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Analyzing Psychological Disorders

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Analyzing Psychological Disorders

Lynn Bible

PSY/240

December 2, 2012
Pam Stoelzel

Analyzing Psychological Disorders

Schizophrenia, drug abuse, and anxiety are all complex psychological disorders. When helping someone that suffers from these disorders, you must understand how and why they work the way that they do. All three disorders come with symptoms that can cause people not blend in with society and live a normal life. The right kinds of treatment can help people to overcome the symptoms of these disorders and live a normal life, but they are not curable.
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia affects the most crucial parts of the brain: the forebrain, the hindbrain, and the limbic system. The forebrain includes the cerebral hemispheres (hypothalamus, thalamus, corpus callosum, and the limbic system). It controls cognition, sensory and motor functions, temperature regulation, hunger, sleep cycles, and emotional expressions. The frontal lobe of the forebrain causes positive symptoms of schizophrenia like delusions. The temporal lobe of the forebrain distorts sounds and visions causing hallucinations. The hindbrain includes the pons, medulla, and the cerebellum. Schizophrenia affects this part of the brain causing the negative symptoms as in distorted motor functions, body language, and catatonic behaviors. The limbic system includes the hippocampus and the amygdala. The functions of this area of the brain are regulated emotions, memories, learning, and sexual behaviors ("Livestrong.com", 2012). According to "Livestrong.com" (2012), “In a brain affected by schizophrenia this causes affective flattening which is considered a negative symptom of the disorder. Additionally, impairment in this portion of the brain creates disorganized behaviors preventing normal social connecting, bizarre actions and preoccupation with sexual content” (Schizophrenia). Schizophrenia causes brain damage in these areas such as enlarged ventricles because of brain shrinkage and smaller prefrontal cortexes and temporal lobes. There are two main casual factors of schizophrenia: genes and the environment. Schizophrenia occurs in about 1% of the population but when a person has close relatives that suffer from the disorder the percentage a person developing it rises about 10%. Studies have proven that when one identical twin suffers from schizophrenia, the other twin has a 45% chance of developing it. There are several genes that have been linked to the disorder which causes predisposition for the disorder but just because a person carries the gene for it does not mean that they will develop the disorder. It is believed that the environmental factors such as birth complications, early infections, autoimmune reactions, toxins, trauma, and stress is the main cause of development when the gene is present These complications usually change the course of neurodevelopment which leads to the development of schizophrenia (Pinel, 2012). There are three main types of symptoms of schizophrenia that lead to a proper diagnosis. The positive symptoms include delusions, hallucinations, and racing thoughts. The negative symptoms include apathy, lack of emotions, and poor social functioning. Cognitive symptoms include disorganized thoughts, difficulty concentrating or following directions, difficulty completing tasks, and memory problems. The early signs of schizophrenia usually begin to show between the ages of 15 and 25. Early signs tend to include physical symptoms, abnormal feelings and emotions, and different moods. Physical symptoms include blank facial expressions, acute senses, infrequent blinking while gazing at nothing, clumsiness, sleep problems, tremors, eye movements, irregular gestures and posture, speedy or slow movements. Abnormal feelings and emotions include anhedonia, no feelings or desires, and depersonalization. Moods usually occur as anger, hostility, resentment, depression, low motivation and energy, severe anxiety, and rapidly changes of moods with no reasons ("Schizophrenia.com", 1996-2010). There is not a typical case of schizophrenia. Most cases include different symptoms which make it hard to diagnose. The disorder can also appear later in life with many of the same symptoms. The neural basis of schizophrenia is still not completely understood. The main theory of schizophrenia is known as the dopamine theory which has been proven not totally correct. It has been revised several times since research on this theory began. The theory is based on how schizophrenia affects the D2 receptor in the brain but new research has shown that dopamine, glutamate, and serotonin neurotransmitters are involved which leads to evidence that not only is the D2 receptor affected but also the D1, D4, and serotonin receptors play a role in the disorder. There have been three main findings proven to be accurate in brain damage caused in people suffering from schizophrenia. Brain imaging has shown that brain damage already exists at the beginning of development, it continues to develop regularly, and different parts of the brain develop damage at different rates than other parts (Pinel, 2011). There are several drug treatments that can help control the symptoms of schizophrenia, but at this time there is no cure. Antipsychotic drugs were discovered in the 1950s, which include chlorpromazine, fluphenazine, haloperidol, thiothixene, trifluoperazine, perphenazine, and thiordazine. These drugs seem to reduce the positive symptoms in people suffering from schizophrenia. Later in the 1990s, researchers discovered atypical antipsychotic drugs. These drugs seemed to work better because they reduced the positive and some of the negative symptoms associated with schizophrenia. Risperidone, clozapine, olanzapine, quetiapine, and ziprasidone are known as “atypical” antipsychotic drugs. The downfall of all of the antipsychotic and atypical antipsychotic drugs are the side effects that patients tend to deal with while taking these drugs which can lead to a person stopping the use of medications and falling back into a major state of schizophrenia.
