...Schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a severe and chronic brain disorder in which a person interprets actual reality abnormally. It is a mental disorder that makes it difficult to think clearly, have normal responses to emotions, act normal in a social setting, and tell the difference between their own interpretation of reality and actual reality. There are several types of Schizophrenia: paranoid, undifferentiated, disorganized, residual, and catatonic schizophrenia. The assumption is that schizophrenia is split or multiple personalities. Schizophrenia is defined as “split mind” but this references the disruption in normal balance of emotions and thinking. Schizophrenia is a chronic condition that requires lifelong treatment. Paranoid Schizophrenia is the most common type of Schizophrenia. It is when a person loses touch with reality. A person’s ability to function and think normally daily is altered more than during other types of schizophrenia. However, it includes fewer problems with concentration, memory, and/or lack of emotion. It is still a serious lifelong condition that can lead to many different complications. Doctors do not completely know what causes this disorder. Researchers have theories that it is caused by certain neural chemicals that are impaired and links have been found to abnormal regulation of the neurotransmitters dopamine and glutamate. Even though there is no specific known cause, there are risk factors that can increase the chances of being diagnosed...
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...Schizophrenia means “split mind” but does not mean having multiple personalities. It is more of a split from reality. It is a chronic condition that usually surfaces for men in their early to mid 20s and for women in their late 20s (Crash Course). It is a unique disease with a variety of symptoms, subcategories, causes, and treatments. Schizophrenia is a mental illness that deserves more attention due to its effect on people that suffer from it in their everyday life. Schizophrenia is characterized by many symptoms that have been broken up into three categories: positive, negative, and cognitive. Positive symptoms are those that are not commonly seen in healthy people (NIMH). They “add” to the experience of the patient (Crash Course). Delusions...
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...people think about the psychological disorder known as chizophrenia, many believe that this defines a person who portrays multiple personalities. However, this is not what schizophrenia is. Schizophrenia is a complex type of dementia, which means that people perceive voices and behaviors that do not necessarily exist. This research paper on schizophrenia will observe the disorder’s: symptoms, prevalence, causes and treatments. When observing a specific mental illness, the first step is to always investigate its symptoms. The symptoms of a mental illness are basic signs that a person with the disorder portrays. In schizophrenia, there are two main types of symptoms (and each of these types has a sub-type). The first are positive symptoms, in which a person is not aware of reality. These symptoms are easily distinguishable. The second are negative symptoms. Unlike positive symptoms, negative symptoms are harder to recognize for other people. These symptoms are simply emotions and behaviors that are absent in schizophrenic individuals, that are common in other people. The first sub-type of positive symptoms are hallucinations. This positive symptom characterizes an individual who hears, smells or feels something that is not actually there. The most common type of hallucination that people with schizophrenia experience is “voices”. These voices are heard in schizophrenic people’s imagination and are different from the internal voice that most people perceive. Unlike the internal...
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...Explanations and Treatment of Abnormal Behaviour Schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a type of abnormal psychology. Abnormality can be defined in three ways as a deviation from statistical norm, a deviation from the social norms and cultural relativism. However there are problems with defining abnormalities in terms of a system that relies on subjective judgment of a person’s behaviour. For example, someone experiencing hallucinations in Puerto Rico would be attributed to external forces (e.g. Spiritual visitations). However in the western world, the same hallucinations would be considered abnormal (Berry et al 1992). Mental Disorders are classified today by using, The Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) criteria 295.40 (Schizophrenia), and the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision(IDC-10) are used to aid in the psychiatric diagnosis of the disorder. Introduction The term ‘Schizophrenia’ was first used in 1911 by Swiss psychiatrist, Eugen Bleuler, and literally means ‘split mind’. He used the term to describe a general class of disorders that are characterised by a number of similar symptoms. These were: * Disorganised thought processes. * A split between intellect and emotion. * A split between intellect and external reality Schizophrenia typically begins in early adulthood; between the ages of 15 and 25. Men tend to get develop schizophrenia somewhat earlier than women; whereas most males become...
