What is schizophrenia? Schizophrenia is one of the most dangerous mental disorders. If it is not diagnosed and treated on time, it can influence the lives of many, apart from the patient’s. Doctors may suggest that people with schizophrenia should not keep a job because they tend to get extremely violent at one moment and depressive at the other. But experts stress the importance of getting a job and working. With treatment, constant observation, and counseling, schizophrenia patients can excel in their chosen career. If you have schizophrenia or you know someone who has this mental disorder and you want to help them, read this post. The post covers a lot of information about the mental disorder and the best kind of jobs for schizophrenia patients.
What is Schizophrenia?
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that is characterized by a gamut of symptoms relating to cognitive, behavioral, motor, mood, speech, psychology, health, and hygiene. Schizophrenia is developed when there are significant changes in brain development in infants.
The causes are multiple, but few prominent ones are:
– Brain trauma during childbirth
– Accident
– Environmental factors, such as Isolation
– Genetics
– Stress and trauma when the mother is pregnant
The symptoms first start to appear when the patient is in late teens or early twenties. Men usually have an earlier onset than women. The thoughts and experiences of schizophrenic patients are not normal. They hear voices in their head, hallucinate, and experience delusional and suicidal thoughts. Isolation is one of the biggest triggers of schizophrenia. Some of the common symptoms are:
– Amnesia, delusion, confusion, mental disorientation, unnatural beliefs, false beliefs
– Anger, agitation, loss of interest, discontent feeling, inappropriate emotional response
– Social isolation, aggression, hostility, self-harm, OCD, agitation, impulsiveness, and repetitive movements
– Hallucination, hearing voices, speech disorder, panic attacks, depression, fear, and paranoia
– Poor motor skills, lack of concentration, slow movements, fatigue, incoherent speech, no emotional response, and insomnia
At present, there is no cure for this mental disorder. Treatment must be taken continuously and lifelong. However, over the years, newer and more successful and safer treatments have been established to provide these people with normal life. Treatments are mostly in the form of antipsychotic medications, family interventions, cognitive behavioral therapy, and counseling.
Steven Jewell, MD, associate professor of psychiatric, North Ohio Medical University recommends, “It’s critical to recovery to move forward with your life, whether it’s at school or at work. If you can deliver intensive coordinated care early in the course of the illness, the likelihood of avoiding long-term disability is much higher.”
Laying the Foundation of their Career
Schizophrenics generally develop symptoms between the ages of 15 and 30, the time when people are in school and college or establishing their careers. One psychotic episode and everything can disrupt the patients’, their friends’, and family’s lives, which may lead to incomplete education or training for career success.
The first stepping-stone is rehabilitation and job training. One must motivate them to not give up. Some of the rehabilitation therapies that people with schizophrenia should take are learning to use public transport, managing money, making phone calls, receiving phone calls, accomplishing day to day activities, career counseling, and job training. A 2008 study revealed that those who received these comprehensive therapies preferred to work than those with schizophrenia, depression, and bipolar disorder who didn’t get the help at the right time and age.
It is also proven that the earlier mental illness is diagnosed, the better are the chances of recovery and leading a normal life.
Working Conditions for People with Schizophrenia
Milder cases of schizophrenia can be managed with a short duration of medication course and then the patient can continue to work normally at their respective jobs. However, aggressive cases of schizophrenics take time to get back to normalcy and may even return with stronger episodes. Such patients should avoid working conditions, which have common factors:
– Constant social interactions with colleagues and customers
– Strict schedules
– Stressful jobs
– Jobs in fast-paced environments
– Complicated jobs
– A job that constantly requires overtime and mental exhaustion
Worst Jobs for Schizophrenia Patients
Unsuitable working conditions can progress the symptoms of mental illness at a faster pace. The bouts can be worse and may even harm their peers. Therefore, here are some of the jobs that schizophrenia patients should avoid:
– Sales and Marketing – Sales and marketing is a stressful job. You have to achieve your weekly and monthly targets, not to mention the constant communication between you and customers. Social skill is a must, which is a no-no for schizophrenia patients.
