Change in View: Schizophrenia Moves From Psychology to Biology

1203 Words3 Pages

Change in View: Schizophrenia Moves From Psychology to Biology

Early on in the research regarding the disease schizophrenia, it was thought by doctors to be an illness of a psychological nature, not one relating to the brain. However, in the context of "Neurobiology and Behavior," and in recent light of new information about the disease, I will be examining it as a product of the brain, one that most now believe originates in early childhood. Not only that, but the evidence for it being a biological function of the brain also lies in genetics, with some startling statistics on the signs of the disease.

What is Schizophrenia?

In order to understand the entire paper, it is extremely necessary to cover the basic facts as to what schizophrenia is in patients. Schizophrenia, now seen as an illness of the brain, has been around as early as recorded history. For the longest time, however, people were seen as crazy and either tried as witches or condemned by society as lunatics. It was not until the rise of psychology that the disease was seen as a mental illness. Today, even more importantly, is the understanding that schizophrenia is a fairly common disease and drug treatments have been developed to help patients with symptoms. Approximately 1-1.5% of the population are diagnosed with it sometime throughout there lives, but I will get to general ages and percentages later on in general information. The disease itself has several key characteristics for diagnosis. Here is a short list of some of the symptoms:

1. Grossly abnormal behavior in terms of thought

2. Delusions

3. Hallucinations

Essentially, to translate the above statements, 1: The thoughts of someone with schizophrenia are not clear or logical any long...

... middle of paper ...

...vior is no longer something mystical in origin, but pinpointed to a specific genetic or fetal factor. Perhaps, then, a final point to ponder is that the question raised in this course of brain=behavior will show itself to be true as more discoveries, like the one of schizophrenia being biological in nature, are made.

WWW References to Schizophrenie

1)Schizophrenia Home Page

http://www.schizophrenia.com/

2)Brain Genes and Schizophrenia

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/extra/browse/html97/schi_012197.html

3)Brain Change in Childhood Schizophrenia

http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/oct97/nimh-14.htm

4)In Depth Brain Research on Schizophrenics

http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/2c6aa.htm

5)Dopamine Role in Schizophrenia

http://wwwchem.csustan.edu/chem44x0/SJBR/Mann.htm

6)Chromosomes and Their Clues to Schizophrenia

http://www.apa.org/monitor/jan97/bio.html

More about Change in View: Schizophrenia Moves From Psychology to Biology

Open Document