Schizophrenia Research Paper

This assignment will be looking at schizophrenia, depression and eating disorders.

Schizophrenia is a term that was coined by Blueler (1911) and refers to a "splitting of the mind's various functions... "

(Gross, 2014)

Schizophrenia is a group of psychotic disorders indicated by loss of touch with reality. Indicators include disturbances of thought processes and of behaviour and emotions. It comes in different forms, namely catatonic, disorganized, indifferent, paranoid and residual (Cardwell, Clarke, & Meldrum, 2003). The patient loses touch with reality and cannot distinguish between real life and hallucinations or delusions. For diagnosis to take place the patient would need to be suffering from two or more symptoms for at least a month. Positive symptoms include hallucinations, delusions, disorganised speech and extreme changes in behaviour. For example some patients have painted out their windows to block out daylight. Some display catatonic behaviour and can stand or sit trance-like, immobile for long periods of time, in extreme cases lasting years. Negative symptoms include loss of verbal emotional expression and lack of normal facial or bodily movements used to convey emotion. Appropriate emotional responses are also affected, for example becoming angry or euphoric for no obvious reason, or laughing when something bad happens (Gross, 2014).

"Certain psychotic symptoms associated with schizophrenia reflect a deficit in the ability to appreciate other people's mental states."

(Corcoran, Mercer, & Frith, 1995)

Kendler, et al (1985), found immediate relatives of schizophrenics "were 18 times more at risk than the general population" (Psychology For A2 Level, 2002). Children born to two schizophrenic parents are 46% more like...

... middle of paper ...

...isorder than their peers with higher self-esteem. They were also more likely to have low self-esteem at the age of 15 and more likely to display other problems relating to family and health (Psychology for AS Level, 2003). Button's psychological theory concluded that low self-esteem at the age of 11-12 is a significant indicator for girls to develop an eating disorder later. A major criticism of Button's study was that the sample may not have been unbiased. It is known some head teachers prevented certain students' participation. Students deemed to be weaker or sensitive may not have been included. It should also be noted that low self-esteem or any indicator of a later eating disorder may have been evident at a younger age than in the test sample. Therefore it cannot be said that the low self-esteem predated the eating disorders (Psychology for AS Level, 2003).