– Medical Professionals – Being in the medical field means stressful situations. One wrong move or medication and you can put life to danger. Paranoid thinking can make the situation even worse for schizophrenics. The jobs also include long working hours, which can trigger some of the symptoms in the patient.
– Airline Pilot – long working hours, extended periods away from home, and difficult schedules – the life of airline pilots is not easy. It also requires clear cognizance and excellent motor skills to fly. Additionally, you must also pass a medical examination and a personality test during the selection process, both of which can be hard to clear for schizophrenics.
– A career in the Food Industry – Especially working in a fast pace restaurant can cause fear, anxiety, and hallucinations, which can lead to aggression, violence, memory loss, and speech disorientation. Therefore working in a restaurant, where human interaction is paramount does not seem like a good option for schizophrenia patients.
Best Jobs for People with Schizophrenia
Embracing and understanding the illness is the first step towards identifying the sort of jobs you will enjoy and excel at. Understanding the disorder will limit your options and help you choose the ideal work environment in a prudent manner.
List of work environments for Schizophrenia People
– Low – Stress Jobs – People suffering from Schizophrenia cannot handle any sort of stress. Therefore, choose a job that lowers the stress and relaxes the mind.
– Less Interaction with People – People having this mental illness have a natural aversion towards people. They do not like talking and may at times even feel that people are conspiring against them. Therefore, you must choose a job that has limited social interaction.
– Flexi-Work Schedule – Strict working conditions can affect work life. Therefore, you must go for a job that offers flexible working opportunities for people with special conditions. Freelancing and contractual work are few to name.
– Easy Commute – Schizophrenia patients often impair their motor skills and cognitive sense. This makes them quite forgetful, absent-minded and causes impaired driving skills. So, having a job that is not too far away from where you reside can help ease the stress. Choose a job that is around 3 – 5 km from your home. You can also opt for work-from-home jobs.
– Friendly Employer – There are employers who make reasonable accommodations for people with mental health issues. They are ready to make environmental adjustments, such as offer flexible work schedules, service dogs, stress management workshops, and noise cancellation headphones to help special cases deal with work more efficiently.
7 Best Jobs for People with Schizophrenia
It is important to have a good understanding of your strengths and weaknesses, and your qualities. Here are possible jobs that schizophrenic patients can apply for.
Janitor
Work of a janitor is pretty simple, which a person can do independently. It is also not stressful and doesn’t require social interaction of any sort. Your job primarily entails cleaning and maintaining the building space, such as vacuuming, emptying garbage bin, wheeling around trash, cleaning washrooms, and mopping floors.
Librarian
Working as a librarian is a relaxing and accommodating job if you like silence and books. Your job would entail retrieving books for members, entering details about books then computer system, and maintaining a record for each book lent. You may also shelve books to organize them.
Data Entry
You will be required to scan documents into a computer or enter information from hard files to the computer. It is a simple, flexible, and occupying job. Computer knowledge is a requirement, however.
Crossing Guard
Although you will be around people, you won’t have to interact much when you’re across the guard. It is a perfect job for outgoing people, who do not like staying cooped up at home. This work requires physical labor, but it will keep your mind occupied throughout the day.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a promising and versatile career that offers lots of flexibility and freedom at work and different opportunities to make a good fortune. The work is simple. You have to choose products from your favorite niche and promote them to affiliate links.
Virtual Assistant
This is an online opportunity where your work would be assisting customers in various tasks, such as fielding calls, scheduling appointments, support end customers, type and record data and documents, etc.
Piano Tuner
Although a certain amount of skill is required and training involved, working as a piano tuner can be rewarding for it lets you work independently, with flexibility.
Hope this blog helps you or your loved ones to find a meaningful career. Don’t forget to share it with someone who needs assurance.
