Schizophrenia is not a new mental disorder. Through written documents, it can be traced to the Pharaoh days in Egypt and even further back to the second millennium before Christ. The disease was first identified as a mental illness by German psychiatrist Dr. Emile Kraepelin in 1887. Kraepelin, identified by H.J. Eysenck's Encyclopedia of Psychology as the founder of modern scientific psychiatry, psychopharmacology and psychiatric gene, was the first to make a distinction in the psychotic disorders between what he called dementia praecox and manic depression. He believed that dementia praecox was primarily a disease of the brain, and particularly a form of dementia. Kraepelin named the disorder 'dementia praecox' (early dementia) to distinguish it from other forms of dementia (such as Alzheimer's disease) which typically occur late in life. It wasn’t until 1911 when Swiss psychiatrist, Eugen Bleuler, coined the term "schizophrenia". Bleuler changed the name to schizophrenia because Kraepelin's name was misleading as the illness was not a dementia (it did not always lead to mental deterioration) and could occur late in life as well as early. Schizophrenia" comes from the Greek roots schizo (split) and phrene (mind) to describe the fragmented thinking of people with the disorder. He was also the first to describe the symptoms of schizophrenia as "positive" or "negative." Both Bleuler and Kraepelin subdivided schizophrenia into categories, based on symptoms and prognosis. There are five types described in the DSM-III: disorganized, catatonic, paranoid, residual, and undifferentiated. The first three categories were originally proposed by Kraepelin. The DSM- III stands for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders whic...
... middle of paper ...
... rehabilitation to improve work functioning have shown some promise, but more research is needed, particularly that which focuses on improving how well the person with schizophrenia functions in real-world situations.
Peer-to-peer treatment is also a promising possible intervention. It promotes active constructive involvement from people who have schizophrenia, provides role models for individuals whose functioning is less stable, and may be accessible in individual and group settings, in person as well as by telephone or through the Internet. However, further research is necessary to demonstrate its effectiveness in decreasing symptoms or otherwise clearly improving functioning for people with schizophrenia. There are many foundations dedicated to not only finding a possible cure, but finding new treatments and just improving the lives of schizophrenics in general.
Even though the word schizophrenia is only around a 100 years old, there are written document containing “diseases” that are very similar to cases of Schizophrenia dating all the way back to ancient Egypt. Studies have looked into ancient Greek and Roman literature and have shown that it is very likely that the general population most likely had some awareness of psychotic disorders, however, they did not have any ways to diagnose or treat these disorders. In most points in history anyone who was considered “abnormal”, whether because of physical, mental, or emotional issues, was treated the same. Most early doctors believed that mental disorders were caused by demon spirits or evil that had possessed the body. So, in order to treat these “possessed” people, doctors used various techniques to exorcise the...
Saks wrote this book to promote awareness about the reality of schizophrenia.... ... middle of paper ... ... Several studies reported that, although symptom remission could be obtained for 27% of patients within 4 weeks and 45% within 5 years following treatment initiation, 20– 30% of patients reached a treatment-resistant status on the other side.
Mental illnesses are diseases that plague a being’s mind and corrupts one’s thoughts and feelings. Schizophrenia is one of the many disastrous illnesses that consume one’s life, is known as a real disease that deserves much attention. Experts believe that what causes the illness is a defect in the gene’s of the brain, and little signs of schizophrenia are shown until about one’s early adult years. Some effects of schizophrenia can either be negative or positive, but even if the effects could be either one, people should still be aware that there is something puzzling and alarming happening in the mind of a schizophrenic patient.
Schizophrenia is a deteriorating progressive disease, consequently, it is resistant to treatment for the individual suffering schizophrenia. (Catts & O’Toole, 2016). In most cases the individuals suffering from schizophrenia, are resistive to treatment, in most cases, individuals suffering from schizophrenia, and are resistive in taking antipsychotics. (Catts & O’Toole, 2016). Jeremy doesn’t see himself as a “schizophrenic”, he states that “he’s happy naturally”, and often he’s observed playing the guitar and doing painting in his room. Weekly, he has an intramuscular medication to treat his disorder, crediting the support of his wife. It is indicated that the morality rate, in patients suffering from schizophrenia is higher, despite the considerable resources available, in Australia. New data show that in 20 countries, including Australia, only 13.5% meet the recovery criteria, which means that 1or 2 patients in every 100, will meet this criteria per year. (Catts & O’Toole, 2016). This means that there’s a decline in providing support and services to individuals like Jeremy suffering from a mental illness such as Schizophrenia. Many individuals become severely ill before they realise they need medical treatment, and when receiving treatment it is usually short-term. (Nielssen, McGorry, Castle & Galletly, 2017). The RANZCP guidelines highlights that
In the 1700s, "mad doctors" or doctors specializing in the mentally ill. "They began to devise their own unique classification system for mental disorders. Many cases of what we would now call schizophrenia were probably classified under one or more of these early attempts to devise a more scientific method of understanding mental illness"(Noll, xix). Doctors at this time described the symptoms of schizophrenia somewhat differently (Berle, 14).