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...PSYC 100 “I’m not a Schizophrenic, I have Schizophrenia!” December 7, 2011 The movie that I have chosen to write about is called “Identity” with John Cusack, Ray Liotta, and Amanda Peete as the big names. Its focus is on an inmate who is 24 hours from being executed. His defense team is giving it one last attempt to prove he has schizophrenia and was not aware of the murders he committed. The movie does not give much backdrop into the causes or symptoms, but shows one method of treatment. I will explain the symptoms, causes, treatments, and some other useful information on this disease. The best place to start is symptoms of Schizophrenia. They are broken down into 3 main categories. Positive symptoms are psychotic behaviors not seen in people without the disease. These people often “lose touch” with reality and these symptoms can come and go. Hallucinations are things that the person can see, smell, or hear but nobody else can. Hearing “voices” is one of the most common of these. The voices supposedly talk to the person suffering from schizophrenia by ordering them to do things, warn them of danger, or discuss their behavior. In the movie, the character had created several different types of people who all talked to him differently and pushed the character in different directions whether to act in a positive or negative way. Delusions are things the person may believe but are not true. Such as everyone talking on a cell phone must be listening to my...
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...Schizophrenia Introduction *Show Slide 1* Schizophrenia is a little known mental disease that affects a small percentage of people throughout the world. The human brain is the most complex organ in the human body, and it is hard to decipher what exactly causes social capability, and overall mental health to deteriorate. Schizophrenia is an extremely mysterious disease, that strikes the interest of many people. Today I am going to inform you all about one of the most commonly recognized mental diseases, yet most mysterious to doctors. Not all of you may have been affected by schizophrenia, maybe none of you at all. Although, it is a disease that greatly affects those diagnosed, and their families. In my speech I am going to talk about what exactly Schizophrenia is, the causes of Schizophrenia, who is at risk of developing Schizophrenia, the signs and symptoms of Schizophrenia, and my personal experiences with Schizophrenia Body According to a study by the National Institute of Mental Health Schizophrenia is a life-long, severe, and crippling brain disorder that has been around since the beginning of time. Schizophrenia causes the affected to live a life full of paranoia. Those diagnosed hear voices, think others are talking about them, generally think they’re constantly being watched, think their mind is being controlled, and think others are trying to harm them. Because of this paranoia, those with schizophrenia are often on edge,...
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...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...
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...Analyzing Psychological Disorders Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that makes it hard to tell the difference between what is real and what is not real. Schizophrenia makes it hard to think clearly, and have normal emotional responses. Act normally in social situations is also affected by this disorder. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, approximately 1 percent of the U.S. population is diagnosed with schizophrenia. Schizophrenia has no exact known cause but is categorized as a brain disorder affecting the balance in neurotransmitter concentration of dopamine, glutamate and serotonin systems. Symptoms present in the disorder are positive, which means psychosis, or negative, which means affecting emotions and behavior. The primary areas of the brain implicated in schizophrenia are the forebrain, hindbrain and limbic system (LIVESTRONG, Aubri, John, 2011). The forebrain is the topmost and largest portion of the brain and includes the cerebral hemispheres which are divided into four lobes; they are the limbic system, thalamus, hypothalamus and corpus callosum. As a whole, the forebrain serves to control cognition which is the process of thinking, knowing, learning, judging, sensory and motor function, temperature regulation, reproduction, hunger, sleep cycle and emotional expression. It is within the frontal lobe where thought organization occurs, creating the delusional ideas that are a common positive symptom of schizophrenia. It is also in this lobe that overstimulation...
