Causes Schizophrenia Essay

Submitted By mattmatthew
Words: 3333
Pages: 14
Open Document
Literature Review Exercise 1: Paraphrase Manual

To a certain degree, most of us can feel a connection with people who suffer from psychological disorders. We can picture ourselves being depressed, fearful and even anxious; we can even imagine being obsessed or having a compulsion. However, one cannot say the same about schizophrenia. Being so far removed from our common, it is practically impossible for us to relate to a schizophrenic. (Wood, Wood, Boyd, Wood, & Desmarais, 2011, p.419)

Above all, schizophrenia is the most severe psychological disorder. Affecting one in every hundred people, this disorder usually commences in adolescence or in early adulthood. "Schizophrenia is probably the most devastating of all psychological disorders because of the social disruption and misery it brings to those who suffer from it and to their families." (Wood et al, 2011, p.419)

The Symptoms Of Schizophrenia: Many And Varied

It is worth noting that although any given individual with schizophrenia may have one or more of the major symptoms, there is not one single brain abnormality or symptom that is shared by all schizophrenics (Andreason, 1999, cited in Wood et al, 2011). The symptoms of schizophrenia fall into two categories: positive and negative.

When referring to positive symptoms, the term 'positive' pertains not to desirable symptoms, but rather to ones that are present in most cases. They include, hallucinations, delusions, disturbances in the form of thought or speech, grossly disorganized behavior, and inappropriate affect.

Hallucinations, or imaginary sensations, are one of the clearest symptoms that suggest schizophrenia; this may include the patients hearing, feeling, tasting or smelling strange things without any stimulus in the environment. "Hearing voices is the most common type of hallucination...Most often the voices are unpleasant, accusing or cursing the patient or engaging in a running commentary in his or her behavior." (Wood et al, 2011, p.419)

Schizophrenics suffering from delusions, or false beliefs that are not generally shared by others in the culture, cannot be easily persuaded that their beliefs are false (even in the face of strong evidence. These delusions may come in different varieties: delusions of grandeur and delusions of persecution. Schizophrenics suffering from the first type may believe that they are actually a famous or powerful/important person who has immense knowledge, ability, and/or power. Patients with the second type of delusion will most likely have the false notion that a person or an agency is attempting to cheat, harass, conspire against, spy on, kill, injure or harm them in any way whatsoever. (Wood et al, 2011, p.420)

The most common type of thought disturbance involves a loosening of associations, this meaning that the patient doesn't follow one line of thought to completion. Rather, the schizophrenic shifts from one subject to a on the basis of vague connections. As well, understanding one suffering from this disorder is very difficult as their speech is nearly impossible to disciple. (Wood et al, 2011, p.420)

Schizophrenics with this symptom might have childhood silliness, inappropriate sexual behavior, disheveled appearance, and peculiar dress. Others might have unpredictable agitation and unusual/inappropriate motor behavior (e.g. strange gestures, facial expressions, postures, etc.). (Wood et al, 2011, p.420)

Schizophrenics suffer from what’s called grossly inappropriate affect. This stipulates that the expressions, tone of voice, and gestures of schizophrenics may not reflect the expected emotions under certain circumstances. (Wood et al, 2011, p.420)

Schizophrenics may suffer from negative symptoms such as loss or deficiency in thoughts and behaviors that are characteristic in normal functioning. Other symptoms may include apathy, social withdrawal, loss of motivation, lack of goal-directed activity, very limited speech, slow movements,
Show More

Related Documents: Causes Schizophrenia Essay

The Cause Of Paranoid Schizophrenia

Paranoid Schizophrenia is one of the most evasive mental disorders known to man. For centuries the world’s finest psychologists, neurologists, and doctors have debated the true nature of the cause of paranoid schizophrenia. To this day there is no exact pinpoint on what causes the illness, but much research has shown correlation to multiple factors. One of these factors is the widely held belief that smoking marijuana can lead to the onset of schizophrenia. Multiple connections have been made…

