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symptoms of schizophrenia essay
charactertertics and symptoms of schizophrenia
charactertertics and symptoms of schizophrenia
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“Schizophrenia” is a cacophonous word, crowded with awkward consonants and branded by a puzzling pronunciation. Similarly, the disease itself is marked by disorganized, discordant speech, thoughts, and actions. From its original Latin, schizophrenia translates to “split mind,” a term which fits well because individuals with schizophrenia “seem to have normal mental function in some areas but are markedly disturbed in others” (source). Commonly accompanying schizophrenia are jumbled thoughts, distorted perceptions, and inappropriate behaviors. Positive symptoms of schizophrenia are “psychotic behaviors not seen in healthy people,” such as persistent delusions and hallucinations (source). In contrast, schizophrenia’s negative symptoms, like monotonous tonal quality and lack of emotion and movement, indicate the absence of normal appropriate behaviors. Depending on the presence and continuance of symptoms, schizophrenia can typically be classified into four different subtypes. Paranoid schizophrenia involves a “preoccupation with delusions and hallucinations,” often of persecution or grandeur; disorganized schizophrenia’s “predominant feature is disorganization of thought processes and emotions”; catatonic schizophrenia includes “excessive or purposeless movement”; and undifferentiated schizophrenia samples a variety of different schizophrenic symptoms (source). Characterized by all forms of schizophrenia is the schism it forges between the individual’s internal mind and the reality of the external world. Much like the distorted perceptions which it creates, schizophrenia’s long list of possible causes still remains much of an elusive labyrinth. Schizophrenia “afflicts 1 in 100 people,” typically striking “as young people are maturing into adulthood” (Myers 591)....
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...When he feared that his lack of emotion would harm his relationship with his wife and son, Nash secretly stopped taking his antipsychotic drugs. From that point forward, against his psychiatrist's wishes, Nash searched for normalcy without psychopharmacology (A Beautiful Mind). He gradually noticed the implausibility of the always youthful, hallucinatory Marcee. Once again, a separation formed in Nash's mind as part of him realized that the voices could not possibly be real, and another part of him still heard them so clearly. Ultimately, he developed the willpower to ignore his hallucinations while simultaneously hearing them. His mind remained split, but he stood firm on the side of reality.
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.
Butcher, Mineka and Hooley (2003) define schizophrenia as a brain disorder in which there is a failure of the brain's chemical or electrical systems to function properly, resulting in a variety of unusual neural twists, such as disjointed ideas, confused or disconnected thoughts, and sounds or other sensations experienced as real when they exist only in the person's mind. The prevalence of the disorder is estimated to be about one percent of the population in most countries including the United States. Butcher, Mineka and Hooley also note that there are no sex-related difference for the prevalence of schizophrenia among men and women with the exception of a slight difference in the average age of onset with men showing symptoms a few years earlier than women.
Mental illness today is something that most people take seriously, but not in past history due to it not being thought of as a serious issue. Mental institutions were places for those who were considered, “sick.”. Several times, patient's illnesses would become worse making their stay longer than expected. The main character in The Yellow Wallpaper definitely has a mental illness and she is a patient at a mental institution. Her mental illness became worse as time went on due the lack of interactions with her own family/others, multiple hallucinations, and the amount of medication she was receiving daily.
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...
Schizophrenia is a chronic psychotic disorder that is characterized by different disturbing behaviors that individuals suffer from. The characterized different disturbing behaviors associated with the disorder are emotional, thought, and perceptions on certain aspects of life. Individuals that suffer from schizophrenia seem too disengaged from society and are not able to perform some of the normal functions of life. The disorder is associated with “deficits in neurocognitive processes that represent a core feature of the disorder and may precede illness onset” (Kantrowitz, 2012) as stated in the Expect Review of Neurotherapeutics article. There are defects in many neuropsychological domains throughout the person’s brain that ends up causes the person to have certain reactions. People that suffer from schizophrenia also have episodes of hallucinations, delusions, incoherent speech, illogical thinking, and bizarre behaviors. In addition, some other behaviors are not being able to think clearly and have almost no facial expression to almost any emotio...
One of the most surprising yet basic and simple facts of schizophrenia is one that is often unknown and underestimated, that being the prevalence of the illness. While many think it a rare disorder that only a select few possess, quite the opposite is true. Approximately 1% of the world population develops schizophrenia and in the United States, around 3 million people are afflicted by the illness (Nemade and Dombeck, www.mentalhelp.net). In the United States, there are twice as many people suffering from schizophrenia as Alzheimer’s, five times as many as MS and sixty times as many as muscular dystrophy (www.schizophrenia.com). Ranking in the top ten most common disabling conditions (www.psychiatrictimes.com), schizophrenia, instead of a confined and uncommon, is one of the most prevalent and distributed illnesses worldwide.
