Schizophrenia And Its Effects On Children

Schizophrenia is a disorder that is characterized by a broken thought process and poor emotional responses. Typical symptoms of this disorder include delusions, paranoia, hallucinations, social dysfunctions,

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder. It is also quite a complex illness that affects daily functioning of those who suffer from it. Professionals across several fields who treat schizophrenics do not share a consensus regarding the cause of schizophrenia, though there are a few theories regarding potential and definitive causes. The on-set of schizophrenia often takes place in adolescence and adulthood, but there are cases when there is childhood on-set schizophrenia. Schizophrenia in children will be the focus of this paper. Children who show signs of schizophrenia may begin doing so at around age five.

Schizophrenia is characterized as a psychotic disease that dramatically affects one 's nervous system to a point of where every day basic functions can be inhibited. It is defined as the loss of contact with the external environment the person is in due to delusional thoughts and hallucinations. Perception and behavior of someone plagued with this disease is notably altered and their actions can become a concern of the people around them. Like many other diseases that affect the nervous system it is not curable at the current time but it can be treated to lessen the signs and symptoms of the disease.

Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder characterized by some, but not necessarily all, of the following features: emotional blunting, intellectual deterioration, social isolation, disorganized speech, behavior delusions, and hallucinations. Delusions are beliefs that are not true, like people are trying to hurt them, believing other people can read their mind, or they have special abilities or powers. Hallucinations are hearing voices that are not there. People with schizophrenia may also see, smell, taste, and feel things that are not there. Disorganized speech is when the individual speaks in ways that are hard to understand or uses sentences that might not make sense. Sometimes the speech is completely incomprehensible.

Roughly 2.5 Million Americans have been diagnosed with a chronical brain disorder known as Schizophrenia. Most people believe schizophrenia causes people to have split personalities, but that’s not the case. The illness called Schizophrenia causes a person to hallucinate, hear voices that others can’t hear, make people believe that they are being watched, and the belief somebody is out to harm them. (Mental Health America 2015) In this paper I will write about the prevalence, what causes schizophrenia, symptoms and what the treatments options are.

Other biological factors influencing schizophrenia are abnormalities in the brain structure itself. It has been observed with magnetic resonance imaging that individuals affected with schizophrenia have larger ventricles than unaffected individuals. Enlarged ventricles indicate brain tissue deterioration because ventricles are just fluid filled spaces found the brain. Affected individuals have also been observed to have a smaller prefrontal cortex than unaffected individuals. The prefrontal cortex is the area of the brain responsible for thinking, planning, and making decisions. Therefore, a smaller prefrontal cortex results in

Schizophrenia has no actual definition, but it describes a series of events and actions that a person ususally experiences. Schizophrenia is a psychosis. ( Smith, 1992, p.23-25 ) Psychosis describes a disorder where a group of mental disturbances happen. Schizophrenia is described to be a psychosis because it causes the victim to lose the ability to be in touch with society and its functions. For example, a person may begin to "see" animals that are not there, or may begin to characterize themselves as a famous person from the past such as Queen Elizabeth or King Edward. ( Kvarnes, Parloff, 1983, p.220-223)

Schizophrenia is a severe brain disorder that alters someone’s interpretation of reality. The term “Schizophrenia” means “split brain”, however it refers to the disruption of the balance of emotions and thinking. The development of Schizophrenia may result in hallucinations, delusions, and extremely disordered behaviors or thinking. May 5th (http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/schizophrenia/basics/definition/con-20021077).

Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness that affects one to two percent of people worldwide. The disorder can develop as early as the age of five, though it is very rare at such an early age. (3)) Most men become ill between the ages of 16 and 25 whereas most women become ill between the ages of 25 and 30. Even though there are differences in the age of development between the sexes, men and women are equally at risk for schizophrenia. (4) There is of yet no definitive answer as to what causes the disorder. It is believed to be a combination of factors including genetic make-up, pre-natal viruses, and early brain damage which cause neurotransmitter problems in the brain. (3)

Schizophrenia is a long-term mental illness involving a breakdown in the relation between thought, emotion, and behavior. It often leads to a faulty perception, inappropriate actions and feelings, and withdrawal from reality into fantasy and delusion. Schizophrenia is complex and is often confused with other diseases that share common symptoms. Schizophrenia is considered a brain disease and is not as common as other mental disorders but can be disabling. Approximately around 1.5 million people will be diagnosed with schizophrenia around the world. There are around 200,000 cases a year in the US alone. The cause of schizophrenia is still unknown but is thought to be linked to genetics and brain chemistry. The reason I chose this topic is because

The characteristic symptoms of schizophrenia, according to The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., text rev.; DSM-IV-TR; American Psychiatric Association, 2000), first require that at least two symptoms from the following list are pointedly exhibited within a month: delusions, hallucinations, disordered speech, catatonic behavior, and other negative symptoms such as a lack of emotional expressiveness known as affective flattening, a deficiency of speech known as alogia, or a general lack of drive known as avolition. However, if the delusions or hallucinations are extreme, only one of these symptoms is required. These symptoms are mainly behavioral core symptoms. Moreover, affective core symptoms of schizophrenia include paranoia. Secondly, the patient must experience social and/or occupational dysfunction. The patient noticeably begins to perform insufficiently in these major areas of functioning. This traces to cognitive core symptoms in the sense of mental impairments. For example, schizophrenic patients often believe that they hear voices, feel paranoid and threatened without reason, and cannot grasp social cues or functions. Third, duration is a key aspect of the symptoms that characterize

Schizophrenia is not yet fully understood, but it is known that it is characterized by extreme disturbances in many vital areas, including behavior, emotions, speech, perception and thinking. The term schizophrenia means

Schizophrenia is an illness that is chronic, severe and debilitating (NIMH, 2015). It is characterized by delusional thoughts, seeing and hearing things that others don’t see or hear, loss of emotional expression and problems with cognitive skills and motivation

Schizophrenia, from a Greek origin meaning, “splitting of the mind,” is a chronic psychiatric disorder that makes it difficult to distinguish between what is real and what is deceptive. This illness alters a person’s ability to think or act, identify reality, portray emotions, and relate to others. Attitudes and behaviors that coincide with this infirmity are contradictory, and the persons who obtain this sickness must learn to live with the conflicting lifestyle. Schizophrenia is a severe illness that possesses numerous theories of causation and eccentric symptoms.

For years people showed great interest in mental disorders. Not just normalize some rare psychological syndromes like Lycanthropy, today’s mainstream media sources also create misrepresentations and misunderstandings. Although everyone knows there are differences between artistic creations and the reality, simple as assumptions could shape people’s behaviours and thinking. Schizophrenia existed as a medication condition since last century. However, in a long period of time individuals with schizophrenia be viewed as monsters or controlled by demons, which cause difficulties in informing scientific conceptions (Williamson, 2006).