Words 268 - Pages 2

The Olfactory: The Cause Of Schizophrenia

Studies show the olfaction variables play a distinctive role, as a precursor for schizophrenia, and those with schizotypy reveal mixed results. Patients with schizophrenia have an impaired ability to differentiate scents. Studies conducted to see which psychometrically patients afflicted by the olfactory marker. Origins Schizophrenia, a splitting of the personality, as written by Hergenhan, Henly, (2014). The identity became known by a Swiss psychiatrist know as Eugen Bleuler (1857-1939). (p.477)…

Words 644 - Pages 3

Mental Disorders: The Cause Of Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a devastating mental disorder affecting the nervous system. The exact cause of Schizophrenia is unclear, however the dopamine hypothesis has dominated the theories regarding the cause of schizophrenia for fifty years, with the neurotransmitter dopamine believed to cause an abnormal amount of or the abnormal action of dopamine in the brain (Elder, Enans & Nizette, 2005). Dopamine (a catecholaminergic neurotransmitter) is found in high concentrations in the striatum and caudate nucleus…

Words 383 - Pages 2

Essay on Hippocampus and Schizophrenia Causes

Schizophrenia is a series disorder and it affects how a person thinks, feels and acts. It can affect a person at any time in their life and there are different reasons to why people can become schizophrenic. This disorder is can be very damaging and emotional. People who have schizophrenia have to receive major medical treatment to keep it under control. There is no cure for schizophrenia and may people suffer from it (Pinel 2011). Schizophrenia affects the brain and is a complex brain disorder…

Words 771 - Pages 4

Essay about Schizophrenia Causes and Symptoms

Schizophrenia Causes and Symptoms I. Introduction A. Hook: About 3.5 million people in the U.S. have been told they have Schizophrenia and most of them are between the ages of 16 and 25. B. Definition: a long-term mental disorder of a type involving a breakdown in the relation between thought, emotion, and behavior, leading to faulty perception, inappropriate actions and feelings, withdrawal from reality and personal relationships into fantasy and delusion, and a sense of mental fragmentation. C…

Words 436 - Pages 2

Essay on Childhood Schizophrenia

Psychology24 5/1/12 Article Summary: Childhood Schizophrenia What is Childhood Schizophrenia? Childhood schizophrenia is one of several types of schizophrenia, a psychological illness in which a person loses touch with reality. It includes hallucinations, delusion, irrational behavior, thinking and problems carry out daily routine. Childhood schizophrenia is the same as schizophrenia in adults, the only difference is that it occurs early in life, sometimes even before the teen years and…

Words 574 - Pages 3

Research Paper

A. Diagnostic Criteria The criteria for diagnosing schizophrenia is dependent on multiple factors. Each factor has its own specific criteria such as a duration of time and severity of the symptom. The American Psychiatric Association states that there are positive, negative and cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia. Positive symptoms are classified as hallucinations, which includes hearing voices and having paranoid delusions. Negative Symptoms are explained as the loss or decrease in the ability…

Words 2216 - Pages 9

John's Diagnosis Of Schizophrenia In The Film A Beautiful Mind

suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. A Beautiful Mind depicts how an individual is diagnosed with schizophrenia, the symptoms, the effects on the individual’s family, treatment, and how the individual is…

Words 1455 - Pages 6

Schizophrenia: The continued Pursuit Essay

Schizophrenia: The Continued Pursuit When non-verbally reading most individuals have a voice in their head which says the words as they read. Most people are experiencing a subconscious voice right now while reading this essay. However, this voice is neither alarming nor unsettling in fact it may even be in one’s own voice. Readers are accustomed to the subconscious voice and do not even notice its presence. Now that you are aware of the voice, imagine if it never…

Words 1241 - Pages 5

Schizophrenia Abstract Essay

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…

Words 1079 - Pages 5