Misunderstood Mental Illness: Schizophrenia

521 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Conclusion on misdiagnoses

Schizophrenia is a very complex and often misunderstood mental illness that affects both sexes equally, and is found among all races. According to Myers (2013), it means “split mind” (p. 631). It “affects as many as 1 in 100 Americans over their lifetime, and is twice as common as HIV/AIDS” (Levine & Levine, 2009, p. 1). As a member of the health care team I come into contact with people who suffer from mental illnesses on a regular basis. To better understand them, I believe this is a good place to start. Schizophrenia is characterized by a variety of symptoms that dramatically affect an individual’s way of thinking, and ability to function. They have trouble distinguishing what’s real from what’s not, and suffer from hallucinations, delusions,

Show More
Related

  • Understanding Schizophrenia: A Hidden Mental Illness

    1755 Words  | 4 Pages

    Mental illness have been part of humans for many years. Some mental illness can be hidden, while others can be seen a mile away. Schizophrenia for example, is a mental illness that can be easy to conceal. "Schizophrenia is a chronic, disabling mental illness whose symptoms can include hallucinations, delusions and cognitive problems, the illness afflicts about 1 percent of the human population...." (Shnabel). It means that there are people around the world that hear things and see things that not many people can, not knowing what the difference between real and fake is. "Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders are among the most debilitating mental illnesses because multiple facets of functioning are impaired"(Compton). Seeing and hearing

    Read More

  • Schizophrenia: Reality Distorted

    1375 Words  | 3 Pages

    Insanity, then, is inordinate or irregular, or impaired action of the mind, of the instincts, sentiments, intellectual, or perceptive powers, depending upon and produced by an organic change in the brain.

    Read More

  • Schizophrenia: Its Aetiology

    978 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lesley Stevens and Ian Rodin justified the need of acquisition to the mental disorders’ aetiology in their book “Psychiatry”. They pointed out the fact that psychiatrists need to be familiar with the contribution of a particular disorder in order to make a more confident in the diagnosis. Knowing the aetiology of psychotic disorder is as important as the diagnosis. For the simple reason that psychotic disorders do not have particular tests that can be made for diagnosis; on the contrary, physical illnesses do. Knowing the probability of patients vulnerability to a particular disorder helps in the diagnosis. They gave an example explaining that the probability of having angina is more likely in a 60-year-old male smoker rather than a 30 year-old female non-smoker. Although the causes of schizophrenia remains incompletely reveled, research has shown strong factors that might contribute to the disorder. The factors that increase the risk of schizophrenia include: genetics, environmental factors, and some encephalon(brain) abnormalities.

    Read More

  • The Effects of Schizophrenia on the Brain

    914 Words  | 2 Pages

    Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness that affects one to two percent of people worldwide. The disorder can develop as early as the age of five, though it is very rare at such an early age. (3)) Most men become ill between the ages of 16 and 25 whereas most women become ill between the ages of 25 and 30. Even though there are differences in the age of development between the sexes, men and women are equally at risk for schizophrenia. (4) There is of yet no definitive answer as to what causes the disorder. It is believed to be a combination of factors including genetic make-up, pre-natal viruses, and early brain damage which cause neurotransmitter problems in the brain. (3)

    Read More

  • Schizophrenia Essay

    606 Words  | 2 Pages

    Schizophrenia is a devastating mental disorder that strikes teens and young adults crippling their brain and fragmenting their mind. Victims of schizophrenia remain in endless mental agony constantly confused and in terror. They suffer constantly from hallucinations, delusions, and paranoia. Approximately 1% of the world population live with this disorder making it one of the most common mental disorders in the world. Despite the numbers, there is no known cause or cure for schizophrenia. So what is the disorder, why is it so hard to eliminate, and why do so many people fall victim to the fragmented mind?

    Read More

  • Schizophrenia Essay

    696 Words  | 2 Pages

    What is Schizophrenia? Schizophrenia is brain disorder that makes it hard to see the difference between reality and imagination, have normal emotional responses, and act normal in social situations. Schizophrenia is relatively young, it has only been around for less than 100 years. It was first discovered by Dr. Emile Kraeplin in 1887. He believed it was a mental illness. A few documents take Schizophrenia’s origins back to Egypt during the Pharaoh’s rule around 1550 B.C. People originally thought schizophrenia was simply madness, and usually associated it with madness, even though it is quite different from madness. Symptoms of this disease include Positive symptoms, which are: hallucinations, or things that someone can see, feel, smell, or hear that do not really exist. Many people hear voices inside their heads, see people that are not there, or smell odors no one else smells. Delusions are another symptom, also known as bizarre beliefs, these may include paranoid delusions also, which are delusions that tell the person that others are trying to hurt them. Thought Disorders are a symptom in which the person thinks unusually or dysfunctionally. Movement disorders may be present in schizophrenic people, they may seem like twitches or small, sharp, and sudden movements. Schizophrenia’s “negative symptoms” are harder to recognize. These include the flat affect, in which the persons face doesn’t move and the voice is droning. The lack of pleasure in life is another once, along with the lack of ability to start and sustain activities, and little speech. These symptoms prevent or block the person from living a normal life because they cause social, physical, and emotional, and mental problems. This may lead to psychosis, insanity, or ...

    Read More

  • schizophrenia

    524 Words  | 2 Pages

    Schizophrenia is defined as “schizo” meaning split and “phrene” meaning mind. So the meaning split mind is the separation of the usual balance of emotions and thinking. People with this illness have a hard time trying to relate to others, making decisions in their own life, plus they have a hard time thinking clearly. Symptoms of schizophrenia start to manifest about the age of 1...

