...One biological explanation for schizophrenia is genetics. This theory suggests that a person’s genetic makeup determines whether they develop schizophrenia or not. One way of testing this theory is using twin studies. This works on the principle that twins share more genetic material than ordinary people (MZ share 100% and DZ twins share 50%). These studies are conducted using one twin who has already developed schizophrenia, and predicting how likely the other twin is to develop it. One of these studies was conducted by Rosenthal. He studied 16 pairs of MZ twins that were brought up apart; one out of each pair had schizophrenia. He found that 10 out of16 of the co-twins developed the disorder. This is known as a concordance rate. Rosenthal’s study had a high concordance rate with 62.5%. This suggests that genetics are involved in the development of schizophrenia. Although Rosenthal’s sample was small, it was extremely specific. It allowed him to study the relative effects of nature and nurture by eliminating the influence of nurture (as the twins were brought up apart, concordance was solely due to genetics). Another twin study was conducted by Gottesman. This was a meta-analysis of over 40 studies. Gottesman found a concordance rate of 48% between MZ twins. This also suggests that genetics are involved in the development and maintenance of schizophrenia. Although the fact that it was a meta-analysis means that the sample was large and therefore valid, the meta-analysis...
Words: 709 - Pages: 3
...Running head: SCHIZOPHRENIA 1 Schizophrenia Excelsior College SCHIZOPHRENIA 2 Abstract This paper discusses the features and symptoms of Schizophrenia. This paper addresses the issues associated with Schizophrenia such as stress. It also addresses the bio psychosocial explanations that are associated with the development of this disorder. In this paper I address the type of therapies used for the treatment of Schizophrenia. The remainder of this paper discusses the rationale uses of these therapies and the effectiveness for Schizophrenia. SCHIZOPHRENIA 3 Schizophrenia The key features of the disorder, including its symptoms Schizophrenia is a disorder that is characterized by unorganized thinking and odd perceptions that dysfunction in major activities within a person’s life. These sometime include withdrawals from society; they have delusions and also hallucinations. They also may not be able to show emotion, feel pain, pleasure. They also have a lack of facial expression. They suffer from depression, mania and paranoia. Schizophrenia is the main example of psychosis. Psychosis is a disorder that people suffer from, they become irrational and they have lost contact with reality. This...
Words: 1657 - Pages: 7
...A Beautiful Mind DSM IV Diagnosis for John Nash: Axis I: Schizophrenia, Paranoid Type, Continuious Axis II: Narcissistic Personality Disorder (Provisional) Axis III: None Axis IV: Occupational problems Not very social High Stressful Enviornment Axis V: GAF= 30 According to the DSM IV-TR. Symptoms of schizophrenia, include meeting three criteria: need to have two or more characteristics symptoms such as delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, grossly disorganized behavior/catatonic behavior or negative symptoms such as blunted affect, alogia, or alovitian which was evident in this film.. In addition to these symptoms, the individual must also display a social or occupational dysfunction, such as a disturbance in functioning in his work, interpersonal relationship or self-care. The third criterion is having all of these symptoms continue for more than six months which John Nash showed throughout his graduate school. Criterion A for schizophrenia is met because the hallucinations described in that criterion were present in John Nash. Reinforcing this is the fact that John Nash is perceived as a as normal student attending Princeton University studying to be a Mathematician. Nash hallucinated different positive symptoms. When Nash was at Princeton, he was supposed to be in a single room dormitory with no roommate, and he ended up hallucinating he had a roommate, named Charles Herman. This roommate ends up staying in contact with him throughout the...
Words: 2952 - Pages: 12
...evaluate one biological therapy for schizophrenia and one psychological therapy for Schizophrenia (24) Conventional antipsychotics bind to dopamine receptors in the brain but do not stimulate them. This blocks their attention, eliminating delusions and hallucinations experienced by people with schizophrenia. AO2: Davis et al found that relapse occurred in 55% of patients given a placebo whereas only 19% who were given conventional antipsychotics relapsed. AO2: However, conventional antipsychotics do have severe side effects such as tardive dyskinesia. Also, patients who are given these drugs, patients start to believe that “there is something wrong with them”. This would reduce their motivation and would possibly cause relapse. Atypical antipsychotics act on dopamine but also on serotonin. They help by temporarily occupying dopamine receptors and then rapidly dissociating to allow normal transmission. AO2: Atypical drugs have been found to be more effective for the negative symptoms of schizophrenia, than conventional drugs. They also produce far less side effects. Statistically, they are reported to be effective for the 25% of patients who were not helped by the first generation of schizophrenics. Psychological Therapies: CBT: CBT is the main psychological treatment used in treating schizophrenia and it works by modifying delusional beliefs and hallucinations within sufferers. CBT assumes it is these delusional beliefs which cause schizophrenia. These may occur...
