24-10-2006
Joan Wells, right, thanks Debbie Willcox for her informative presentation on schizophrenia.
- NISAD stands for Neuroscience Institute of Schizophrenia and Allied Disorders. Its website can be found at http://www.nisad.org.au.
- NISAD produces its newsletter, Headlines, several times a year.
- Part of Debbie's job, as Executive Director of NISAD, is to talk to community groups to help de-stigmatise schizophrenia.
- There is a lot of research going on in Australia (and in NSW in particular) with some of the best neuroscience researchers in the world working here. NISAD has recently appointed Dr Cynthia Shannon Weickert as Australia's first Chair of Schizophrenia Research.
- Schizophrenia is not split personality as pictured in the past; it is a biological disease (probably stemming from the womb) which features delusions and hallucinations.
- It usually hits people when they are between 15-25 years old (although it has been observed in people as young as 6 months). The reason for most onset occurring at this time is thought to be due to the rapid changes experienced by that group.
- Schizophrenia affects about 1% of the population. 30-50% of its sufferers suicide, with the life expectancy of sufferers in the range 55-65 rather than the 80's of the rest of the population.
- Cannabis use often triggers onset in people with a disposition to the disease. This triggering is more prevalent now than in times past because most cannabis has higher concentrations of THC (the active ingredient in cannabis) because it is grown hydroponically.
- It leads to social disconnection with an impaired relationship to social reality and a loss of social functions.
- Schizophrenia sufferers have subtle intellectual impairments in the areas of memory, planning, and concentration.
- The disablement of sufferers stems from social isolation, poor self-care, unemployment, poverty, and social disadvantage.
- 10-15% of sufferers are people dealing with it, and 10-15% are people in the worst situation, but 70-80% of sufferers spend most of their time on the couch watching tv.
- NISAD is an institute without walls, allowing it to use 80% of donations for research. Its mission is to find a means to prevent and cure schizophrenia.
- NISAD consists of a network of scientists across about 8 universities. 4 papers were published in 2000, rising to 50 in 2006. In the same time, the number of higher degrees awarded rose from 4 to 17.
- Some of the research done has shown that the grey matter (the outer part of the brain) progressively thins even in people on medication.
- It is very difficult for people with schizophrenia to determine other people's moods (leading to some of the awful social situations associated with schizophrenia). However, it has been shown that this can be diminished with special training.
- New technology allows the changes associated with schizophrenia to be visualised, but it requires the condensation of the data from several hundred brain scans.
- Cognitive Behaviour Therapy can assist people in dealing with the problems of schizophrenia.
Last changed: 03:18:01 04-10-2008