Schizophrenia Case Study

The cerebral cortex directs functions like speech, behavior, reactions, movement, thinking, and learning. In fact, some research suggests that bipolar disorder originates with problems with the thalamus, which links sensory input to good and bad feelings. The hippocampus also affects depression. It, like the amygdala, is part of the limbic system. It is vital in processing long-term memory. This section of the brain registers recurring fear. In people with clinical depression, the hippocampus is much smaller. Research suggests, even, that ongoing exposure to stress impairs the growth of nerve cells in this part of the brain. One of the most important jobs of the brain is to process senses, through neurons. Neurotransmitters are specific substances that help relay information to the brain. Scientists have identified many neurotransmitters that affect depression. A lack or excess of the neurotransmitters acetylcholine, serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine, glutamate, lithium carbonate and gamma-aminobutyric acid are thought to contribute to depression. Acetylcholine is involved in learning and enhances memory. Serotonin helps regulate sleep, appetite, and mood, and inhibits pain. Research shows the idea that many depressed people have reduced levels of serotonin. Low levels of a byproduct of serotonin have been linked to a high risk for suicide. Norepinephrine is a neurotransmitter which constricts blood vessels and raises blood pressure. An excess in

From a sociocultural viewpoint would suggest that maybe his race, as well as his country, and social environment could play a role in his schizophrenia also people labeling him as not normal could have played a role in a self fulfilling prophecy. Sociocultural views may also suggest that family stresses may have been a contribution to his schizophrenia.

Experts believe bipolar disorder is caused by an underlying problem with specific brain circuits and the balance of brain chemicals called neurotransmitters (WebMD). There are five brain chemicals noradrenaline (norepinephrine), serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin, and endorphin. Noradrenaline and serotonin are the most common chemicals linked to psychiatric mood disorders such as depression and bipolar (WebMD). Dopamine is linked to the pleasure system in the brain (WebMD). When a disruption happens to the dopamine system connects to psychosis and schizophrenia (WebMD). If there is too much dopamine in one place, it can cause psychosis. Dopamine motivates us (Deans, 2011). Dopamine is linked to everything, metabolism, evolution, and the brain (Dean, 2011). Serotonin is connected to many different body functions including sleep, wakefulness, eating and impulsivity (WebMD). Researchers believe that abnormal brain functioning of brain circuits that involve serotonin as a chemical messenger contributes to mood disorders (WebMD). Oxytocin is a hormone commonly associated with childbirth and breastfeeding. Oxytocin plays a critical role in social and emotional behavior. Oxytocin increases the susceptibility to feeling fearful and anxious during stressful events (NWU, 2013).

S: Jani describes having imaginary friends that are good and bad and her names are related to numbers. The good ones are her friends and she talks with them constantly. The bad ones tell her to do “bad things” that she feels must do if not they will hit her until she does. Her father explain how difficult it has been for the whole family and the difficult decision of separation Jani and her brother because they were scared she will hurt the baby. Living apart has made life difficult for the family and a big financial stressor.

If you have been diagnosed with depression, you most likely will be told it is due to a deficiency of serotonin. Serotonin is regarded by many people as the basic neurotransmitter, or chemical hormone, that regulates mood. It plays the central role in the regulation of human mood and temperament. Serotonin is an inhibitory neurotransmitter which works with the excitatory sympathetic systems, like adrenaline and dopamine, in the central nervous system. Most widely researched are the effects on the central nervous system. An oversupply of serotonin can occur, though it is not as common, and it can cause vivid hallucinations, vascular disorders, and psychotic disorders. If you have a sustained decrease in serotonin, the following will occur: increase in anxiety, loss of interest, and lack of concentration. Having a decrease or imbalance in the body sounds somewhat alarming, but there are ways to cope and restore normal balances regarding serotonin.

Psychotic Disorder Case Study: Harry Harry is a client diagnosed with schizophrenia who currently lives alone. He has been on several antipsychotic drug treatments with short term lasting results. However, acute psychosis triggers Harry, with breakthrough symptoms of hearing voices in present regiment of care.

