Sarah and Angela The Many Misconceptions and Misunderstandings of Schizophrenia Misunderstood with

Media portrayal of the mental illnesses schizophrenia are damaging not only to individuals with schizophrenia, but also ‘normal’ people such as the families of those who are schizophrenic. The media portrays schizophrenia sufferers as violent peoples who will harm given the opportunity, and as such, should not be trusted and should be approached with caution. These portrayals are incorrect,

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 Mathers et al., (1996) “Schizophrenia ranks among the top ten causes of disability worldwide and affects one in one hundred people at some point in their lives.” (Cardwell and Flanagan, 2012). Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder which is commonly diagnosed in 15-30 year old individuals. It disrupts a person’s cognition, perceptions and emotions, making it extremely difficult to diagnose. Bleuler (1911) introduced the term schizophrenia, which translates as ‘split-mind’ or ‘divided self’ and accounts for the earlier interpretations of the disease. These misunderstandings and the ongoing misrepresentations, especially within the media, has stigmatised the illness. This raises the need for better understanding and

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

In 1968 the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) updated the definition of schizophrenia to include hostility, aggressiveness, and lack of acceptance of oneself. The next social, or cultural influence is that of stigma against mental illness in our daily lives. These attitudes play on decisions made in our lives that affect the larger world. In a recent poll released by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) finds misconceptions to be prominent by American society. “Slightly more than 70 percent of those surveyed would be afraid for their own safety around a person who has not received treatment for schizophrenia, and 21 percent would be afraid for their own safety around a person who had been treated for the disorder, according to the results” (American Psychiatric Association, 2011).

Have you ever wondered what it was like in the mind of a person with Schizophrenia? Many people don't understand what it means to have this illness. The media has twisted and turned the image of Schizophrenics, so a lot of people have misconceptions. Would you like to better understand how it feels? Just simply sitting alone in your bedroom can be easily twisted into something terrifying. Now close your eyes and imagine.

This illness is characterised by positive symptoms, such as delusions, hallucinations and thought disorder; negative symptoms, such as abnormal social behaviours; and cognitive difficulties, such as poorer attention and working memory. These manifestations clearly make it a challenge for schizophrenics to live a normal life and earn a living for themselves (National Institute of Mental Health, n.d.).

Schizophrenia is a mental illness which affects millions of people throughout the world. Scientists have begun to understand more and more about the possible causes, predisposing factors, types, and possible treatments for schizophrenia. (Torrey, 1995) It is very rare for schizophrenic symptoms to appear before the age of 12 but it does occur. Recently, there has been a growing interest in childhood schizophrenia. It is less than one-sixtieth as common as the adult-onset type but the characteristics are very similar. Childhood schizophrenia also tends to be harder to treat and to have a worse prognosis than the adult-onset form. (Rapoport, 1997)

This research paper focuses on the issue of child onset schizophrenia, specifically looking at the prognosis, symptoms, stigma, and most effective treatment options for children. This topic has become a significant social issue as a result of the recent mass school shootings throughout the nation and the associated stigma. Severe mental illnesses, especially schizophrenia, are being severely impacted by stigma. Society today views schizophrenia as “dangerous”, furthering this stigma. Further, little research has been done of childhood onset schizophrenia (Hollis, 2003). However, research has shown that individuals with an earlier onset or diagnosis experience more persistent and debilitating symptoms than those with an older age of onset (Findling & Schulz, 2005). Along with a higher occurrence of more severe symptoms, child onset schizophrenia is a complicated issue because children are being prescribed psychotropic medications at an early age during a period of critical brain development (Butcher, Mineka, Hooley, 2014). This greatly affects development and exposes children to very severe side effects of the medication, resulting in a lot of patients refusing medication and the treatment they deserve.

There are many aspects that characterize schizophrenia. Schizophrenics usually behave in a strange or abnormal manner where the mind is separated from reality and the difference between what is real and not is unknown. A schizophrenic therefore has distorted ideas about who they are and about life. Feelings of withdrawal, worthlessness and emptiness also appear

To begin, one has to understand schizophrenia. The symptoms of this brain disorder are numerous. There are two types of symptoms that come with being schizophrenic: positive and negative. To clarify, positive does not mean good and negative bad. Positive, in this case, means that symptoms are present. Negative, then, means that there is an absence of normal symptoms.

Approximately 1 percent of the world’s population is affected by schizophrenia. This illness does not discriminate. The symptoms usually start between ages 16 and 30. Once an individual reaches the age of 45, it is rare that schizophrenia manifests. Schizophrenia seldom occurs in children; however, awareness of childhood-onset schizophrenia is increasing (The National Institute of Mental Health, 2009). The symptoms tend to effect men more severely than women and those who suffer from schizophrenia are known to have a higher risk of substance abuse and suicide rates. Approximately 10 percent of the schizophrenia communities commit suicide. The most common addiction shared by these individual is (The National Institute of Mental Health, 2009).

Movies and other forms of popular entertainment sources have often presented varied information and as well as misinformation about schizophrenia, most specifically in regard to its negative portrayals, which can lead to confused public opinion. In summary, majority of movies and popular entrainment media sources portrays people with schizophrenia as violent and with homicidal and suicide thoughts. In addition, most characters in these media sources are portrayed as Caucasians, males, and with supernatural abilities (Gaebel, 2011).

This paper, broken into two sections, includes a mock case study of a young woman, from the movie Black Swan, who meets criteria for a Schizophrenia spectrum disorder, followed by current research on schizophrenia and recommended treatment. Because specific temporal information is unavailable and the key difference between schizophreniform disorder and schizophrenia is duration, the diagnosis made for the purpose of this paper is schizophrenia. The research portion will cover current research and treatment of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a disorder defined by a heterogeneous set of irregularities across multiple modalities, including “cognitive, behavioral, and emotional dysfunctions” (American Psychiatric Association, 2013, p.100). This mock case study is an important reminder for counseling students: Client symptoms may not always be transparent to clinicians. Clients may purposefully withhold information, lack insight to report, or may have sufficient factual insight to avoid the perceived stigma of reporting.