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...Discuss biological explanations of schizophrenia AO1- (4 marks) Biological explanations of schizophrenia argue that the causes of schizophrenia and physiological rather than psychological. Evidence to support this comes from research into genetics, as well as biochemical factors. Firstly, genetic research has considered rates of schizophrenia found in biological relatives, monozygotic twins (MZ) and dizygotic twins (DZ). This research includes family studies. Schizophrenia is more common among biological relatives with schizophrenia and the closer then family member e.g. a sister the greater the risk of developing schizophrenia. They found children with 2 schizophrenic parents have a concordance rate of 46% compared with children who have one schizophrenic parent, concordance rate is 13%. In addition, MZ twins have a higher concordance rate at 40.4% than DZ twins at 7.4% in terms of developing schizophrenia. Researchers have also tried to find twins separated at birth and at least one twin was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Gottesman and Shields found 58% of twins were concordant for schizophrenia. In contrast, more recent studies, using blind studies, have reported lower concordance rates for MZ twins. However, it is still arguing findings support the genetic inheritance of schizophrenia. Similarly, adopted children are looked at to test whether schizophrenia is an environmental influence or genetically inherited. They have been looking at children who were adopted and later...
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...Childhood schizophrenia is one of several types of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a chronic psychological disorder that affects a person’s psychosis. Childhood schizophrenia is similar to adult schizophrenia, but it occurs earlier in life and has a profound impact on the attitude, behavior, and life. The child with schizophrenia may experience strange thoughts, strange feelings, and abnormal behaviors. Childhood schizophrenia is rare and difficult to diagnose in early phases. Childhood schizophrenia makes the child lose touch with reality (psychosis). When the child loses psychosis he or she may have one or all of the following signs and symptoms of schizophrenia: hallucinations, delusions, irrational behavior and thinking, and problems with daily tasks. The cause of schizophrenia is unknown. “Current research suggests a combination of brain changes, bio-chemical, genetic and environments factors may be involved” (American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 2004). Childhood schizophrenia makes it difficult to diagnose, and treat. It further makes educational, emotional, and social needs, and development harder. Some factors that make children under age 17 vulnerable to the disease appears to be according to Mental Health America 2011, neurodevelopment damage resulting in delays in language and other functions prior to onset of psychotic symptoms. The schizophrenia psychosis in children develops gradually versus the psychotic break an adolescent or adult would...
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...and contrast psychological and biological explanations of schizophrenia. Jessica F Smith University Of Sussex Schizophrenia has been termed a heterogeneous group of disorders with varied etiologies (Walker, Kestler, Bollini, & Hochman, 2004) which includes biological, social, cognitive and psychodynamic perspectives. To progress knowledge of schizophrenia, this essay focuses on how the biological and psychological explanations are independent and interdependent and how they may differentiate from one another. This includes: how our biological predisposition, neuro transmitter dysfunction and genetic inheritance, affects how people with schizophrenia respond to social environments, the importance of socio-economic factors and their ability to shape psychotic symptoms, and how people with schizophrenia have faulty cognitions, which arguably develop from social influence and upbringing. The overruling theory, that is important in explanations of schizophrenia, is known as the Diathesis Stress Model (Davey, 2011), which identifies that psychotic symptoms arise from a combination of both biological predisposition and environmental stress. Servan-Schreiber, Bruno, Carter, & Cohen, (1998) alleviate that dopamine is an important neurotransmitter with a function in regulating movement and guiding attention. The dopamine hypothesis suggests that the dysfunction of movement and attention in those with schizophrenia may be a result of excess dopamine due to an increase of...
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...Schizophrenia is a mental disorder affecting an estimated one half to one percent of the global population. Contradictory to popular belief, schizophrenia does not deal with multiple personalities. Rather, the disorder can cause hallucinations, paranoia or bizarre delusions and disorganized thought or speech pattern. People with schizophrenia often have other mental disorders (Sim et al. 2006). Thus schizophrenia can result in socially paralysing an individual. Treatment and prevention of the disorder are important steps in helping millions of people. One vital point in the process of developing a treatment and prevention strategy for schizophrenia is identifying the cause or causes of the disorder. Throughout the years, as examination into schizophrenia has advanced, the comprehension of schizophrenia has made strides. Researchers have possessed the capacity to pinpoint conceivable causes in the earth and the hereditary qualities of people that have schizophrenia, for instance. These headways thus have took into account the making of clearer models of how schizophrenia creates in people. The point of this article is to clear up the present perspective on what causes schizophrenia. The improvement of causation models will be talked about notwithstanding expounding on conceivable ecological and organic causal elements of schizophrenia. Amid the numerous years of exploration on the reasons for schizophrenia, a few diverse models have been proposed. The scope of models has been...
