Paranoid Schizophrenia And Criminal Behavior

Schizophrenia is a brain disorder that affects the way a person acts, thinks, and sees the world. People with schizophrenia have a completely different perception of reality, such as a significant loss of contact with it for example, compared to people who do not suffer from this mental disease. They tend to panic a lot, feel like someone is trying to harm them or their loved ones, fear that someone is watching every move they make. Although they hallucinate a lot and/or are delusional, most people with schizophrenia are not violent and are not a danger to others. (Helpguide.org, 2015)

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder often characterized by abnormal social behaviour and failure to recognize what is real. Common symptoms include false beliefs, unclear or confused thinking, auditory hallucinations, reduced social engagement and emotional expression, and inactivity. A person with schizophrenia often hears voices, experiences delusions and hallucinations and may believe thoughts, feelings and actions are controlled or shared by someone else.

Paranoid Schizophrenia is a disease that affects the brain in such a way that is distorts reality of those with the disease. Paranoid Schizophrenia is the most common type of Schizophrenia. The symptoms as listed by the Mayo Clinic are as follows:

In this paper one will give a description of the data established upon a case study. One will outline the major symptoms of the disorder discussed in the case. The disorder discussed in this case is Paranoid Schizophrenia. One will give a description of the client background. One will also describe any factors in the client background that may predispose him or her to the disorder. One will describe symptoms that he or she may have observed that supports the diagnosis of the individual. One will describe the inconsistency of the disorder found in the case and explain any information observed about the

Schizophrenia is a complex psychotic disorder evident by impaired thinking, emotions, judgment and behaviors. The person’s grasp of reality may be so disordered that they are unable to filter sensory stimuli and may have intense perceptions of sounds, colors, and other features of their environment. Although there are different levels of severity in symptoms, the Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine (Fundukian, Ed., 2014) states that schizophrenia may typically interfere with a person 's ability to think clearly and to know the difference between reality and fantasy. People with schizophrenic symptoms have hallucinations and delusions, and often have difficulty with everyday life. It is a complicated disease that is not well understood and carries significant stigma for its sufferers.

According to Garber, Gross, and Slonim (2010) paranoid schizophrenia is mainly characterized by auditory hallucinations and delusions. The delusions people experience are mainly about been someone famous, been persecuted unfairly, or conspiracy theories. People suffering from paranoid schizophrenia will have normal intellectual functioning, which

Throughout the many years, there have been many negative public perceptions of Schizophrenia, which is known by majority of the public as an indication of mental illness. This disorder is most of the time perceived by the public as caused by psychological factors. People with this mental illness are considered to be unpredictable and threatening (Angermeyer & Matschinger, 2003, p. 526). Most patients have a behavioural dysfunction. Victims, families and society carry a substantial burden due to this illness (Wood & Freedman, 2003).

A small group of people with mental illness (those with severe and untreated symptoms of schizophrenia with Psychosis, major depression or bi-polar mood disorder) may have an increased rate of violence. In this group, Individuals who are suffering from psychotic symptoms that cause them to feel threatened or manipulated by Outside forces have a greater tendency towards violent behaviour. In spite of this, with early assessment and Appropriate treatment, individuals with severe illness are no more dangerous than the general population. Community treatment programs have also been found to be helpful in the management of behaviours that lead to crime.

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.

Paranoid-type schizophrenia is characterized by delusions and auditory hallucinations (hearing voices that don 't exist) but relatively normal intellectual functioning and expression of emotions. The delusions can often be about being persecuted by a person or an organization, or feeling harassed or treated unfairly. People with paranoid-type schizophrenia can exhibit anger, aloofness, anxiety, and can be argumentative. (DSM-IV-TR)

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder which impacts the patient for their entire life following diagnosis. It involves neurasthenia's of reality, which lead to neurotic interpretations, disengaging from reality and creating fragmentations psychologically which can derive thoughts of homicidal/suicidal actions. Subsequently, often times people with schizophrenia are categorized as different types, such as schizoaffective, catatonic, early-onset, hebephrenia, and paranoid. The disease itself edits into the persons mood and mentality, sometimes causing an onset of depression or homicidal

The relationship that exists between mental illness and crime is not only crucial, but it is complex. When a crime is committed, ultimately the goal is for the offender to be rightfully charged and punished. But let’s say one who suffers from schizophrenia was

Based on the assessment of MacPhail and Verdun-Jones (2013), people with different forms of mental conditions are highly over represented in the criminal justice system. The extent of over representation in the justice system is uncertain. However, its presence cannot be denied. The term mental illness or condition is used to refer to exclusively the serious psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia while at selected times it is used to refer to conditions listed on in the DSM-IV, which is the manual of mental disorders. Some of the more common conditions listed in the DSM include anti-social personality disorder as well as drug and substance abuse. Depending on the situation, the definition of mental illness applied will vary. Eighty percent to Ninety percent of criminal offenders have a diagnosis of mental disorder. To this end, it comes as no surprise that there is a high population of inmates with antisocial personality disorder in correctional facilities.

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).

Crimes linked to a mental disorder are seen to be abnormal from the established norms in society. According to the National Alliance of Mental Illness, a mental illness is a condition that impacts a person 's thinking, feeling or mood and may affect their ability to relate to others and function on a daily basis.1 These variations often cause deviations from accepted behaviors. Behavior that is said to be not normal often ends up being linked to a crime.