Woman and Schizophrenia

Woman and Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia does not affect men and women in the same way. Because of the difference in certain chemicals in men and women, schizophrenia differs among them. If genetics show you will have schizophrenia in your lifetime, it is likely for men to get hit with it in their late teens- early twenties, and in women, it develops about 5-10 years later. The expression of the illness also differs; men show more apathy, flat affect, cognitive disturbance, paucity of speech, and social isolation, whereas women are more often depressed. Estrogen has a role in explaining the differences of schizophrenia between men and women. Estrogen neutralizes the neurotoxic effects of a variety of stressors, this could explain the reason in the later onset of schizophrenia symptoms in women when compared with men. Estrogen action on neurotransmitter systems may also explain why women respond to antipsychotics faster than men and at lower doses, and why side effects differ.

In my opinion, and according to many studies, schizophrenia tends to hit men harder than women due to the fact of estrogen. Estrogen plays a protective role for women who have schizophrenia. It is said that many men suffer from schizophrenia more severely than women because men get hit with the illness earlier, and they are way less responsive to medication and treatments. Men usually