Essays
Topics
preview

Paranoid Schizophrenia Is the Reverse of Happiness

Good Essays
Open Document
Paranoid schizophrenia is the reverse of happiness. Pleasure, elation, and satisfaction are elusive. It feels like you are the only one to whom this is happening (Moore 2001 pg. 2). This quote is from a person who suffers with schizophrenia and describes it better than anyone on the outside of the disorder ever could. Schizophrenia is a key mental illness that negatively affects a person life and their surrounding environments (DSM-IV-TR. 4th). This paper will shed some light into this horrible mental ailment. It will discuss the symptoms and treatment for the disorder in a non-scientific, more familiar way.
There are many different sub-types of schizophrenia with the paranoid type being the most well-known and common-place sort. Some of the signs and symptoms of the illness include audio and visual hallucinations; people hear and see things that are not there. In most cases, individuals also suffer from delusions; these people think that other people whether it be friends, family or even strangers are plotting against them to do them harm in some way. Other psychological symptoms of schizophrenia include distractibility, and a poor attention span [2-5]. The core of the cognitive symptoms is a memory deficiency in which there is trouble maintaining things in their short-term memory [6, 7].These are but a few of the many symptoms that plagues the poor sufferers of schizophrenia and disrupts their daily lives.
There are just as many treatments as there are types of schizophrenia and most come in the form of a pill. No matter the treatment, a person who suffers from the disease will always have a skilled psychiatrist or even a whole team of medical doctors and pharmacologist involved with their health care needs. Some of ...

... middle of paper ...

... of the positive-negative dichotomy. Br J Psychiatry 151: 145–151.
4. Mueser KT, McGurk SR (2004) Schizophrenia. Lancet 363: 2063–2072.
5. Green MF (1996) What are the functional consequences of neurocognitive deficits in schizophrenia? Am J Psychiatry 153: 321–30.
6. Goldman-Rakic PS (1994) Working memory dysfunction in schizophrenia. J Neuropsychol Clin Neurosci 6: 348–357.
7. Goldman-Rakic PS (1999) The physiological approach: Functional architecture of working memory and disordered cognition in schizophrenia. Biol Psychiatry 46: 650–661.
8. Durham J (2009). Schizophrenia: A review of pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic treatments. US Pharmacist, 34(11): 1-5.
9. Schizophrenia. In: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-IV-TR. 4th ed. Arlington, Va.: American Psychiatric Association; 2000. http://www.psychiatryonline.com. Accessed Sept. 29, 2010.
Get Access
Related
Get Access