Psychological Disorders: Understanding Schizophrenia

Stress that is caused by a traumatic event or family situations may be a trigger, which can cause this disorder to surface in those who possess a genetic predisposition. Another trigger that may play a major part is an imbalance of dopamine and serotonin, which are located in the brain. The behavioral patterns that are associated with schizophrenia are thought to result from an over activity of dopamine within certain areas of the brain. The areas of the brain that are affected by this disorder are the forebrain, hindbrain, and limbic system (The Lundbeck Institute, 2002-2005).

They may need help completing simple task. Quotation negative symptoms are associated with then disruptions to normal emotions and behaviors. These symptoms are harder to recognize as part of the disorder and can be mistaken for depression or other current conditions. Quotation print the seas US Department of Health, 2010. Print the sea these symptoms include speaking seldomly, lack of motivation, lack of pleasure, and/or the blank expression app on their face, also known as quotation Flat effect. Quotation for cognitive skills can also be linked to schizophrenia. Soon as such as not being able to focus, poor comprehension, and memory problems. Negative symptoms can make it hard for those affected to live a normal

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 is a disorder of the brain that affects how a person feels, thinks, and how they observe the world around them. People with schizophrenia may seem like they have lost touch with reality (nimh.nih.gov, 2016). The media used was a movie called Canvas, which the mother has schizophrenia. She continues to worsen over time until she gets help. The movie expresses her hallucinations and delusions, and how they affect her and her family life.

The prefrontal cortex is the area of the brain located right behind the forehead. The prefrontal cortex is responsible for problem solving, processing complex thoughts, and causing emotions. According to Chakraborty, improper function of the prefrontal cortex results in loss of these capabilities and the characteristic disordered thinking of schizophrenia. Impaired function of the prefrontal cortex in people with schizophrenia may be related to the excessive release of the brain chemical dopamine. The prefrontal cortex is connected to the basal ganglia which is an area in the brain also affected. The basal ganglia is known for producing dopamine. Dopamine plays a role in the regulation in coordinated movement, motivation, and the reward pathway. This pathway supplements patterns of behavior that make a person feel better. A July 2013 study report published in "Biological Psychiatry" noted that brain imaging studies show increased activity in the basal ganglia and decreased connectivity between this region and the prefrontal cortex in people with schizophrenia. The limbic system is responsible for the functions of emotional responses, memory, motivation, and the olfactory system. In people with schizophrenia, both the prefrontal cortex and the limbic system have abnormal brain chemistry. Neurons in the brain are associated with each other electrically and chemically. Electrical synapses migrate down a neuron as an action potential to the adjacent cell membrane. The action potential signal then reaches the axon terminal. The information is relayed chemically by these

Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder of the brain. Schizophrenia also has the most negative stigma attached to it as well. People who view schizophrenia in a negative aspect, tend to think that schizophrenic people are all violent and unpredictable (The Leap Institute, 2013). This is not always accurate because schizophrenic symptoms vary in drastic ways. The common symptoms of schizophrenia are hallucinations, hearing voices, paranoid thoughts, anosognosia (poor insight), confusion, forgetfullness, unfocused, and isolation/withdraw from others. The more negative symptoms are a decreased motivation,  lack of energy,  and lack of facial expressions (The Leap Institute, 2013).

Schizophrenia is a psychological and neurological disorder. Those suffering from it lack the ability to properly process sensory information. The world of a schizophrenic patient is disoriented and often times skewed. There are several things that factor in to the exact cause of schizophrenia. (Science Daily.)

Schizophrenia is a chronic, complex disorder that causes neurotransmitters to disrupt functional circuits within the brain (7). “Approximately 1% of the population worldwide will develop schizophrenia during their lifetime” (6).

Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder characterized by hallucinations, delusions, disorganized thought, cognitive impairment, and mood symptoms. Hallucinations may include hearing voices (auditory hallucinations) or seeing people (visual hallucinations) that are not actually present. Patient also often have “negative” findings such as decreased energy, flat affect, and a lack of interest. These symptoms must typically be present for at least 6 months and not be better explained by another medical or psychiatric disorder.