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...Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a breakdown of though process and by deficit of typical emotional responses. This is characterized as psychosis as people suffering from this disorder are not in touch with reality. Symptoms of schizophrenia include positive, negative and secondary symptoms. According to Schneider, positive symptoms include hallucinations whereby you hear voices- usually arguments, repeating of thoughts, derogatory, obscene voices which may order the patient to commit acts of violence. Positive symptoms also include delusions whereby patients believe other people are trying to harm them as well as personal grandeur where they believe they are much greater, more powerful and more influential than they really are. According to Slater and Roth, negative symptoms of schizophrenia include a lack of energy, lack of interest in life and hygiene as well as the inability to make decisions. This is referred to as avoilation. Thought process disorder is also another negative symptom. This is the inability to keep to the point, words are thrown together and the inability to finish sentences. Patients experiencing negative symptoms of schizophrenia may also experience loss of emotional responses as well as sudden mood change. Secondary symptoms are additional symptoms that occur from having schizophrenia. These include depression, loss of job and friends etc. There are three main types of schizophrenia. Disorganised, catatonic and paranoid schizophrenia...
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...process I will analyze the psychiatric disorder of schizophrenia. I will discuss the various parts of the brain that this disorder affects as well as the causes and symptoms of schizophrenia. I will then analyze two different case studies the first one being anorexia and the second being insomnia. Within my analysis of the two case studies I will examine the problem as a biopsychologist and relate it the nature-nurture issue. I will conclude the interview with possible helpful drug interventions or solutions as well as the side effects that they may cause. PART A “The term schizophrenia means the splitting of psychic function and is most commonly associated with the concept of madness” (Pinel, 2007). Schizophrenia affects three different parts of the brain the forebrain, hindbrain, and the limbic system. “As a whole the forebrain serves to control cognition (the process of thinking, knowing, learning, and judging), sensory and motor function, temperature regulation, reproduction, hunger, sleep cycle and emotional expression” (Walding, 2011). Damage or abnormalities in the forebrain causes delusions within people who suffer from schizophrenia. The temporal lobe also located in the forebrain assists in visual and auditory functions. In schizophrenics this may cause hallucinations through both hearing and visual perceptions. The hindbrain, which deals with motor functions and body movement are also affected by schizophrenia. The result of damage or abnormalities to the hindbrain...
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...Introduction Schizophrenia is a chronic mental health condition that can cause a range of psychological symptoms which include hallucinations and delusions. There is no exact cause of schizophrenia and no current cure yet it is one of the most common serious mental health conditions with one in one hundred people experiencing an episode of schizophrenia within their lifetime (Butcher, Hooley and Mineka 2014) Schizophrenia is a complex disorder with many possible causes that can predispose individuals to it or trigger it in them. The Mayo Clinic : “It's not known what causes schizophrenia, but researchers believe that a combination of genetics and environment contributes to development of the disorder. Problems with certain naturally occurring brain chemicals, including neurotransmitters called dopamine and glutamate, also may contribute to schizophrenia. Neuroimaging studies show differences in the brain structure and central nervous system of people with schizophrenia. While researchers aren't certain about the significance of these changes, they support evidence that schizophrenia is a brain disease”. Biological Causes; Genes, Environment, Biochemical, Drug Misuse Genetics S is influenced by genetics but not determined by it. Genetic factors can be researched using twin studies, especially...
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