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Schizophrenia Case Studies

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This paper will examine the psychiatric disorder known as schizophrenia. The paper will start with defining schizophrenia and discussing the demographics and prevalence, symptoms, causes and treatments. To elaborate on how the disorder impacts the individual, the paper will integrate and use a case study.
Definition
Schizophrenia is also commonly known as psychoses. The core symptoms of schizophrenia is a severing from reality which includes disturbed thinking and speaking and many times consists of seeing tormenting images and hearing frightening voices. The symptoms of schizophrenia severely interfere with the individuals functioning at work, home, and in social situations (Halgin & Whitbourne, 2010).
Demographics and Prevalence …show more content…

Disorganized behavior can be manifested by dressing inappropriately for the weather. It would not be unusual to see a person struggling with schizophrenia to be wearing many layers of clothing in the summer. Disorganized behavior may also include a combination of improper sexual behaviors in public places and displays of random and unfocused screaming and yelling (Friedman, 2000). In the case study, Lori Schiller also engaged in disorganized behavior. Lori’s father recounts a scene where her brother Mark was holding Lori down because she was trying to remove her clothes while screaming obscenities at her brother and telling him to “Get the hell out of here, that she hates [him], and that she’s always hated [him]” (Schiller & Bennett, 1994, p. 47).
Positive symptoms are exaggerations or distortions of normal thoughts, emotions, and behavior including delusions, hallucinations, disturbed speech and behavior. Negative symptoms involve functioning below the level of normal behavior including: affective flattening which is a lack of emotional expression, alogia is a poverty of speech, avolition is a lack of motivation and anhedonia is an inability to experience …show more content…

The dopamine hypothesis asserts that schizophrenia is caused by an excess of dopamine in the brain. According to Halgin,& Whitbourne (2010)“the delusions, hallucinations, and attention deficits found in schizophrenia can be attributed to an over activity of neurons that communicate with each other via the transmission of dopamine” (p. 292). As the dopamine rushes through the brain, it overexcites the areas of the brain that deals with thoughts and senses and causes delusions and hallucinations seen in

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