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Schizophrenia And Its Effects On Society

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According to World Health Organization schizophrenia is listed as the second highest contributor to overall burden of diseases. Schizophrenia is one of the most tragic diseases a human being can be afflicted with. The disorder involves disturbances in perception, thought, behavior, language, emotion and communication. The onset of symptoms begins most commonly in people who fall in the category of late teens to early twenties. In the United States alone one half to two and a half percent of the population are diagnosed with schizophrenia. Numerous studies have found,
“the rate of schizophrenia to be higher among economically impoverished groups, which may reflect the effect of poverty on people vulnerable to the illness or the fact that individuals with schizophrenia have difficulty holding employment and tend to be downwardly mobile” (Westen 551).
Schizophrenia has a profound effect on an individual being able to function in daily life; due to the seriousness of the psychotic disorder, symptoms are debilitating. Although it has not been completely determined, schizophrenia seems to be linked in genetics. Scientists do not know every aspect of the disease, but thus far many aspects of the disease are understood. Dating back to the early 19th century schizophrenia was defined as dementia; “French psychiatrist, Benedict Augustine Morel (1809-1873), coined the term dementia praecox, or precocious dementia” (Mueser 3). Alternatively, the modern concept of schizophrenia was

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