What is Schizophrenia? Schizophrenia is brain disorder that makes it hard to see the difference between reality and imagination, have normal emotional responses, and act normal in social situations. Schizophrenia is relatively young, it has only been around for less than 100 years. It was first discovered by Dr. Emile Kraeplin in 1887. He believed it was a mental illness. A few documents take Schizophrenia’s origins back to Egypt during the Pharaoh’s rule around 1550 B.C. People originally thought schizophrenia was simply madness, and usually associated it with madness, even though it is quite different from madness. Symptoms of this disease include Positive symptoms, which are: hallucinations, or things that someone can see, feel, smell, or hear that do not really exist. Many people hear voices inside their heads, see people that are not there, or smell odors no one else smells. Delusions are another symptom, also known as bizarre beliefs, these may include paranoid delusions also, which are delusions that tell the person that others are trying to hurt them. Thought Disorders are a symptom in which the person thinks unusually or dysfunctionally. Movement disorders may be present in schizophrenic people, they may seem like twitches or small, sharp, and sudden movements. Schizophrenia’s “negative symptoms” are harder to recognize. These include the flat affect, in which the persons face doesn’t move and the voice is droning. The lack of pleasure in life is another once, along with the lack of ability to start and sustain activities, and little speech. These symptoms prevent or block the person from living a normal life because they cause social, physical, and emotional, and mental problems. This may lead to psychosis, insanity, or ...
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...
Schizophrenia is a condition that affects a person’s mind, and according to Mental Health America, the cause of schizophrenia is unknown, though it is known that the causes are related to genetics, biology, and possibly viral infections and immune disorders. Symptoms of schizophrenia can involve inappropriate actions and feelings, and withdrawal from reality and personal relationships. With a wide range of symptoms of schizophrenia, there needs to be some form of organization in order to lead to a better understanding, so the symptoms of schizophrenia can be categorized into two main categories. The categories that organize the symptoms are positive symptoms and negative symptoms of schizophrenia, and any of the various disorders it encompasses. According to Mental Health america, positive symptoms are symptoms that are gained through any of the disorders; examples of positive symptoms would be hallucinations, delusions, and disordered speech. Negative symptoms are things that the person loses to the disorder; examples of negative symptoms would be social withdrawal or lack of initiative and drive.
There are many different diagnoses for mental problems these days from anxiety disorders to eating disorders and from mood disorders to obsessive-compulsive disorders. However, I am choosing to write about schizophrenia disorder because I believe that this type of disorder is one of the most dangerous of all mental problems. Throughout this paper I will describe the criteria doctors use to diagnose somebody with schizophrenia as well as the specific DSM-5 diagnostic criteria. This will include the clinical symptoms of schizophrenia such as the positive, negative, and disorganized symptoms. Also I will talk about the etiology and the medical and psychological treatments for schizophrenia. Lastly I will write about the impact this disorder has on the person and the people around them in the real world.
Schizophrenia has long been known as a psychotic disorder, having five different categories. The symptoms of Schizophrenia can include negative symptoms, hallucinations, disorganized speech and thought patterns. Also abnormal or disorganized motor behavior, and delusions. Many patients experience psychotic episodes, while some never experience psychosis. The objective of this study was to try and determine why
After researching schizophrenia, it is apparent that there is no clear answer to the question of what causes the psychiatric disorder. Rather, there is much debate about the four hypotheses that seem to dominate the scientific community as of late. Many researchers believe that schizophrenia may be a combination of all or some of the hypotheses. Whether these hypotheses are true or not, it is important that more research be done to become less wrong in the understanding of schizophrenia.
...ptoms, tests, and medical history, and recommend medications and psychotherapy for treatment. Schizophrenia is usually confused with split personality. Schizophrenia is a psychosis, a type of mental illness in which a person cannot tell what is real from what is imagined in their heads. At times, patients with psychotic disorders lose touch with reality and just perceive in what they see and what they believe is true. For many patients, the world may seem like a jumble of confusing thoughts, images, and sounds surrounding them. The behavior of people with schizophrenia may be very strange and even shocking towards other people who don’t know the patient. A sudden change in personality and behavior, which occurs when schizophrenia sufferers lose touch with reality, is called a psychotic episode. This psychotic episode is based on “losing of contact with reality” and
While watching the movie A Beautiful mind, I couldn’t help but feel glad the movie got the accolades that it did because everyone involved in the making of this endearing portrayal of schizophrenia truly warranted. Also, I understand the book to be wonderful, my aunt has it and I will be borrowing it soon. It pleases me to see a movie that gives a glimpse into how perplexing the world can be from the onset of schizophrenia and across its lifespan, plus I really got drawn into the characters (real and not real) making it easy to identify with them and be able to empathize with their triumphs along with their struggles. The movie touched me on a personal level especially when he said to her he believed in the value we decide to put on things when she gave him the handkerchief on their first date (which he kept with him throughout the movie for “luck”).
Schizophrenia is a mental illness of the highest order that effects the brain in mysterious ways. It is a disease that’s root has riddled both scientist and doctors for centuries. Although being diagnosed with it is very rare, the results it has produced on humans are very disturbing. It has even affected a few of the great minds in our world’s history, driving them insane, beyond human reason. It throws out all logic and reason that we might have and replaces it with fantasy. It truly is like living in another reality. So what exactly is schizophrenia, what does it do to the human mind, and can its riddle be solved in the future? I will take a close look at these questions and the staggering effect that schizophrenia has had on its victims.