Newer Treatments For Schizophrenia Symptom Management

Schizophrenia occurs in people from all cultures and from all walks of life. Schizophrenia is a chronic brain disorder that affects a small portion of the population in the world. When schizophrenia is active there are many different symptoms that can appear. Some symptoms can include delusions, hallucinations, trouble with thinking and concentration, and lack of motivation. When these symptoms are treated, most people with schizophrenia will improve over time with treatment. With the different studies we are able to see how schizophrenia works in different ways. The different ways being what is happening in the brain when a person has schizophrenia. Along with the different treatments from counseling to medication what works better.

Researchers believe that dopamine plays an important part in schizophrenia. The goal of conventional antipsychotic drug therapy is to reduce the amount of dopamine, or the amount of dopamine receptor sites. They are dopamine antagonists

MDMA has been found to be useful in treating schizophrenia due to the effects in has when it saturates the 5HT2A receptors in the prefrontal cortex. This causes the MDMA to block D2 receptors in the mesolimbic area, which reduces the positive symptoms of schizophrenia, such as hallucinations. This is because the hypoactive release of DA is blocked, and the stimulatory effects on glutamate releases from 5HT2A receptors such as activated mesolimbic dopamine neurons is reduced, preventing

For the past fifty years treatment of schizophrenia has been marked by its basis on the dopamine hypothesis for schizophrenia. However, this model for the disease and its subsequent treatment have left many patients without relief or help in dealing with this disease which has lead to a search for a better model. The dopamine model lacks the recognition of a whole range of symptoms associated with the disease and therefore can not be an accurate basis for treatment. More recently, there has been a shift to the glutamate hypothesis which has been shown to more accurately characterize the wide range of symptoms experienced by patients living with this disorder as well as the possibility in improvements for drug treatments.

Schizophrenia is a complex and highly debilitating mental illness that we are currently unable to treat in any way that guarantees success or return to previous function. It affects around 1% of the population and is associated with a thirteen-fold increase in the likelihood of suicide, so its effective control is paramount (Gogos et al., 2015). There have been several hypotheses as to the cause of schizophrenia. Many link genetic and environmental factors, and dysregulations of neurotransmitters dopamine, glutamate, and serotonin (Egbujo, Sinclair, & Hahn, 2016). The dopamine hypothesis currently suggests that hyperactive dopamine transmission in the basal ganglia leads to psychosis and underactive dopamine transmission in the prefrontal

In 1955, antipsychotic medications were introduced to help mental disorders. These medications are usually taken orally in which help relieve symptoms for periods of days. The misuse or abuse of the medications are low. There are three generations of antipsychotic medications. The first generation is known for reducing hallucinations and delusions, but not affecting problems like disorientation or depression. An example would be chlorpromazine, brand name being Thorazine. Some negative side effects of taking the first generation drugs are Parkinson’s-like symptoms, tardive dyskinesia, and weight gain. Next, the second generation drugs minimized the outcome of the individual getting Parkinson’s-like symptoms. An example of this generation would be Clozaril. “A unique feature of Clozaril is the 1 to 2 percent chance of developing a potentially lethal blood disease called agranulocytosis” (Levinthal 282). This disease decreases white blood cells and affects the immune system. If early signs of this disease start to appear the patient will stop taking Clozaril and recover. Lastly, the third generation has shown to be the most effective on schizophrenia. Abilify is an example of this generation drug. It does not have a risk of Parkinson’s, tardive dyskinesia, or diabetes. Abilify blocks specific serotonin receptors in which prevents negative side effects from happening. These different

As we have seen, treatment of schizophrenia with antipsychotic drugs can have impressive results in terms of decreasing active symptoms, although it does nothing to alleviate negative symptoms or to improve cognitive functioning. Unfortunately, this kind of treatment has the drawback of extremely serious and even fatal side-effects. Newer generation atypical antipsychotics offer more hope, as they can treat both active and negative symptoms, and also improve cognitive functioning. Moreover, they have fewer side-effects. However, treatment is complicated by the fact that results are unpredictable; and in addition the side-effects that they do have can be very serious, such as diabetes, which in itself is life-threatening. However, as the potential side-effects are known, the physician has leeway to choose a drug which is a good match for the patient’s clinical profile. Then, once the patient’s symptoms have been much alleviated with an appropriate newer generation atypical antipsychotic, the patient should be able to also benefit from a range of psychotherapeutic interventions. It is argued that this is the best treatment regime to choose, as it is likely to result in the greatest improvement in quality of life, coupled with the lowest risk of potentially devastating side-effects, or of death. This is likely to be better than utilizing cognitive behavioral therapy, the results of which are not reliably known – although research has certainly shown that it is less efficacious