Genetic predisposition is an important part of the formation of mental illnesses. Mental illnesses and depression often onset early in life due to the amount of stress and genetic predisposition. Specifically, the SERT gene regulates serotonin in the body (Parks 30). Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that affects mood, behavior, and memory. A neurotransmitter helps to relay messages to other areas of the body through neurons, nerve cells, that are placed throughout the body. A neurotransmitter either inhibits or excites messages through the body, such as pain or other feelings. The brain produces serotonin, which is then spread throughout the body via the blood vessels. According to David Myers, the formula for depression is a traumatic or important life stressor plus a "variation on a serotonin-controlling gene" (Myers 10). When serotonin production is imbalanced, sleep problems and irritability have a high chance of occurring, which are linked to the onset of depression. Low serotonin levels trigger depression after a traumatic event occurs (Parks 30). When the SERT gene is mutated, the risk for depression increases. Variations in neurotransmitters and the genes that produce them, especially serotonin and the SERT gene, lead to the development of depression when serotonin production is imbalanced or

The linkage of serotonin to depression has been known for the past five years. From numerous studies, the most concrete evidence of this connection is the decreased concentration of serotonin metabolites like 5-HIAA (5-hydroxyindole acetic acid) in the cerebrospinal fluid and brain tissues of depressed people. If depression, as suggested, is a result of decreased levels of serotonin in the brain, pharmaceutical agents that can reverse this effect should be helpful in treating depressed patients. Therefore, the primary targets of various antidepressant medications are serotonin transports of the brain. Since serotonin is activated when released by neurons into the synapse, antidepressants function at the synapse to enhance serotonin activity. Normally, serotonin's actions in the synapse are terminated by its being taken back into the neuron then releases it at which point "it is either recycled for reuse as a transmitter or broken down into its metabolic by products and transported out of the brain." As a result, antidepressants work to increase serotonin levels at the synapse by blocking serotonin reuptake (2).

“Palliative Care for Terminally Ill Individuals with Schizophrenia,” an article by Terpstra, Terpstra and Williamson (2014), addresses some of the nursing challenges in caring for a schizophrenic patient with a serious or terminal illness. The article follows the case study of a 61 year-old, paranoid schizophrenic male who has recently been diagnosed with advanced metastatic cancer. It addresses several areas of the patient’s health and demonstrates how it is directly impacted by the patient’s schizophrenic state, through several vignettes. These vignettes include the late presentation of the cancer, where and how the patient will be placed for care, the patient’s medication and nicotine management, and the patient’s ability to identify

The True Life episode, I have Schizophrenia, documented the struggles of three adults who suffer from Schizophrenia and Schizoaffective disorder. This paper will focus around Josh and whether he actually has Schizophrenia.

it. Since depression is a chemical off-balance in the head, the hormones that are in the

In most cases they point to problems that are associated with the brain. Biological researchers would point to problems in the transmission of messages from neuron to neuron, specifically they may point to a neurotransmitter deficiency. Neurotransmitters travel across the synaptic space to the receptors of neighboring neurons. Researchers may also point to abnormal chemical activity in the body’s endocrine system. Within the endocrine system are endocrine glands which control such things as growth, reproduction, heart rate, energy, and many others functions (Comer, 2011). Endocrine glands then release chemicals known as hormones, which are released into the bloodstream. These hormones then cause different responses in the body’s organs. If any of these systems is malfunctioning they may indeed cause abnormal behavior especially behaviors associated with psychological functioning. In John’s case psychologists may conclude that John has some malfunctioning with his neurotransmitters or some hormonal imbalance. In the past few decades’ researchers have pointed to the neurotransmitter dopamine as one of the causes of schizophrenia . They state that this neurotransmitter fires too often and it transmits too many messages. This the conclude leads to the abnormal behaviors of the disorder (Come, 2011).

I chose to write my research paper over Schizophrenia. It is a psychological disorder that I have always found fascinating. It is a serious disorder that consumes a person's life and is nearly impossible to control. In this paper, I will talk about the definition of Schizophrenia, the diagnosis of Schizophrenia, Schizophrenia in children, suicide, sexually related characteristics of the disease, sleep disorders caused by the disease, differences in the disease on different ethnicities, and insensitivity to pain.

It is known, for example, that people with severe depression typically have imbalances of certain chemicals in the brain, known as neurotransmitters. In

According to Morgan (2015), the neuroscience of depression has an emotional impact on many areas of the brain. The stressors in the hypothalamus pituitary adrenal axis initiate the release of the