Hallucination Research Paper

Schizophrenia is a mental health condition that places considerable burden on the individuals who have it, their families, and society (Eack 2012). Someone who has schizophrenia may have the following symptoms, but not all: faulty perceptions, inappropriate actions and feelings, withdrawal from reality and personal relationships into fantasy and delusion, and a sense of mental fragmentation (Oxford Dictionary). The two most commonly used interventions are drug and family intervention. Often times patients with a

In the world today, there are many illnesses and disorders that affect people each and every day. One illness in particular that is very big in the US and all around the world is Schizophrenia. It is also the most researched topic. A person who is diagnosed with Schizophrenia lives a very different lifestyle than someone who is not. Many people would consider a person with schizophrenia to be “crazy.” Sadly enough, people with this illness do posses symptoms that might come off as crazy or insane. There are many different causes that come along with schizophrenia. A person who is diagnosed may not know it at first but they do later realize that they have some interesting thoughts, depending on the type of symptoms they posses while having this illness. Although the symptoms may be very brutal and causes cannot be controlled, there still is hope and treatments for individuals who have schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia, although affecting only one percent of the population, has a direct affect on society today. This disease, if left untreated, poses threat to health care professionals (including psychiatrists), law enforcement personnel, and family members responsible for the care and support of the schizophrenia patient. This paper addresses the causes of schizophrenia and the myths surrounding this complicated ailment, the affect of untreated or misunderstood aspects of schizophrenia has on society and important crisis intervention strategies for those in close contact to victims of schizophrenia.

Additional, inferences about the disorder are provided by Whitcomb and Merrell (2013). The authors characterize the symptoms of schizophrenia as delusions that are “typically bizarre and implausible” and pronounced hallucinations such as hearing voices for long periods of time (p. 363). Additional, impairments noted by the authors include “severe disturbances in perception, thought and affect, a severe decline in personal and social functioning, poor personal hygiene, inability to function effectively at school or work, and a severe impairment in social relationships” (Whitcomb and Merrell, 2013 p.363).

Schizophrenia is a disease that has plagued societies around the world for centuries, although it was not given its formal name until 1911. It is characterized by the presence of positive and negative symptoms. Positive symptoms are so named because of the presence of altered behaviors, such as delusions, hallucinations (usually auditory), extreme emotions, excited motor activity, and incoherent thoughts and speech. (1,2) In contrast, negative symptoms are described as a lack of behaviors, such as emotion, speech, social interaction, and action. (1,2) These symptoms are by no means concrete. Not all schizophrenic patients will exhibit all or even a majority of these symptoms, and there is some

Schizophrenia consists of a broad spectrum of diagnostic criteria (both cognitive and emotional dysfunctions) that cause problems in every day functioning (Barlow et al., 2015). This criteria includes the presence of delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, grossly disorganized/catatonic behaviour, and/or negative symptoms, such as diminished emotional expression (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). The prevalence rate of this disorder is estimated to be in the range of 0.2% to 1.5% in the general population (Barlow et al., 2015).

Hallucinations. Delusions. Insanity. These are the words that come to mind when people hear of Schizophrenia. It is among the most feared and misunderstood mental disorders, and is thought to reside in our nightmares, not our lives. Despite the rather folkloric quality it seems to have obtained, however, Schizophrenia is a legitimate brain disorder that affects real people. It is devestating.

Patients with Schizophrenia can have symptoms that vary from hallucinations, to bad hygiene. They can experience delusions and disorganized thoughts. They are normally depressed and can cause self-harm. The treatments for Schizophrenia includes medications, Electroconvulsive Therapy and therapy. Therapy for these patients can be individual or group. The therapy sessions can help teach these patients how to be social and it can show them how to deal with the voices or hallucinations. Medications for schizophrenia are called antipsychotics. The medications help curb the symptoms of schizophrenia. The down fall to the medications is most people stop taking them. It is not uncommon for the “voices” to talk the patient out of taking them. Electroconvulsive

