be helpful at times. Psychotherapy is almost always helpful in these disorders. Long-term treatment is usually necessary to make the painful and difficult connections between events of the past and the development of maladaptive behavior and emotion in the present. Behavioral therapy can be useful in some cases by helping people interrupt their habitual patterns while learning new coping strategies within a supportive environment. Self-help groups, which often provide caring and a substitute family, may also be helpful.
Psychosis is a symptom of schizophrenia, but it can occur in other mental illness as well.
In addition to psychosis, a person who develops schizophrenia will usually experience a decline in function both at work and in social situations. While the Greek root schizo does mean split, it derives from a split between the mind and soul, and should not be confused with the disorder psychiatrists call multiple personality. Most often, schizophrenia occurs in adolescence and continues through life with exacerbations and remissions. It affects about 1 in a 100 people, a number that is constant across many societies and is more common in lower socioeconomic groups. During an active phase of the illness, bizarre thought patterns such as delusions or hallucinations occur.