41+ In-Network Insurances We Accept In Texas
Choosing the Right Provider
If you or a loved one have been diagnosed with schizophrenia, it is important for you to know that treatment options are available.
We connect you with Licensed Clinicians who match your needs and goals.
Your Clinician performs a thorough evaluation and develops a personalized treatment plan.
Your Clinician maintains proper level of care through therapy sessions, medication management, and self-care practices as needed, while staying connected with your support system.
Find A Licensed Schizophrenia Treatment Provider In Texas
Filter Provider Results
Locations Near You
We offer a variety of mental health services in-person and telehealth including virtual therapy and online psychiatry. Find the nearest mental health clinic near youLocations Near You
We offer a variety of mental health services in-person and telehealth including virtual therapy and online psychiatry. Find the nearest mental health clinic near you33 Mental Health Clinics Offering a Wide Range of Mental Health Services
About Schizophrenia
What Is Schizophrenia?
Schizophrenia is a serious mental health disorder that involves a breakdown in the affected individual’s ability to accurately perceive the world around them. Typically, these skewed perceptions cause the affected individual severe distress and fear. In addition to hallucinations and delusions, affected individuals will often experience blunting of their ability to problem-solve, concentrate, and interact with others.
What Causes Schizophrenia?
The specific cause of schizophrenia is unknown, but experts believe that both genetic and environmental factors play a role in the development of schizophrenia. The following are some known risk factors for developing schizophrenia:
- Living in poverty
- Living in stressful or dangerous surroundings
- Chronic inflammation
- Complications during pregnancy and birth
- Viral exposures
- Drug and alcohol use (particularly if started in childhood or adolescence)
- Family history of psychosis
- Traumatic brain injury
What Are the Symptoms of Schizophrenia?
Schizophrenia affects many regions of the brain, resulting in a wide array of symptoms. The disease manifests very differently from one individual to the next. Some symptoms of the disorder include:
- Delusions
- Disorganized speech
- Hallucinations
- Detachment from friends and family
- Disorganized thinking
- Insomnia
- Depressed mood
- Irritability or paranoid behavior
- Poor hygiene
- Fidgeting or jerky movements
- Monotonous speech patterns
- Resistance to completing tasks
- Apathy towards previously enjoyed activities
- Poor performance in school or work
- Catatonia
- Faulty memory
Many of these symptoms are present in other mental disorders. A LifeStance mental health
professional can perform a differential diagnosis to help determine whether schizophrenia and/or
other disorders might be present.
Schizophrenia Treatment Options
Schizophrenia requires lifelong treatment, and affected individuals must continue taking prescribed medications even when symptoms are not present. Medications used to treat this disorder include neuroleptics (which have also been referred to as “antipsychotics,” antidepressants, mood stabilizing medications, and anti-anxiety medications).
Medications come in the form of capsules, tablets, or injections, and some long-acting injectable medications (LAIs) may be available. The advantage of LAIs is that they only need to be administered once per month (or for some LAIs, up to once per six months), which is much more convenient than medications that need to be taken daily. When prescribed and administered by appropriately licensed and trained professionals, LAIs are safe and can be effective and reduce rates of hospitalization.
If symptoms are so severe that there are safety concerns (risk of harm to self, risk of harm to others, or inability to care for one’s basic needs), hospitalization is required. This is most often a brief stay and may be followed by a “step-down” option of partial hospitalization or intensive outpatient treatment.
Talk therapy is another powerful tool that can contribute to remission from symptoms of schizophrenia. Therapists can help affected individuals develop healthy coping strategies, improve their insight and ability to self-reflect accurately, and improve communication within families.
Online Treatment Options for Schizophrenia
LifeStance offers both in-office and online appointments for treatment of schizophrenia. Online appointments allow patients to access their healthcare provider via their own secure and reliable internet connection from the privacy of their home. At times, an in-office appointment may be required. Among other things, an in-office appointment allows the psychiatric clinician to observe movement-related side effects and check vital signs.
Schizophrenia FAQs
Schizophrenia is a chronic condition that must be managed for the affected individual’s entire lifetime. With consistent medication management and therapeutic treatment, affected individuals can keep symptoms under control for long periods of time. It is particularly important to receive adequate treatment as soon as possible after the first episode of psychosis because there is a “window of opportunity” during which it can be best to start treatment. Studies show that providing effective treatment within the first 2-3 years after the first episode of psychosis can reduce relapses of psychosis by more than 50% and significantly improve long-term functioning.
In men, schizophrenia typically develops in their early to mid-twenties, and in women, in their late twenties. Some will experience their first symptoms in their teens, but rarely does it develop in childhood or older adulthood.
Schizophrenia does not usually get worse with age, but taking the appropriate prescribed medications to treat schizophrenia is essential to prevent worsening symptoms. Periods of time off from the prescribed medication can negatively affect the brain’s responsiveness to treatment and worsen cognitive impairment.
Schizophrenia is not caused by trauma, but studies have shown that exposure to trauma in the form of abuse and neglect in childhood does increase the risk of developing schizophrenia later in life. Another important risk factor is drug and alcohol use. Regular use of cannabis is associated with increased risk of developing psychosis and schizophrenia, particularly when people start using cannabis at an early age.