Case 1 – Drug Abuse Alcohol is one of the most common drugs abused in society today. In this case of drug abuse, Ron suffers from alcoholism. Although he has encountered many consequences occurring from his addiction and going through treatments several times, he continues to relapse back to alcoholism. Alcohol is known as a depressant because it lowers the neural firing of the brain when taking in high doses. It also has a high genetic rate of about 55%. Environmental factors also can be involved in developing this disorder. Drug tolerance is produced when alcohol is taken for long periods of time while also causing brain and liver damage. There are treatments but no cure for this disorder as well. Nature and nurture both seem to play a major role in alcoholism. The nature impact of this disorder can cause two different outcomes. A person that grows in an environment that includes alcohol on a regular basis can lead to a person thinking it is normal to drink regularly. It can also cause the opposite effect, a person may realize that they do not want to live the way they were raised and causes them to avoid alcohol all together. When nurture is involved, genetics can play a big role by passing genes to children which when combined with the nature issue can lead to a person becoming an alcoholic. According to "About.com The Genetics Of Alcoholism" (2012), “Based on our understanding, it is probable that environmental influences will be at least as important, and possibly more important, than genetic influences” (Alcoholism). The main treatment for alcoholism is inpatient treatment at facilities that provide psychotherapy for people that suffer from alcoholism. It is very helpful to continue psychotherapy after released from the facility to keep from relapsing. In Ron’s case it seems that continued treatment would be another option for him. He could also attend AA programs that help people by giving them support and people to contact to help them get through the urges to drink again. There is one drug that is still being studied that can help with alcoholism called naltrexone. The main issue with this treatment is the side effects it causes and people usually stop taking the medication due to these side effects (Hardie, 2007). Case 2 – Anxiety Anxiety is known as fear that comes to a person when there is no cause or threat. It does seem to be genetic and happens in about 40% of people that have close relatives that suffer from the disorder. There are 5 main types of anxiety: generalized anxiety disorders, phobia anxiety disorders, panic disorders, obsessive compulsive disorders, and posttraumatic stress disorders (Pinel, 2011). Tom seems to suffer from generalized anxiety disorder because he worries about different things for no apparent reasons. Anxiety is a condition that involves both nature and nurture factors. If Tom came from a family that had relatives that suffered from anxiety, he could have the genetic predisposition for the disorder which would be caused from nurture. When considering the nature aspect of anxiety, Tom could have experienced problems in his family life that caused him to worry about different things in his adult life that stem from his childhood. When a person suffers both nature and nurture aspects of anxiety, they are at a higher rate to develop the disorder. There are several treatments for anxiety. Three types of drugs used for treatment are benzodiazepines, serotonin agonists, and antidepressants. Benzodiazepines such as Librium and valium are usually prescribed to help with physical symptoms of anxiety such as muscle tension, irritability, and sleep problems. The main issue with these medications is the side effects that come with them. Some of the side effects consist of sedation, ataxia, tremors, nausea, and withdrawal symptoms. The second type of medications that can be used are serotonin agonists such as buspirone. This medication is not completely understood but it seems to work with the serotonin receptors in the brain. It does lack some of the more harsh side effects than the benzodiazepines like ataxia, muscle relaxation, and sedation. It does seem to cause other side effects such as dizziness, nausea, headaches, and insomnia. This drug tends to produce anti-anxiety effects to help the person suffering from the disorder. Antidepressants also can be used because anxiety has a high comorbidity rate with other disorders. People that suffer from anxiety usually use psychotherapy along with these medications to actually find a reason for the disorder whether it is caused from nature or nurture issues or if it includes both. It also helps a person to understand their disorder better. Psychotherapy also provides coping skills to help with the disorder. I feel that Tom would benefit most from benzodiazepine medications because of his severe physical symptoms combined with psychotherapy to learn coping skills to deal with his anxiety. Eventually he may continue only psychotherapy without the medications to help him with his disorder. In conclusion, schizophrenia, drug abuse, and anxiety can all have horrible effects on a person life. They all seem to be caused from nature and nurture issues and sometimes they are affected by both at the same time. With the right treatments programs, people can begin to live a normal life again. Although there are treatments, people have to be willing to continue the treatments and understand that without the treatments they could fall back into the same state they were in prior to the treatments. At this time there is not a cure for any of these disorders.
References
Livestrong.com. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.livestrong.com/article/88264-areas-brain-affected-schizophrenia/
About.com. (2012). Retrieved from http://mentalhealth.about.com/od/schizophrenia/a/sz2.htm
Schizophrenia.com. (1996-2010). Retrieved from http://www.schizophrenia.com/diag.php

Hardie, T.E. (2007). The human genome and alcohol dependence: Where is the beef?. Journal of

Addictions Nursing, 18(), 1-3. doi:10.1080/10884600701282276

McGranles, A., & Duffy, T. (2012, May). Assessment and treatment of patients with

anxiety. Nursing Standard, 26(35), 48-56. CINAHL Plus.

About.com The Genetics of Alcoholism. (2012). Retrieved from

http://alcoholism.about.com/cs/alerts/l/blnaa18.htm

Alameid, M.D., Harrington, C., & LaPlante, M. (2010). Factors Associated with Alcohol Use and

its Consequences. Journal of Addictions Nursing, 21(4), 194-206.

doi:10.3109/10884602.2010.515692

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