I chose to write my research paper over Schizophrenia. It is a psychological disorder that I have always found fascinating. It is a serious disorder that consumes a person's life and is nearly impossible to control. In this paper, I will talk about the definition of Schizophrenia, the diagnosis of Schizophrenia, Schizophrenia in children, suicide, sexually related characteristics of the disease, sleep disorders caused by the disease, differences in the disease on different ethnicities, and insensitivity to pain.

Schizophrenia is a disorder that is characterized by a broken thought process and poor emotional responses. Typical symptoms of this disorder include delusions, paranoia, hallucinations, social dysfunctions, disorganized thinking, and erratic behavior. It is most common in young adults, but can also be found in children and the elderly. Schizophrenia can affect more than just the person diagnosed.

The criteria for diagnosing Schizophrenia is always changing, and professionals may use many different methods for diagnosing patients with this disorder. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association gives the most widely used methods of diagnosing Schizophrenia. This DSM approach gives a set of criteria for Schizophrenia, although it is still being finalized. The criteria described include: delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, catatonic behavior, social and occupational dysfunction, a duration of 6 or more months of active phase symptoms, and mood disorder with psychotic features.

Although many may believe that getting an early diagnosis may help deal with Schizophrenia, and the federal government has even started a program to optimize early-illness care, there is no evidence that points to this being true. This may mean that by the time the first episodes of psychosis come around, it is already too late for