Schizophrenia

Undifferentiated is when they have many symptoms that do not fall into a sub category of schizophrenia, and residual is when the main symptoms of the illness have abated but some features, such as hallucinations and flat affect, may remain. There are a number of theories of how schizophrenia is caused but there is no one knows a true answer of how it comes about. Research so far says that people inherit a genetic venerability to schizophrenia others say that it is because by an unbalanced amount of chemicals in the brain that causes the inability to maintain mental health. Most symptoms are believed to be caused by an abnormal amount of stress in the persons life, but one thing truly positive about the illness is that a person with it is capable of living a close to normal life, that is with the proper treatment and medications.

Symptoms can vary in intensity and alter over time. (Mueser & Gingerich, 2006) Psychotic symptoms also known as positive symptoms include perceptions or beliefs that reflect a break from reality and are not shared by people without mental illness. The two types of psychotic symptoms are hallucinations and delusions. Hallucinations are false perceptions that a person experiences but other people do not. They include hearing, seeing, feeling, tasting and smelling things that are not present in the environment.

The hallucinogens give visual illusions and hallucinations that are accompanied by psychosis upon occasion. Although each type of drug listed is often abused and has dramatic negative effects on the brain, not all of them are truly addictive. In order to be addictive a drug must have three effects. First, it must cause the patient to voluntarily self-administer it. Second, it must cause massive spikes in dopamine.

The neuroleptics are believed to block the dopamine receptors in the brain, limiting the activity of dopamine and reducing the symptoms of schizophrenia. Amphetamines, just the opposite, enhance dopamine transmission. Amphetamines produce an excess of dopamine in the brain and can provoke the symptoms of schizophrenia in a schizophrenic client. In large doses, amphetamines can simulate symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia in a nonschizophrenic person. Some symptoms of schizophrenia are due basically to hyperdopaminergic activity.

These categories define how the symptoms are defined and treated. Positive symptoms include delusions, hallucinations, disorganized behavior, disorganized speech and thinking, difficulty to be goal oriented, the schizophrenic is unpredictable, silly, or exhibits behaviors that are bizarre to onlookers. Other positive symptoms include catatonic behaviors, which would be a decrease in reaction to the current environment. Positive symptoms, which do not occur very often, are unusual motor behavior, derealization, depersonalization and somatic preoccupations. Negative symptoms of schizophrenia include affective flattening, which is a reduction in the range and intensity of emotional expressions, Alogia categorized by a lessening of speech fluency and productivity, and Avolition, which is the reduction, or difficulty to initiate and persist in goal directed behavior.

After the publication of DSM III the American definition moved away from the very broad definition of schizophrenia, to a more controlled approach that meant that less people are now wrongly diagnosed with schizophrenia. The symptoms of schizophrenia cause suffers problems in several major areas these include: thought, perception, attention, motor behaviour and emotion. Many patients, who are diagnosed with schizophrenia, only have some of the symptoms. Unlike mo... ... middle of paper ... ...hanism may malfunction or not work. We can guess that stress can trigger schizophrenia because of the EE studies that look at patient relapse rate.

A delusion is a key example of an abnormal thought process in Schizophrenia. Delusions are beliefs that conflict with reality and are tenaciously held, regardless of the contrary. There are various types of delusions; such as delusion of control which is the delusion that one 's thoughts, feelings, and actions are not one 's own however are being imposed by someone else or some other external force. Another delusion is the delusion of grandeur which is a person’s belief that they are famous, a powerful entity, omnipotent, and/or a person of high rank – despite evidence to the contrary. Delusions of persecution refer to false beliefs or perceptions in which a person believes that they are being treated with cruel intent, hostility, or harassment.

Is it possible that the reason that schizophrenics have an impaired sense of reality is because their brains logic is askew? Schizophrenia is one of the most severe psychopathologies present today. Its causes are still vague, and the symptoms vary across a large spectrum. However, two generalized grouped of symptoms have been identified for schizophrenics: positive symptoms, and negative symptoms. Negative symptoms include lack of activity, anhedonia, and loss of interest.

Schizophrenia can exhibit either positive or negative or both signs. Whereas the positive sign is characterised by paranoia, false principles or hallucination, the negative aspect is marked by depression, withdrawal from communal connections. But pleasing of social responses shortfall in attention and memory are ascribed to cognitive effect. Generally, schizophrenia is considered to be neurodevelopment unrest rather than neurogenerative disorder (Harrison et al., 2003). There are several divisions in the brain that can be affected by schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia and Criminality: Factors that Contribute to Aggression Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder occurring in the brain that is characterized by positive symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions, but can also display negative symptoms like the lack of emotional expression and catatonia, or the inability to move. Social problems, such as having difficulties with establishing and keeping interpersonal relationships, are also symptoms that can lead to the diagnosis of this illness (Tandon et al., 2013). Furthermore, schizophrenia has been linked to producing aggressive behaviors that can result in criminal acts (Hanlon, Coda, Cobia, & Rubin, 2012). The purpose of this literature review is to investigate the factors of schizophrenia that could contribute to an aggressive behavior and, in turn, to criminality. Factors that contribute to the aggressive or violent behavior in some people with schizophrenia can actually be found at the very structural and functional level of the brain.