My Schizophrenic Experiences

The True Life episode, I have Schizophrenia, documented the struggles of three adults who suffer from Schizophrenia and Schizoaffective disorder. This paper will focus around Josh and whether he actually has Schizophrenia.

Insanity, then, is inordinate or irregular, or impaired action of the mind, of the instincts, sentiments, intellectual, or perceptive powers, depending upon and produced by an organic change in the brain.

In NURS 279, I had the privilege of caring for a patient in his late 20’s who had newly been diagnosed with schizophreniform disorder, after having a “break down”. The main symptoms he had experienced over the few months pre-hospitalization included delusions of religious grandiosity and audio/visual hallucinations and the reason it took months before hospitalization is because he was living out of province, away from his family and mostly in social isolation, though his parents noticed a change in behaviour over the phone calls they shared. He became my patient 2 weeks after his admission, at a point where he had accepted his diagnosis and had control over his symptoms in a controlled environment, however, was med noncompliant, as he

Michael and Susan say when their daughter, Jani, was born, they “immediately noticed that she wasn’t like other children.” Jani was diagnosed with early-onset schizophrenia when she was 6 years old. “Schizophrenia is a disabling psychological disorder that can include hallucinations, delusions and disorganized speech. People with schizophrenia experience psychosis, which is a loss of contact with reality that is severe and chronic.” (Licht and Hull ?) As Jani grew older, she would see and hear things that weren’t there. She spends most of her time in an imaginary world she calls Calalini, where over 100 people and animals live. However, Jani’s parents say her imaginary friends sometimes tell her to do violent things, like jump off buildings and hit, scratch and bite other people around her. While medication has lessened Jani’s violent and explosive tendencies, Michael and Susan say they worry for her future.

Dan Hoeweler a schizophrenic poet writes in his poem “Blast off to Insanity”, “They say I am mad/ that I am evil/ and creepy/ that my genes are corrupted/ and my brain is deformed/ that my actions are freaky/ that my behavior is not the norm…” Dementia Praecox: a psychotic disorder characterized by loss of contact with the environment, by noticeable deterioration of functioning in everyday life, and by disintegration of one’s personality. What we know as schizophrenia today has been around for at least two centuries, but not named until the early 1900’s by Kraepelin. In order to fully understand this disease you need to know the types and symptoms, the causes, and the treatment and recovery.

Schizophrenia occurs in 1% of people and that percentage shoots up to 10% when a person is a direct family member of a Schizophrenic. Even aunts, uncles, grandparents, or cousins to Schizophrenics are even more likely to develop Schizophrenia than a person with no relation to a Schizophrenic. An identical twin of a Schizophrenic is at the highest risk, with a 40-65% chance of developing this disease (The National Institute of Mental Health "What is Schizophrenia?"). It is EXTREMELY uncommon for a person before 12 years old or after 40 years old to be diagnosed with Schizophrenia ("What Causes Schizophrenia?" NAMI Fact Sheet). "I estimate that 10% of people have one episode of schizophrenia and recover...To become schizophrenic in America, you have to be ill for 6 months...under ICD-10 criteria, you have to be psychotic for 1 month...10% won't need continuing psychiatric treatment to function in

Roughly 1 in 100 people develop schizophrenia and it usually develops in late adolescence or early adult-hood, often between the ages of 16-30. It seldom develops after the age of 35. The development may take place over months or even years. Women develop the disease at a slightly larger rate than men; however, schizophrenia is more likely to develop in those living in poverty, among ethical/racial minorities. In the United States, approximately 2-3 million people suffer from schizophrenia. (Mueser & Gingerich, 2006)

Did you know one percent of our population is schizophrenic? Schizophrenia is a chronic and disabling psychiatric disorder that commonly presents during late adolescent and early adulthood (Javitt, Daniel C). Schizophrenia is illustrated by an incapacity to differentiate what is real from what is not. The way they live can affect their brain functions causing relationships to end because of the symptoms schizophrenia produce in them, but there are treatments and support that can help with the symptoms.