Turkington D, Dudley R, Warman DM, and Beck AT (2006) Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy for Schizophrenia: A Review Focus, Spring 2006; 4: 223 - 233.
Classical antipsychotic treatments are commonly used to treat schizophrenic patients with major positive symptoms of schizophrenia, such as Thorazine, Haldol, and Stelazine (Gleitman et al., 2011). Antipsychotic treatments are usually administered with a variety of psychosocial treatments including social skills training, vocational rehabilitation, supported employment, family therapy, or individual therapy (Barlow & Durand, 2014). This is to reduce relapse and help the patient improve their skills in deficits and comply in consuming the
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...
Schizophrenia can be described by a wide-ranging spectrum of emotional and cognitive dysfunctions. These can include hallucinations, delusions, disorganized speech and behavior, as well as inappropriate emotions. Consequently, this disease can affect people from all walks of life. Since schizophrenia is such a complex disorder it can ultimately affect a person’s entire existence and their struggle to function daily. With a chronic disease like this, most people have a difficult time functioning in society. This can make it hard for someone who is schizophrenic to relate to others as well as maintain significant relationships. Life expectancy for those who suffer this illness tend to be shorter than average. This is due to the higher rate of accident and suicide. The symptoms of schizophrenia can be broken down into different categories: positive, negative and disorganized. Positive symptoms include hallucinations and delusions. These tend to be the more obvious signs of psychosis. On the other hand negative symptoms indicate deficits or absence of normal behavior which can affect sp...
Schizophrenia is undeniably one of the most profound, and adverse psychological disorders known to date. The methodological approach to treating schizophrenia is complex and multi-variant. Much contention arises around the specific treatments and medication models used today in order to lessen the global and individual effects of the disorder. For this reason, I had a rather difficult time finding a method of treatment that seemed to display universal efficacy. Although it is seemingly negligible to find a universal method for treatment (due to the existential reality of science, and the disorder itself), there nonetheless should be an emphasis placed on the treatments that yield the most statistical and clinical significance. Simply put, I
Schizophrenia is a devastating mental illness affecting around one percent of humanity. Though estimates vary, conservatively, of that one percent, around a third are victims of the most intractable form of the disease. The purpose of this literature review is to examine the effectiveness and efficacy of established modalities for those diagnosed with this treatment resistant schizophrenia.
Treating schizophrenia can be complicated. One of the things that I would recommend first is to look at the client’s medication. He is already taking Risperidone, which treats the symptoms schizophrenia. It seems to be working so I would recommend they continue to monitor his progress. Also, I would recommend individual psychotherapy for the client so he can work on life skills, goal setting, and coping with his diagnosis, etc. Treatment would be focused on improving the client’s quality of life as opposed to curing his schizophrenia. I would also recommend group therapy for the client where he can work on socializing with other clients and dealing with real world problems. As far as the community supports, I would recommend the client
Other than relieving the negative and positive symptoms of schizophrenia, it is imperative to integrate these patients into the society via Cognitive Remediation therapy (CRT). CRT has been defined as a behavioural training-based intervention that aims to improve cognitive processes (attention, memory, executive function, social cognition or metacognition) with the goal of durability and generalisation (Cognitive Remediation Experts Workshop (CREW), Florence, April 2010). Cognitive remediation strategies can be split into two main models: “compensatory” and “restorative” . The “compensatory” treatments try to eradicate or to bypass the specific cognitive deficit, using the patient’s residual cognitive abilities with or without the community
However, another 25% also show improvement but still require extensive support (Schizophrenia Facts and Statistics, n.d.). Based on this, we can see that a high proportion of patients are able to live normal lives after treatment. Although relapses may occur if the patient stops taking medication after recovery, most of the patients who are aware that they have suffered a relapse will search for assistance to prevent anymore instances of a relapse occurring. In John Nash’s case, he is fully aware of his schizophrenic delusions, which he chooses to actively ignore to prevent any psychotic episodes. All in all, schizophrenia can be troublesome if it is not adequately treated. On the bright side, if it is taken care of, schizophrenic patients are still able to live relatively normal
Mental health refers to the state of individuals psychologically, emotionally and socially. Mental health affects a person’s emotions, feelings, thoughts, and sections when exposed to different situations. Furthermore, mental health is responsible for a person’s reaction to stress and other social conditions. Generally, mental health affects how a person relates to others and their ability to understand and interact with them. Therefore, problems that affect a person’s mental health affect the abilities to socialize, their feelings, moods, reaction to situations. The person experiencing mental health problem may portray different behaviors when confronted with different issues. Mental health issues have several