Schizophrenia is a split from reality (Myers, 2013, 657). People with schizophrenia experience all kinds of symptoms. They experience “disturbed perceptions, disorganized thinking and inappropriate emotions” (Myers, 2013, 657). They began having hallucinations. They see things and hear things that aren’t really there or real. They can imagine touch and sensation too. For example, one young woman sees cars’ headlights while driving and believes they are eyes and are trying to harm her (Standen, 2014, 1). These hallucinations can result in a person harming themselves. Sometimes these voices tell them to burn themselves (Myers, 2013, 658). This is one of the reasons that everyone fears schizophrenia because it can be harmful or in some cases even fatal to the people diagnosed with it if it’s not treated and just ignored.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) (2013) defines Schizophrenia as one of the most common serious mental health conditions affecting men and women equally. It is a chronic condition that causes a range of different psychological symptoms including hallucinations (hearing or seeing things that do not exist) and delusions (believing in things that are untrue). These symptoms are often referred to as ‘symptoms of psychosis’, when an individual cannot distinguish between reality and their imagination (DSM, 2013). Wahashi et al. (2007) suggest that patients with schizophrenia often have difficulty in coping with everyday stressors and suffer emotional withdrawal and poor social functioning this can be particularly pronounced in patients living in an institutionalised setting (Wahashi et al. 2007).

Schizophrenia is a long-term, psychotic disorder that affects approximately 1% of the world’s population (Dourish and Dawson, 2014). The condition is characterised by a ‘fundamental disturbance of personality’, as a person suffers from hallucinations (either hearing voices or seeing things that do not exist), delusions, altered perceptions and an overall, quite dramatic, change in behaviour (Tsuang and Faraone, 1997; Roberts, et al. 1993:14.1). The specific signs of schizophrenia can be divided into positive and negative symptoms and cognitive impairment (Köster LS et al., 2014). The positive symptoms are those that are obvious indicators of the disorder and are often seen as the most dramatic, as they become extremely visible to the relatives of a patient, pursuing distressing effects on the sufferer (Tsuang and Faraone, 1997). They are referred to as positive as they are a result of the disease producing an abnormal event, such as the creation of intense thoughts the patient cannot control (Tsuang and Faraone, 1997). However, the negative symptoms and cognitive impairments are just as serious and express the deterioration of normal mental and behavioural manners, such as poverty of speech (Tsuang and Faraone, 1997). Therapeutic treatment for schizophrenia therefore needs to target both of these symptomatic areas, to manage both the mental and behavioural traits. However,

Schizophrenia & Support Systems When schizophrenia is diagnosed, the symptoms present include many negative and positive symptoms. This includes anhedonia—the inability to experience pleasure--, as well as social isolation, hallucinations and delusions—all symptoms Bill had experienced. His “scruples” induced these thought insertions in his head that he believed were real that limited his daily routine and actions (Schneider, 1959). However, the main issue with these symptoms is that it can cause social and occupational dysfunction. The disorder fabricates a disturbance for an individual in places such as work and even intimate and interpersonal relationships for a period of at least 6 months or more (Oltmanns, 2015).

Schizophrenia is a psychological condition that causes delusions or hallucinations making it extremely difficult for those who have the disorder to discern between reality and the imaginations (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). These fictitious experiences are often frightening situations where the victim cannot properly respond if the danger were reality because he/she believes everything is reality, even events that are produced by the imagination. “Emil Kraepelin, who coined the term schizophrenia (literally “split mind”) in the 1890s, viewed the disorder as a split from reality, not a split attitude or split personality as is sometimes mistakenly assumed” (Feist and Rosenburg, 2012, p. 607). Schizophrenia is widely recognized by society as the disorder where the victim hears voices that really are just fantasies of their imagination. This is often a major symptom, but it can include other symptoms as well. People with schizophrenia have a distorted view of society and their interactions with it including the idea that people are controlling them and that someone is plotting evil against them (NIMH, 2007). Speech is often disorganized an incoherent because of this disorder, which reflects the cognitive state of thinking, also being disjointed.

Schizophrenia is a very serious, long-term disorder that affects about 1% of the world’s population. It affects people anywhere from twenty years old, to forty-five years old. It is known to be one of the most disabling diseases in this age group. Schizophrenia can break down a person’s behaviors, emotions, and thoughts. People who suffer from schizophrenia usually show very inappropriate displays of their actions and feelings. Sufferers have been known to hear voices, even when there is nobody around them. They have problems controlling their thoughts, and sometimes blurt out things that are very inappropriate. This paper will outline the biological, social, and psychological

Schizophrenia, unlike most disorders, is a standout amongst the most genuine of the mental disorders. It is known that one in a hundred individuals are affected by it, and starts in either youth or early adulthood. Schizophrenia brings social interruption, anguish and hardship to the individuals who experience the ill effects of it, as well as to their family. Under those circumstances, it is known to be the most devastating of all disorders. There are both negative and positive symptoms when it comes to dealing with schizophrenia. Despite the fact that there are various negative indications, the most present one is limitations or absence in thoughts and behaviours that are characteristics in normal functioning. For this