When people hear the word “schizophrenia” what do they think. The media makes it seem like people with schizophrenia are crazy and dangerous. When that is not really true at all. This makes people place judgments on schizophrenia without knowing exactly what it is. The only way we could fix this is by educating people who are ignorant of schizophrenia. This would also help change the media’s perspective of this disorder. Which could prevent the wrong signals from being continuously put out. So, what exactly is schizophrenia, what causes schizophrenia and how can it be treated?

I’ve been diagnosed with Schizophrenia, it is crazy, I know. Some would believe that being schizophrenic does make me crazy and sometimes I think I am. All the thoughts floating around, voices speaking to me, seeing things that aren’t really there, I couldn’t set priorities and not feeling “the right way” about many things. Before I was formally diagnosed, my family was very upset with me, my actions, and did not understand what was going on with me. I was having a very hard time caring for my premature baby properly and not bonding well with her, I think because I was having trouble with my emotions. Every day was hard, nothing seemed to make sense. I was sick and we all did not realize how bad it really could become, until it did. The good new is

theories, schizotpy is not the only outcome to genetic predisposition, and predisposition does not indicate necessary diagnosis. There are many

Schizophrenia has been associated with the dysregulation of many neurotransmitter systems. Large amounts dopamine is the oldest and most widely accepted theory of the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and stems from identification of dopamine D2 receptor blockade as the mechanism of action of antipsychotics. Dopamine D2 binding sites are increased in a person with schizophrenia, which contributes to cognitive impairment. The modern day understanding is suggested that a hyperactive mesolimbic and a hypoactive mesocortical dopamine system underlie the 'positive ' and 'negative ' symptoms that are seen in schizophrenia. Serotonin, glutamate, GABA and acetylcholine dysregulation have also been implicated in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia, in addition to dopamine. Glutamatergic signaling is attenuated in schizophrenia and is distinguished by a loss of NMDA receptor-mediated excitatory neurotransmission. GABA levels are also attenuated due to down regulation of GABA transporter (GAT) gene expression. “There is a concordant up regulation of GABAA receptors, which may contribute to the alterations in neural synchrony and consequently working memory impairment” (tocris.com, 2015).

Any discussion of this mental health diagnoses should begin with a look into what is meant by the term “schizophrenia,” since the definition is not as clear as the popular use of the term would necessarily lead one to believe. For example. Tan, Callicott, and Weinberger (2008) call it a “symptom constellation” that includes such things as hallucinations, delusions, thought disorganization, panic

Merriam – Webster’s Medical dictionary describes mental illnesses as “any of a broad range of medical conditions that are marked primarily by sufficient disorganization of personality, mind, or emotions to impair normal psychological functioning and cause marked distress or disability and that are typically associated with a disruption in normal thinking, feeling, mood, behavior, interpersonal interactions, or daily functioning.” Today almost more than sixty million people in America have some form of mental illness, but only few actually seek treatment.One of the many mental illnesses is Schizophrenia, a very serious disorder which affects how a person acts, feels, and thinks. Some people with the illness cannot even tell the difference between things that are real and things that are imaginary. In the United States at least 2.2 million people suffer from schizophrenia .Many famous people such as Vincent Van Gogh, Michelangelo, and Abraham Lincoln’s wife Mary Todd Lincoln suffered from schizophrenia. This essay is going to discuss the many things that happen when you are Schizophrenic and how you can treat this horrible mental illness.

Schizophrenia is a long-term mental disorder 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. The exact cause of schizophrenia isn't known, but a combination of genetics, environment, and altered brain chemistry and structure play some sort of role. Treatment is usually lifelong and often involves a combination of medications, psychotherapy, and coordinated specialty care services. Schizophrenia usually first appears between the person’s late teens and mid-thirties. Although its course varies widely from case to case, many sufferers seem to go through three phases—prodromal, active, and residua. During the prodromal phase, symptoms are not yet obvious, but the person is beginning to deteriorate.