The Need For Gender-Based Research Schizophrenia is the term for a complex, extremely puzzling condition that causes a patient difficulty in distinguishing fantasy from reality, thinking clearly, and managing emotions. The cause has yet to be pinpointed, but we do see the results. Left untreated, schizophrenia can devastate the lives those who have the disease and their families. Schizophrenia afflicts men and women in equal proportions, but it affects them differently. For example, the onset of the disease usually occurs earlier in men than in women.
Women seem to respond to medication better before menopause.
One theory says that the effects of estrogen in women may help explain these differences. For both men and women, antipsychotic drugs have proven safe and effective in relieving the delusions, hallucinations, and thinking problems associated with the disease. Women seem to be at greater risk for side effects when treated with some of the older antipsychotic drugs. For example, menopausal and postmenopausal women on these treatments are at increased risk for tardive dyskinesia, a condition of abnormal, involuntary movements. Another possible side effect could be elevated levels of the hormone prolactin, which could affect a woman's reproductive system, stop menstruation, and cause infertility.