    Read More

  • Schizophrenia

    1848 Words  | 4 Pages

    Schizophrenia is defined as a severe disabling mental illness. A person with this illness may be completely out of touch with what is going on around them. For example, the individual suffering from Schizophrenia may hear voices, see people who are not there (ghost in other words), and or feel bugs crawling on their skin when in actuality there are now. They may also have disorganized speech and behavior, physically rigid, emotionless, and delusions. The type of delusions where they believe that people are reading their minds, have control over their thoughts, and or plotting to hurt them. They have difficulty holding jobs and taking care of themselves.

    Read More

  • Schizophrenia

    840 Words  | 2 Pages

    Schizophrenia When a person hears the term Schizophrenia, the first thought that comes to mind is "Crazy" or "Insanity." Often confused with Disassociate Identity Disorder (a.k.a. multiple personalities), Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder that is characterized by a wide variety of symptoms and the disorganization of thought processes and emotions. Although Schizophrenia is considered one of the most severe and frequent forms of mental disorders, scientists continue to search for a cure and new forms of treatment for this incurable disease whose causes are still unknown. Of all the functional psychoses, Schizophrenia is by far the most incapacitating and a devastating brain disease which has torn apart the lives of many including victims of this disease and their families.

    Read More

  • Schizophrenia And Mental Disorders

    675 Words  | 2 Pages

    When people think about mental illness they think about people with mental voices or psychopathic killers like Michael Myers from the movie Halloween , but not all mental illnesses or disorders are so not visible or easily distinguished. Psychological disorders can vary from as minor as drinking problems to as severe as depression and anxiety. Though all mental illnesses are severe and harmful in many ways psychiatrist and doctors still are yet to find permanent cures. There is research linked to genes, hormone problems, brain development, and environment that trigger mental disorders but no research yet indicates the true cause.

    Read More

  • Schizophrenia

    1137 Words  | 3 Pages

    Schizophrenia is a serious, chronic mental disorder characterized by loss of contact with reality and disturbances of thought, mood, and perception. Schizophrenia is the most common and the most potentially sever and disabling of the psychosis, a term encompassing several severe mental disorders that result in the loss of contact with reality along with major personality derangements. Schizophrenia patients experience delusions, hallucinations and often lose thought process. Schizophrenia affects an estimated one percent of the population in every country of the world. Victims share a range of symptoms that can be devastating to themselves as well as to families and friends. They may have trouble dealing with the most minor everyday stresses and insignificant changes in their surroundings. They may avoid social contact, ignore personal hygiene and behave oddly (Kass, 194). Many people outside the mental health profession believe that schizophrenia refers to a “split personality”. The word “schizophrenia” comes from the Greek schizo, meaning split and phrenia refers to the diaphragm once thought to be the location of a person’s mind and soul. When the word “schizophrenia” was established by European psychiatrists, they meant to describe a shattering, or breakdown, of basic psychological functions. Eugene Bleuler is one of the most influential psychiatrists of his time. He is best known today for his introduction of the term “schizophrenia” to describe the disorder previously known as dementia praecox and for his studies of schizophrenics. The illness can best be described as a collection of particular symptoms that usually fall into four basic categories: formal thought disorder, perception disorder, feeling/emotional disturbance, and behavior disorders (Young, 23). People with schizophrenia describe strange of unrealistic thoughts. Their speech is sometimes hard to follow because of disordered thinking. Phrases seem disconnected, and ideas move from topic to topic with no logical pattern in what is being said. In some cases, individuals with schizophrenia say that they have no idea at all or that their heads seem “empty”. Many schizophrenic patients think they possess extraordinary powers such as x-ray vision or super strength. They may believe that their thoughts are being controlled by others or that everyone knows what they are thinking. These beliefs ar...

    Read More

  • The Enigma of Schizophrenia

    2627 Words  | 6 Pages

    There are many disorders throughout the world that affect people on a daily basis. They are life altering and life changing. They affect how a person can function on a normal level of life. This, in itself, is an interesting way of viewing the disorder, but it truly is the way that schizophrenia is viewed. The term normal is in its self a complex concept, but to understand that for the purpose of schizophrenia; normal is anything that deviates from the socially accepted way of conducting one’s self. The person affected by this disorder is drifting away from reality and, at the same time, drifting away from who they have been their whole life.

    Read More

  • Media Representation Of Mental Illness Essay

    2182 Words  | 5 Pages

    Misrepresentation of Mental Illness Mental illness is often portrayed wrong in the media. Most movies and television shows exclude the details that truly go along with mental illnesses. We must clarify the actual effects of mental illness versus the misrepresentation we are shown on television and in movies. Mental illness is unfortunate, becoming a cliché.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Schizophrenia In A Beautiful Mind

    1362 Words  | 3 Pages

    Schizophrenia is a group of psychotic disorders with major impairments in thought, emotion, and behavior; there is a constant prevalence rate of one percent with the occurrence being slightly higher in men. Though different psychologists have various theories on whether the disorder is linked to genetics or social economic status, schizophrenia in all

    Read More

  • Shattered Perception: The Narrator of “The Sandman” as a Schizophrenic

    1805 Words  | 4 Pages

    According to the Johns Hopkins Medicine Website , schizophrenia is “a mental illness that usually strikes in late adolescence or early adulthood, but can strike at any time in life” that is characterized by “delusions, hallucinations, bizarre behavior, [and] disorganized speech” among other symptoms. Schizophrenia is, at its core, the altering of a person’s perception of reality by some somatic means and when observed by a psychologically sound individual, can be quite unsettling. After all, seeing a person whose reality is fractured causes us to doubt our own reality, if only in a fleeting thought.

    Read More

More about Misunderstood Mental Illness: Schizophrenia

Open Document