Words: 543 - Pages: 3
...SHCIZOPHRENIA BY: ANNALINA RIVERS SCHIZOPHRENIA Schizophrenia is a mental illness that usually strikes in late adolescence or early adulthood but can also strike at any time in life. The signs and symptoms are always different from one individual to the next. All those who have the disorder show one or more of the following symptoms delusions, hallucinations, bizarre behavior, and negative symptoms. People with schizophrenia suffer a decline in their level of functioning. Schizophrenia is a mental illness that can be overwhelming, complicating and can only get worse. Schizophrenia usually appears during a persons late teens and mid 30’s but its course differs with each patient. Some may go through three phases prodromal which means that symptoms are there but not yet obvious. What often happens during the prodromal stage they’ll start to withdrawal from others, have strange ideas, and some may not express much emotion? During the active phase they can have negative symptoms, start blurting emotions out but some patients may recover from schizophrenia. The phases may or may not last for days some even years, those who do recover from schizophrenia are those who have been ok, being able to function really good before getting the disorder or those who were diagnosed due to stress. When it comes to race and diagnosis of schizophrenia there is a biases as far as who has it. The prevalence rates of schizophrenia really depend on a range of factors, such as the availability...
Words: 1050 - Pages: 5
...Outline and evaluate one biological therapy and one psychological therapy for schizophrenia (8+16 marks) Schizophrenia, a psychotic disorder in which an individual has lost touch with their sense of reality, has been treated both biologically, with therapies such as drug therapy, and psychologically with Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. Both of these therapies are used extensively for an individual with the disorder, reflecting the view that no single approach can appropriately explain and treat schizophrenia single-handedly. When treating schizophrenia biologically, drug therapies are the most commonly used type of therapies. Within drug therapies, antipsychotics are the drugs which are the most appropriate for treating the disorder, as they help the patient gain a better subjective feeling of wellbeing and allow them to function within society adequately. Antipsychotics can come in typical forms, which includes drugs such as chlorpromazine and haloperidol. These drugs, work on the assumption that schizophrenia is caused by too much of the neurotransmitter (a chemical messenger within the brain) dopamine. The way in which they act is by binding too, but not stimulating the dopamine receptors (notably the D2 receptors on the receiving end of the synapse). This means that the dopamine itself cannot bind to the receptor, as it is already occupied and so a lower level of dopamine enters the synapse. This lowers the overall levels of dopamine in the brain, combatting the positive...
Words: 1415 - Pages: 6
...medical conditions anxiety disorders in, 170 depression treatment, 521 detection of psychiatric illness, 483 feigned illness, 530–531 mental disorders due to, 327 anxiety disorders, 333 cannabis and psychosis, 330 catatonia, 332 cognitive disorders, 334 delusions, 329 depression and Parkinson’s disease, 332 general principles, 327 hallucinations, 328 mood disorders, 330 personality disorder, 333 psychotic disorder, 328 stimulant psychosis, 329 mental disorders due to, 326–335 relationship to affective change, 270 suicide risk and, 455 medically unexplained symptoms, 523 biological mechanisms, 526 epidemiology, 523 biological mechanisms, 526 epidemiology, 523 biological mechanisms, 526 epidemiology, 523 biological mechanisms, 526 epidemiology, 523 biological mechanisms, 526 epidemiology, 523 biological mechanisms, 526 epidemiology, 523 biological mechanisms, 526 epidemiology,...
Words: 7400 - Pages: 30
...Discuss two or more definitions of abnormality (12 marks) One definition of abnormality is “deviation from social norms” and under this definition a person’s thinking or behaviour is classified as abnormal if it violates the unwritten rules about what is expected or acceptable behaviour in a particular social group. Behaviour may be incomprehensible to others or make others feel threatened or uncomfortable. For example, someone would be classified as being abnormal if they laughed at a funeral, as this is socially unacceptable. A weakness of this definition is that it lacks cultural relativity as social behaviour varies when different cultures are compared. For e.g. it’s common in south Europe to stand much closer to strangers than in the UK. As well as this voice pitch and volume, touching, directions of gaze and acceptable subjects for discussion have all been found to vary between cultures. This means what is considered deviant or abnormal varies considerably across cultures, thus weakening this definition. Another limitation of deviation from social norms is that it lacks time validity. This is because social norms change over time; behaviour that was once seen as abnormal may be acceptable and vice versa. For example, drink driving was once considered acceptable but is now seen as socially unacceptable whereas homosexuality has changed the other way. Until 1980 homosexuality was considered a psychological disorder but is considered acceptable today. This is a weakness...
