Case Study Of The Wendigo Psychosis

The vampire legend and many behaviors and experiences of schizophrenics seem to share many common traits. The traits that are most recognizable are "fears of being enclosed, periods of semistarvation or complete starvation, which can be associated with periodic gorging, reversal of the day-night cycle, and a preoccupation with or dread of mirrors" (Kayton 304). Though the term 'schizophrenia ' or 'demence precoce ' was only introduced in 1852 (Boyle 43), behaviors of people affected by this illness have been documented much earlier.

Insanity is developed around through the story of “Night.” People were becoming crazy when they fighted for the food , loosing faith to God and nocturnal silence.

It was believed that patients who suffered symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions, disorganized speech and behaviour, and other symptoms that cause social or occupational dysfunction; characterised as Schizophrenia in The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM–5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013), were said to be suffering from demonic possession, mental retardation, or from exposure to poisonous materials. During this time there was no social support systems such as community based treatment like we have today. In addition, treatments that where available where barbaric and ineffective in helping the

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, schizophrenia is characterized by the development of two or more symptoms of the following symptoms in a one-month period. The symptoms most characteristic of schizophrenia are delusions, hallucinations, and/or disorganized speech. Schizophrenia has always been a disorder shrouded in mystery. There have been many hypotheses from varying perspectives proposing different sources of causation for schizophrenia. Some of these hypotheses have considerable amounts of research, while some lack support. To fully comprehend and appreciate the disorder, it is important to take into consideration its history. In this way, the full extent to which each branch of the disorder has developed can be

For many millennia psychological disorders, also called mental disorders have been misunderstood. Used to, people suffering from such disorders were thought to be demonically possessed or they were accused of being a witch. Many of these unfortunate people were burned, tortured, or locked up away from society, which was torturous in itself due to the deprivation of life sustaining necessities such as food and air that patients were forced to endure (Morris and Maisto, 2002).

Infamous for its terrifying symptoms and unknown cause, schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder that occurs when the brain’s normal equilibrium of glutamate and dopamine are altered. This can happen because of genetic disorders, an unhealthy living environment or pre-existing faulty brain structure or chemical makeup. The symptoms of the disorder include visual and auditory hallucinations, delusions or grandeur, persecution and paranoia, thought disorders and movement disorders. Fortunately, the symptoms of the disease are very treatable through various forms of antipsychotic medication, treatment and rehabilitation.

It is a frightening disorder that strikes about one percent of the world population. It surfaces most frequently during puberty and has the potential to forever destroy the lives of the people who are unfortunate enough to be its victim. The disorder is schizophrenia and it manifests itself by disturbing normal psychiatric behavior. The symptoms of schizophrenia are characterized by both positive and negative symptoms. Positive symptoms include hallucinations, delusions, and other unusual or disorganized behavior. Unresponsiveness, lack of activity, and loss of interest characterize negative symptoms. Though it is possible for doctors to diagnose and treat patients with schizophrenia, the causes of schizophrenia are

In the article entitled “Redefining mental illness” the author “Tanya Marie Luhrmann” stated that two months ago, the British Psychological Society released a significant report entitled “Understanding Psychosis and schizophrenia”, Its authors say that they're probably related to an accident, trauma or abuse, they also said that calling them symptoms of mental illness or psychosis is only one way of thinking about them”.

Most positive symptoms are hallucinations, delusions, thought disorders, and movement disorders. Schizophrenia is very hard to diagnose. Blood tests or brain scans cannot be used for diagnosis. “Schizophrenia is classified into subtypes depending on the prominence of symptoms. For a person with paranoid schizophrenia, delusions or hallucinations, usually about persecution or grandiosity, are central. Anger, aloofness, and argumentativeness are often associated with this subtype of the disease. Disorganized schizophrenia is characterized by disordered thinking, speech, and behavior and by a lack of normal emotion. People with this form of the disease may show little emotion or laugh at inappropriate times. They have difficulty with simple, day-to-day activities such as brushing their teeth or dressing. Delusions and hallucinations are also common. In catatonic schizophrenia, motor disturbance is most prominent. Individuals immobilized by catatonia may hold a bizarre posture for hours or resist being moved; those who are hyperactive engage in frantic behavior that has no apparent purpose. Symptoms may also include resistance to all instructions, inability to talk (mutism), stupor, strange gestures or grimaces, unusual mannerisms, purposeless repetition of a word just spoken by someone else (echolalia), and repeated imitation of someone else's movements (echopraxia). Undifferentiated

Diagnosis of schizophrenia leads to the identification of the positive and negative symptoms. In both cases, the overall functioning of the body deteriorates. The positive symptoms of the condition are feelings of delusions. The victims begin imagining scenarios and reacting to nonexistence stimuli. The subsequent symptom is a sensation of hallucinations. The person senses cannot function properly due to distortions. In addition to expression gross disorganization, the person begins to believe in the existence of a condition or a situation that distorts the bran from experiencing reality.

Schizophrenia has been around for many years. It was first discovered in the nineteenth century by Dr. Emil Kraepelin. According to the article “Schizophrenia: A Brief history,” Dr. Emil Kraepelin “was the director of the psychiatric clinic at the University of Estonia.” When he first discovered schizophrenia he called it Dementia Praecox. The first person to call it schizophrenia was Eugen Bleuler. The first part of the word “schizo” means split and “phrene” means mind. This describes the way that people with schizophrenia think. He worked to develop a way to diagnose the disease. It is believed that Schizophrenia is a cross between diseases like autism and the bipolar disorder. Schizophrenia is a mental illness that causes people to have

According to the Oxford Concise Medical Dictionary, Wendigo psychosis (also spelled “Windigo psychosis” or “Witiko psychosis”) is defined as “a delusion of having been transformed into a Wendigo, a mythical monster that eats human flesh” (Concise Medical Dictionary). This disorder was first diagnosed in the early 20th century by J. E. Saindon. Symptoms of the disorder include “melancholia, anorexia, insomnia, and hallucinations … and the desire to eat human flesh” symptoms that correlate with those of depressive disorders and psychotic depression (Hay 2).

Within this case study, there is a clear dissonance between a culturally-competent, anthropologically-accurate diagnosis and a psychiatric diagnosis. While the patient is clearly suffering from a form of Depression (most specifically, Major Depressive Disorder), her original diagnosis of neurasthenia speaks to the influence of culture on the presentation and understanding of one’s illness. The patient hails from south-central China, in the Hunan Province, and this background ultimately informs her disorder.

This disorder can also cause physical symptoms such as: headaches, agitation, lethargy, stomach aches, palpitations, and twitching. Behavior symptoms can include: changes in eating and sleeping habits, difficulty concentrating, and isolation, missing work, and engaging in destructive and harmful behavior.

Psychosis can be identified but parallel to the mood disorders, uncommon psychiatric manifestations of AIDS. Most commonly, psychosis was found in patients with AIDS related neurocognitive impairments. It is a symptom rather than the diagnosis and also includes patients with mania, depression, schizophrenia, and delirium (Hinkin, Castellon, Goodkin, 2001).it has been remain to be seen whether AIDS mania and new-onset psychosis in the later stages of AIDS are different manifestations of the same process of different neuropsychiatric process.