“The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), one of the most popular instruments used to assess symptom severity in schizophrenia” (Cruz). The negative symptoms are measured by different categories, for example, N1 is based on the patients affective flattening which is a symptom where the patient shows no facial emotion and literally has a plain face. N2 is emotional withdrawal, N3 poor rapport, N4 passive-apathetic social withdrawal, and N5 is difficulty in abstract thinking. There is no measure for cognitive symptoms because according to the article, How specific are negative symptoms and cognitive impairment in schizophrenia? An analysis of PANSS and SCoRS it has been well established that cognitive impairment is highly and independently related to functional outcome and quality of life of the patients. For Cognitive symptoms it’s up to the patient and treatment of the disorder to really test that.

According to Learn more about Schizophrenia (2011) there are three different types of symptoms, Negative symptoms, cognitive symptoms and positive symptoms. Negative symptoms include emotional flatness, lack of motivation, inability to start and follow through with activities, speech that is brief and lacks content and a lack of interest in life. Cognitive symptoms pertain to thinking process. People who live with Schizophrenia struggle to prioritize tasks and organizing thoughts. Also often has a lack of insight, when someone is not aware they have a mental illness. Positive symptoms are also known as Psychotic symptoms because the patient has lost touch with reality in certain ways, this is when hallucinations and delusions occur. Some of the most common effects of Schizophrenia are delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, catatonic behaviour, lack of self care and dysfunctional interpersonal relations. There are many challenges people living with Schizophrenia experience. According to Melinda and Jeanne smith (2016) a big challenge that Schizophrenics may experience is the responsibility to stay on their medication. Often patients will think do not need their medications anymore and will stop taking them. In some cases when Patients stop taking their medication the Schizophrenia symptoms can come back worse and more intense. Another challenge Schizophrenics may encounter is unemployment. According to Learn more

Negative symptoms of schizophrenia is when the individual is lacking certain characteristics, such as normal thoughts, emotions or behaviors. People with schizophrenia can often have poor speech, or alogia, when the individual will restrict how much they speak, what they speak about, and/or have long pauses when responding or answering questions. Another type of negative symptom would include, the blunted and flat affect. This is when the person will show less emotion than what is normal, such as speaking in a monotone voice, avoiding eye contact, or having an expressionless face. Third would be loss of volition, or the loss of motivation due to feeling drained of energy and interest of normal goals. In addition, the individual is also unable

Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder that causes severe mental disturbances which disrupt ones thoughts, speech, and behavior. According to Paul Thompson, Associate Professor of Neurology, one percent of the world’s population suffers from this disorder. There is no one specific cause of schizophrenia, because it is caused by a combination of problems during development. It is a disorder which not only affects the patient, but their family and society as well. Schizophrenia can be a debilitating disorder, however, there are many treatments that can allow people who suffer from it to lead normal lives.

The case selected for this application discusses Emilio, a 40-year-old man who has been hospitalized twelve times for symptoms associated with schizophrenia. His mother was afraid of him and brought him into the hospital, Emilio’s behavior was unusual. He displayed emotions of anger towards his mother however; displayed obedient seducing emotions to the interviewer and had innocent childlike mannerisms and verbal dialogue patterns. Emilio was no longer taking his prescribed medication which his mother reported stopped within the last thirty days as well as his appearance and actions becoming bizarre in nature (Hooley, et al., 2017). This is an example of disorganized behavior as well as when asked what he was doing he responded, “eating wires

Not much is known about what exactly causes schizophrenia, or which parts of the brain are affected. One guess to the cause of schizophrenia is that neurotransmitter dopamine is involved. "Some of the supporting evidence behind this theory is the fact that amphetamines, when given in large doses, causes the brain's dopamine levels to rise, this can cause the subject to show schizophrenia like symptoms" (Torrey, 1983). There are three different fields of thought