A comparison between schizophrenia and bipolar spectrum disorder focusing on history, etiology, treatment, and symptoms of each disease will introduce the concept of the Continuum Disease Model (CDM) as a basis for further debate and discussion on the controversial designation of schizoaffective disorder (bipolar type/depressive type). The concept of a possible connection between distinct disorders is strongly disputed between many experts due to presence of manic or hypomanic episodes as a clear distinction requiring the designation of bipolar spectrum disorder as opposed to negative and positive schizophrenic symptoms; however, similarities in the disorders including etiology, presence of psychosis, and effectiveness of new atypical antipsychotic treatments may present similar neurological psychopathology. Schizoaffective disorder may present only unipolar depressive symptoms along with negative or positive schizophrenic symptoms but bipolar type will be the focus of discussion. An argument disputing the legitimacy of the CDM will be presented though the stress-diathesis model supports the designation of schizoaffective disorder in the newest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V). A deeper look at the mechanisms in the psychopharmacological drug treatments specifically focused on the atypical antipsychotics quetiapine (trade name Seroquel) and lurasidone (trade name Latuda), providing theories of their effects on brain

Schizophrenia is a life-long disorder that affects about one percent of the population (Mueser & McGurk, 2004). The cause of this mental illness is still unclear. Studies have suggested that Schizophrenia does not arise from one factor but from a combination of genetic, environmental, and social factors (Liddle, 1987). People diagnosed with Schizophrenia struggle to deal with a multitude of symptoms that make it difficult to function (Mueser & McGurk, 2004). Antipsychotic medications are a popular treatment of the symptoms of Schizophrenia (Mueser & McGurk, 2004). Research is constantly being done to develop these medications to enhance the quality of life of those diagnosed with Schizophrenia.

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 is a disease of brain which disturbs the way brain cell communicate with each other and function, which is commonly caused by excessive production of dopamine. Furthermore, it cause serious psychotic symptoms which disrupts an individual quality of life, social deficit, abnormal social behaviors which often due to doubting and adapting unrealistic cases to realistic situations, and as a result, social isolation. For treatment of schizophrenia, antipsychotic medication is worldwide treatment which helps to prevent a relapse of psychotic symptoms and to enhance the quality of life by improving individual mental abilities. In addition, to improve the outcome of the treatment, monitoring patient’s status appears to be a strong nursing intervention in combination with medical assistances showing benefits. Also, early and accurate diagnosis of schizophrenia is necessary, because it is often easy to misdiagnose since it shares common symptoms with other diseases, such as bipolar disorder, which also causes hallucination and bizarre change of personality.

Biological theorists believe that people can inherit a disposition for Schizophrenia, according to the diathesis-stress perspective. It is also believed that biochemical abnormalities as well as abnormal brain structure could be factors in schizophrenic patients. Researchers have developed a dopamine hypothesis which explains “certain neurons that use the neurotransmitter dopamine fire too often and send too many messages, thus producing the symptoms of the disorder” (Abi-Dargham & Grace, 2011) The drugs used to combat these symptoms are known as atypical antipsychotic drugs, as they are much different from other antipsychotic medications. These drugs bind dopamine receptors to keep messages from being transmitted too quickly. Brain scans have found that many schizophrenic patients have enlarged ventricles. These patients tend to show greater cognitive disturbances. It is also believed that schizophrenia can be

A quick overview of schizophrenia that I learned in the class was that it is a chronic brain disorder that affects the way that person goes about life such as, the way they think, feel and behave isn’t normal. About one in one hundred Americans are diagnosed with schizophrenia. Schizophrenia affects men and women equally, usually occurs between the ages fifth- teen to thirty. People with schizophrenia withdrawal themselves from reality as in they tend to hear or see things that don’t exist and at times say things completely off the wall. Day to day life can be very challenging and difficult for them because it can be so severe; that they have to rely on other people because they have a hard time keeping a job or even caring for

Antipsychotics are classified as major tranquilizers that are used to treat mental health illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and other mental illnesses. They can also treat severe depression and severe anxiety. These antipsychotics drugs reduce or increase the effect of neurotransmitters in the brain to regulate levels that help transfer information throughout the brain. The neurotransmitters that are affected are the serotonin, dopamine, and noradrenaline.

With growing initiatives and sign of the success of psychosocial involvements for schizophrenia, the highly organized and a few integrated programs used as an aide to antipsychotics, have specified positive patient outcomes. On the basis of numerous extensive randomized controlled trials, single and multiple types of antipsychotics, or polypharmacy in combination with other psychotropic drugs, are considered useful in schizophrenia treatment. The introduction of second-generation antipsychotics has further enhanced the desired effects of these medications for schizophrenia care and reduced their unwelcome effects such as extrapyramidal adverse effects, mortality, and metabolic disorder. It is important to evaluate and comprehend the current knowledge about pharmacological and other medical treatments for schizophrenia sufferers, before exploring the new changes or enhancements needed in schizophrenia treatment and