Words: 3190 - Pages: 13
...Discuss two or more definitions of abnormality (12 marks) One definition of abnormality is “deviation from social norms” and under this definition a person’s thinking or behaviour is classified as abnormal if it violates the unwritten rules about what is expected or acceptable behaviour in a particular social group. Behaviour may be incomprehensible to others or make others feel threatened or uncomfortable. For example, someone would be classified as being abnormal if they laughed at a funeral, as this is socially unacceptable. A weakness of this definition is that it lacks cultural relativity as social behaviour varies when different cultures are compared. For e.g. it’s common in south Europe to stand much closer to strangers than in the UK. As well as this voice pitch and volume, touching, directions of gaze and acceptable subjects for discussion have all been found to vary between cultures. This means what is considered deviant or abnormal varies considerably across cultures, thus weakening this definition. Another limitation of deviation from social norms is that it lacks time validity. This is because social norms change over time; behaviour that was once seen as abnormal may be acceptable and vice versa. For example, drink driving was once considered acceptable but is now seen as socially unacceptable whereas homosexuality has changed the other way. Until 1980 homosexuality was considered a psychological disorder but is considered acceptable today. This is a weakness because...
Words: 3191 - Pages: 13
...Describe and evaluate the biological method of psychopathology (12 Marks) By Amy Smith The biological model (which is also known as ‘the somatic model’) assumes that all psychological disorders are physical illnesses. This model of psychopathology labels mental disorders like this and therefore has both positive and negative outcomes. The biological model states that the causes of mental disorders are normally down to one or more of the following four; genetics, neurotransmitters, infections and brain injury. Neurotransmitters are when there is too much or too little of a particular neurotransmitter such as an increased level of dopamine can lead to schizophrenia. People can increase their dopamine levels by taking drugs such as cocaine which therefore is why schizophrenia is linked so much with cocaine. A piece of research which I have studied is the Gottesman study. This was the study of the meta-analysis twins. Gottesman studied approximately 40 twins (monozygotic and dizygotic twins) and found that the monozygotic twins had a 48% chance of developing schizophrenia if one twin had schizophrenia already, however in dizygotic twins there was only a 17% chance. This piece of research proves that genes are a reason for developing psychological illnesses. The treatments associated with the biological method are drugs such as medication to change the neurotransmitter levels in the brain which can therefore relieve symptoms of the mental illnesses. Another treatment is psychosurgery...
Words: 463 - Pages: 2
...Describe and evaluate the psychological therapies for schizophrenia. Cognitive behavioural therapy has multiple different approaches; Tarrier used detailed interview techniques and found that schizophrenics can often identify triggers to the onset of their psychotic symptoms and the participants find their own methods to cope with the distress caused by hallucinations. These strategies include: distractions, concentrations and positive self-talk. Other strategies include initiation or withdrawal from social contact, relation techniques, such as breathing exercises.73% of the sample reported that these strategies were effective in managing their symptoms. Coping strategy enhancement was developed which aims to teach individuals to develop and apply effective coping strategies. These reduce the frequency, intensity and duration of psychotic symptoms. A weakness of this is that schizophrenic patients have irrational thought processes which makes it difficult to identify the accuracy of their statements regarding the onset of symptoms and it is retrospective therefore it is hard to judge the accuracy of the theory. A weakness of this study is that the main technique used is interviews, so participants may have faced demand characteristics, therefore decreasing the validity of the findings. Another weakness is that the cognitive behavioural therapy does not offer a cure for schizophrenia, therefore is not entirely useful as it doesn’t look at the cause of the disorder which...
