Schizophrenia is a psychological disorder that affects about 2.2 million people (Lumpur, 2005). As a child, this author did not understand the term “schizophrenic”. All that was known was that a person with the disease did not appear to be sick but on the inside they are mentally disturbed. The author’s previously thoughts of schizophrenia was unclear, this report will describe schizophrenia and its causative factors as well as descriptions on how schizophrenia is diagnosed and treated.
Schizophrenia is a mixture of signs and symptoms that can either be both positive and negative (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Sign and symptoms of the disorder can be an indication of social or occupation dysfunction (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). A person that has been previously diagnosed with a pervasive development disorder may be diagnosed as a schizophrenic only if the signs of delusions or hallucination are present (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Symptoms of schizophrenia are noted as lacking a range of “cognitive and emotional dysfunction, inferential thinking, language and communication, behavioral monitoring, fluency and productivity of thought and speech, hedonic capacity, volition and drive, and attention” (American Psychiatric Association, 2000).
Whereas, commonly used terminology classifies schizophrenia as a mixture of symptoms that include “hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, withdrawal, flattened emotional responses, and impairment of memory” (Ledgerwood, Ewald, & Cochran, 2003). The onset of schizophrenia among males is in the late teen years while the females are in their mid- twenties (Ledgerwood et al., 2003). Schizophrenia was formally known as “brain damage” but is now commonly r...
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...ectives in Biology and Medicine, 46(3), 317-48. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/230489658?accountid=34899
Lumpur, K. (2005). What is schizophrenia? Retrieved from Sunday Mail: Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/325080490?accountid=34899
Mortensen, P. B., Pedersen, M. G., & Pedersen, C. B. (2010). Psychiatric family history and schizophrenia risk in denmark: Which mental disorders are relevant? Psychological Medicine, 40(2), 201-10. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0033291709990419
Palmer, B. W., Dawes, S. E., & Heaton, R. K. (2009). What do we know about neuropsychological aspects of schizophrenia? Neuropsychology Review, 19(3), 365-84. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11065-009-9109-y
What is schizophrenia? (2013). Retrieved from National Institute of Mental Health : http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/schizophrenia/index.shtml
Tsuang, M. T., Faraone, S. V., & Glatt, S. J. (2011). Schizophrenia. New York: Oxford University Press.
Schizophrenia has multiple symptoms; according to the World of Health Organization, these symptoms include “delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech and behavior [as well as depressive behavior].” Monomania
8Th edition, Chapter 15.3. Kentridge, B. (1995). S2 Psychopathology Lecture 3: Schizophrenia. Retrieved March 4, 2005. From Http://www.dur.ac.uk/robert.kentridge/ppath3.html Mann, R. (1996).
According to the DSM-IV, schizophrenia is classified under the section of “Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders”. Schizophrenia is one of the most serious major chronic brain disorders in the field of mental health; it is a neurological disorder that affects the cognitive functions of the human brain. People living with this incapacitating illness can experience multiple symptoms that will cause extreme strain in their own and their families and friends life. The individual can lose reality, unable to work, have delusions and hallucinations, may have disorganized speech and thought processes, will withdraw from people and activities, they may become suspicious and paranoid, may behave inappropriately in every day social situations. They may neglect personal hygiene and dress improperly, use excessive make-up; every day life is becoming chaotic for everyone involved.
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.
According to (Barlow, 2001), Schizophrenia is a psychological or mental disorder that makes the patient recognize real things and to have abnormal social behavior. Schizophrenia is characterized by symptoms such as confused thinking, hallucinations, false beliefs, demotivation, reduced social interaction and emotional expressions (Linkov, 2008). Diagnosis of this disorder is done through observation of patient’s behavior, and previously reported experiences (Mothersill, 2007). In this paper, therefore, my primary goal is to discuss Schizophrenia and how this condition is diagnosed and treated.
Schizophrenia: A guide to the New Research on Causes and Treatments. New York: Macmillan, 1994.
Coined by Eugen Bleuler in 1950, the term ‘Schizophrenia’ refers to a group of mental disorders with heterogeneous outcomes. The most prevalent subtype of schizophrenia is the paranoid subtype. Typically, this disorder is characterized by psychosis, in which the patient suffers from altered perceptions of reality. According to the 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM – V), the typical subtypes – paranoid, catatonic and disorganized, among others have been eliminated, although the general definition of the disorder remains unchanged. These changes were made due to the clinically diverse prognosis, pathophysiology and etiology of the disorder, which add to its heterogeneity1, 2. In addition, sex of the patient and age of onset of the disorder also contribute to schizophrenia’s diverse effects. The age of onset and sex of the patient heavily influence the demographics and course of paranoid schizophrenia, and in turn are also affected by the patients ethnicity and any premorbid conditions the patient may have suffered1, 3...
Schizophrenia is a disorder that affects about 1 in 100 people at different stages in their lives and is very difficult to diagnose. It has many symptoms that typically begin to appear around age 18-30 (2). Signs of Schizophrenia can be misread and sometimes overlooked due to the amount of other disorders that share many of the symptoms. Autism is one example. Symptoms can be classified into "negative" and "positive." Negative symptoms could be seen as those that are absent but should be present. Examples of negative symptoms include lack of motivation or apathy, blunted feelings, depression, and social withdrawal (1). Positive symptoms are those that should be present but are absent. Some examples of positive symptoms are hallucinations, delusions, thought disorder, and an altered sense of self (1). It is thought that hallucinations are the...
There are several people every year that are diagnosed with a mental disorder. In the world’s entire population, more than one percent of people have been diagnosed with schizophrenia (Brain and Behavior Research Foundation). When thinking of the billions of people in the world, it might not seem like that many people but once the number of those diagnosed is calculated it seems much larger. Currently there are more than seventy million people in the world that have been diagnosed with schizophrenia, only diagnosed. There are probably several more people who have this disorder and have not been diagnosed or are unable to obtain the resources to be diagnosed.
The domination of schizophrenia in specific geographical countries suggests a strong association between genetics and schizophrenia’s aetiology. Surveys regarding adopted, by different families, monozygotic twins were made. These surveys were established to investigate the relationship between schizophrenia and genes. The studies showed a potent genetic aetiology. Chances increase by fifty percent to develop schizophrenia once the other twins be diagnose with the disorder. Among schizophrenic patients, having schizophrenic siblings increases the chances of developing schizophrenia by eight percent. Other family studies have showed that 12% of children with schizoph...
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)
National Library of Medicine, National Institute of Health. Schizophrenia. 31 Jan 2013. Web. 15 May 2014
Schizophrenia is a disease of the brain that is expressed clinically as a disease of the mind. Once it strikes, morbidity is high (60% of patients are receiving disability benefits within the first year of onset) as is mortality (the suicide rate is 10%). (www.nejm.org/content/1999/0340/008/0645.asp). Because its symptoms and signs and associated cognitive abnormalities are diverse, researchers have been unable to find localization in a single region of the brain. This essay will discuss the symptoms, treatments and causes of schizophrenia.
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...