Schizophrenia: Types, Symptoms, Medications, Treatment

Schizophrenia is a neurological disorder that affects the cognitive functions of an individual. The cause of this illness is unknown, but there are several theories of how an individual may acquire schizophrenia. Because there are many symptoms of the disease and because the symptoms can vary quite dramatically among several individuals and even within the same individual over time, the diagnosis of schizophrenia can be quite difficult.

In the United States and Europe, schizophrenia occurs in about 3 to 6 of every 10,000 individuals. Schizophrenia occurs equally in males and females; however, the age of onset of the disease is different between the sexes. The primary age of onset in males occurs roughly between the ages of 15 and 25, whereas that in females occurs between the ages of 25 and 35. In almost all cases of schizophrenia, the primary age of onset occurs between the ages of 10 and 50; of those being treated for schizophrenia, 90 percent are between the ages of 15 and 54. Among those having schizophrenia, about 50 percent attempt suicide at some point during the disease, and sadly about 10 percent of schizophrenics actually succeed in committing suicide. Also, schizophrenics have a high mortality rate due to accidents (1).

Schizophrenia occurs in all socioeconomic classes. However, a larger number of schizophrenics are in the lower socioeconomic classes. Two theories have been provided to attempt to explain this disproportionate phenomenon. The social causation hypotheses states that those of lower socioeconomic classes experience different types or amounts of stress that may result in the development or exacerbation of schizophrenia. The more widely accepted downward drift hypothesis argues that the illness itse...

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... patients have been helped to lead more happy and fruitful lives. Hopefully a cure will be discovered in the future and the mechanisms of schizophrenia known, so that one day schizophrenia will able to be prevented from occurring in other individuals.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

1. Kaplan, H. I., and B. J. Sadock. Synopsis of Psychiatry: Behavioral Sciences/Clinical Psychiatry, 6th Ed. 1991. Williams and Wilkins Publishing Co., 320-342.

2. Krieckhaus, E. E., Donahoe, J. W., and M. A. Morgan.Paranoid Schizophrenia may be caused by Dopamine Hyperactivity of CA 1 Hippocampus. 1992. Biological Psychiatry, 31: 560-570.

3. Benes, F.M., McSparren, J., Bird, E. D., SanGiovanni, J. P., and S. L. Vincent. Deficits in Small Interneurons in Prefrontal and Cingulate Cortices of Schizophrenic and Schizoaffective Patients. 1991. Arch. of General Psychiatry, 48: 996--1001.