Words: 820 - Pages: 4
...how the working agreement is working to help the client. 1. Assessment The assessment part is crucial to determine information about the client. In addition, assessment will provide information that will help know the best design of plan that is best for the client (Murphy, & Dillon, 2003). The information needed from the assessment include the identification of the client, the clients demographic information, information regarding the clients concern, health, and biological factors information just to mention a few. 2.1. Identifying and demographic information The information below is for the client Rosemary Hans who needs help to see her son diagnosed by schizophrenia go back to college. Name: Rosemary Hans Age: 41 Gender: Female Relationship status: married Religion: committed Christian Racial Identities: Africa-American Employment: High school teacher Education: university first degree in education 2.2. Presenting problem Rosemary’s son Thomas has been diagnosed by Schizophrenia after she took him for diagnosis immediately he dropped out of the college. He hallucinates, and can not go out of the house to play with friends or attend parties across the street. Rosemary explains further that Thomas spends most of the time in the house, and...
Words: 1976 - Pages: 8
...own work. 5. I acknowledge that copying someone else’s assignment, or part of it, is wrong, and declare that this assignment is my own work. NAME: Lauren Otto DATE: 17/06/2015 MODULE CODE: PYC4802 ASSIGNMENT: Assignment 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE: LIVING POSITIVELY WITH A SCHIZOPHRENIA DIAGNOSIS PAGE 1 INTRODUCTION 4 2 DIAGNOSTIC CRITERIA 5 3 POSITIVE SYMPTOMS 5 3.1 Delusions 5 3.2 Hallucinations 6 3.3 Disorganised Speech 6 3.4 Grossly disorganised or catatonic behaviour 6 3 NEGATIVE SYMPTOMS 7 4.5 Flat affect 7 4.6 Avolition 7 4.7 Alogia 7 4 AETIOLOGY 8 5 SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND SELF HARM 13 6 COMORBIDITY 15 7 EFFECTIVE TREATMENT AND ACCESS TO TREATMENT 15 8 CONCLUSION 16 REFERENCES 1. INTRODUCTION Burke (2012) defines Schizophrenia as “a severe psychotic illness characterised by an array of diverse symptoms including extreme oddities in perception, thinking, action, sense of self and the manner in which the self relates to others.” The term “Schizophrenia” or...
Words: 4296 - Pages: 18
...Annathur.Kalingan Wednesday, April 18, 2012 W201527095 TEST.III Learning Objectives & Review of Chapters.8, 9 &10. Chapter.8. Schizophrenia Objective.1. Discuss the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia, as well as the current criteria for brief psychotic disorder. What is the typical age of onset? What percent of people will develop this schizophrenia? Following is the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia. i. Two (or more) of the following, each present for a significant portion of time during a 1-month period (or less if successfully treated): 1. Delusions 2. Hallucinations 3. Disorganized speech (e.g., frequent derailment or incoherence) 4. Grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior. 5. Negative symptoms, (affective flattening, alogia, or avolition ii. For a significant portion of the time since the onset of the disturbance, one or more major areas of functioning such as work or school, interpersonal relations, or self-care is markedly below the level expected for the individual or achieved prior to the onset. iii. Continuous signs of the disturbance persist for at least 6 months. This 6-month period must include at least 1 month of symptoms (or less if successfully treated) that meet Criterion A and may include periods of prodromal or residual symptoms. During these prodromal or residual periods, the signs of the disturbance may be manifested by only negative symptoms or two or more symptoms listed in Criterion...
Words: 6953 - Pages: 28
...Team C Abnormal Psychology and Therapy Laura Carranza Armanda Meadows Quoc Nguyen Andrea Sanchez Julann Wygal PSY/300 May 8, 2012 Mary Madrigal PhD Abnormal Psychology and Therapy The purpose of this paper is to discuss abnormal psychology and therapy. First this paper will define what abnormal psychology is. Then this paper will compare and contrast normal and abnormal psychology. Then the paper will examine at least two mental disorders from the perspective of psychology. Next the paper will examine two mental illnesses from the perspective of psychology. Finally the paper will discuss the similarities and difference among two different therapies in the schools of thought in psychology for treating mental disorders. Normal and Abnormal Psychology Normal vs. Abnormal Psychology The study of "normal" psychology is simply the study of someone who is in good health both mentally and physically. Said person adheres to and is responsive to social norms, and engages in activities that are socially acceptable and do not stray from the norm. Normal psychology is the study of the mind and the study of behavior. When unusual patterns of behavior, thought and emotion are studied, it falls under the branch of psychology called Abnormal psychology. The control and understanding of behavior that is considered to be deviant or aberrant either statistically or morally, has been the subject of much research and debate. Psychologists who focus on abnormal psychology identify the...
Words: 2140 - Pages: 9
