Diathesis Stress Model Essay

Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder characterized by distorted thinking, impaired emotional responses, poor interpersonal skills and a distortion of reality. It is the most common of psychotic disorders that, in most countries around the world, affects around 1 per cent of the population. In terms of explanations for the disorder, two central types of explanations arise – psychological explanations and biological explanations. Whereas psychological explanations tend to focus on cognitive, emotional and environmental factors that may cause the disorder, biological explanations tend to focus on genetic, biochemical and neuro-anatomical factors as the cause of 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

Schizophrenia is a complex and puzzling illness. Even the experts in the field are not exactly sure what causes it. Some doctors think that the brain may not

This paper defines schizophrenia from a biological and psychological perspective and also provides treatment to help combat symptoms of schizophrenia. This paper has three important contributions. First, by defining and expanding on schizophrenia from a biological perspective, I can identify the nature related predispositions. After expanding from a biological approach, secondly, I will analyze schizophrenia from a psychological aspect by determining if there is any environment or nurturing externals that can result to schizophrenia. Lastly, I will provide treatment details and also reveal early signs to schizophrenia. This paper is important because schizophrenia is an epic mental disease and it is crucially important to bring awareness to the public of how we can limit the illness. It is unclear whether schizophrenia have only a biological background or psychological background, but what was discovered is that both contribute to schizophrenia. Positive and negative treatment can be combatted undergoing pharmaceutical and psychotherapy,

Schizophrenia is quite possible the most dreaded psychological disorder there is. It is also one of the most heavily researched (Myers, 477). Unfortunately there is no certain cause of this disease. Researched show that genetic predisposition enhances the probability of schizophrenia. A child who has a biological parent that has been diagnosed with schizophrenia has approximately a one in eight chance of developing this dreaded disorder (Berger, 407). In a study this is evaultion

The two-hit model of schizophrenia proposes that disturbances to central nervous system development, leaves a person exposed to the onset of schizophrenia symptoms caused by various gene-environmental interactions. The disturbances to central nervous system development are the first hit in the two-hit model, and the gene-environmental interactions that are able to cause the onset of schizophrenia in conjunction with the disturbances to central nervous system development are the second hit in the two-hit model.

Biological theorists believe that individuals may have a genetic predisposition for the schizophrenia if a close family member has been diagnosed with the disorder. Stress during adolescent years seems to provoke the disorder among individuals who have a family history of the disorder. In addition, this theory suggests biochemical abnormalities related to the dopamine neurotransmitters may also contribute to the illness as the brains neurotransmission of the dopamine is too frequent in occurrence (Comer, 2005). CAT and MRI scans have also indicated that abnormal brain structuring may also play a role in the development of schizophrenia due to a common occurrence of enlarged ventricles within schizophrenia sufferers (Comer, 2005). Various parts of the brain may not develop for function properly which seems lead to Type II schizophrenia. Studies have also pointed towards the idea that exposure to certain viruses before birth may lead to the eventual development of schizophrenia (Comer, 2005).

However, as more studies are conducted, schizophrenia presents itself as a phenotype that is manifested due to a number of genetic and

Schizophrenia is a chronic brain disorder that affects approximately 2.4 million American adults and 0.9% of the world’s population. Research suggest that men and women are at equal risk of developmenting the disease, which occurs at similar rates in all ethnic groups, around the world. Once this occurs, no one knows exactly how or what causes the condition or why schizophrenia affects some people and not others. No one is at fault that has this disease, no one is to blame and nothing could be done to cause schizophrenia. Studies show that Schizophrenia may be caused by an imbalance of chemicals in the brain. Scientist believe that Schizophrenia, like many other conditions, may be from a combination of genetic and environmental factors.

This increased susceptibility to stress fits the current thinking that schizophrenia is fundamentally related to a combination of difficulty in filtering out what is happening in the outside world and misattribution of internal thoughts and feelings, along with an inability or lessened ability to interpret social cues, all of which make it difficult for individuals with schizophrenia

Schizophrenia can be traced back to Pharaonic Egypt when illnesses of the mind were thought to be symptoms of the heart and uterus, as well as coming from the veins, fecal matter, and possibly from demons. In the past, people were considered to be abnormal if they had any type of

Neither component is sufficient to exhibit mental illness. The significant aspect of this theory is not the two separate entities of vulnerability and environment, but it is the interaction of the two that can help explain pathology. This unique interaction displays how some people experience mental illness while others do not. Stress is known as continuous, with every single person being at risk to develop, while the diathesis is considered discontinuous, because only a portion of the population carry the risk (Monroe & Simons, 1991). Since there are many commonalities in the stress people feel (e.g. loss of a loved one, socioeconomic status, failure to succeed) and many who carry the diathesis for certain disorders, it is important to focus on how the two function together. Individually without the interaction, neither a diathesis nor stress alone can cause

The discovery that antipsychotic drugs—that blocks D2 receptors suggest that the abnormalities within the brain are being corrected to some extent. Thus, giving more support to the biological viewpoint. Additionally, family studies—used to support the heredity theory—have largely contributed to the biological point of view as well, but have also raised the question of environmental influences. Additionally, the various findings on environmental stressors (e.g. new adult stressors) as a causal factor of schizophrenia have led me to question what lies at the root of schizophrenia. This is largely related to what we are learning due to the importance surrounding etiology; however, it also gives rise to the potential of schizophrenia needing a multi-theoretical approach. For these reasons, I do not think that there is one fully supported cause of schizophrenia and the etiology of this disorder can be best explained through various theories. This also led me to question how can various perspectives come together and conduct research that would speak to each viewpoint to generate more fruitful findings, and which points of view should be included and

The study of schizophrenia dates back to the early 1800’s, when a guy by the name of John Haslam published a book called “Observations of Insanity”. In his book he goes into detail about the case studies or patents that show symptoms that we could categorize as schizophrenia disorder (John Haslam). By the end of the 19th Century the concept of schizophrenia was made known by a German psychiatrist by the name of Emil Krapelin. He basically took what he learned from Haslam and others and formed what we call Schizophrenia disorder today (schizophrenia history). Even thought the word itself in only 100 years old many cases can be traced back to the times prior to Jesus coming to the earth. Because there was no clear diagnosis for this disorder, at that time many people that had any sort of mental illness were all treated the same weather they had physical deformities or mental retardation. The first official title given to this disorder was called “Dementia Praecox”, which was given by Emil Krapelin. It wasn’t until 1911 when the Swiss psychiatrist, Eugen Bleuler gave it the name of schizophrenia. The word schizophrenia comes from two different Greek words, “schizo”, which means split and “phrene”, which means mind (Psychology today).

I also agree with the diathesis-stress-model that there is a predisposition whether it is biological, psychosocial, or sociocultural, and under certain stressful impacts it triggers and sets in motion anxiety disorders (Berger, 2014). Since anxiety disorders include a variety of ailments such are panic attacks, post-traumatic stress disorder, and obsessive compulsive disorder, anxiety disorders are more widespread than depression (Berger, 2014). Since anxiety disorders are so prevalent in such a large number of people for various disorders it raises questions. Such as, when several people experience the same traumatic event, what is the underlying predisposition that causes some people to be traumatized to the point of developing post-traumatic