Schizophrenia Co-Occurring Mental Illness

In an attempt to gain a position as a psychologist, I will be discussing schizophrenia and the disorder’s casual factors, associated symptoms, the areas of the brain it affects, and the neural basis of the disorder. I will continue on to discuss appropriate drug therapies. In addition I will also be reviewing two separate case studies, each on a different disorder. I will be examining each problem from the perspective of a bio psychologist. I will define the patient’s diagnosis at length I will relate each case to the nature-nurture theory, and talk about any helpful drug interventions or solutions for each disorder. When talking about drug intervention, it is also important to discuss the positive and

Co-occurring disorders can be difficult to treat due to the complexity of symptoms. Both the mental health and substance abuse disorders have biological, psychological, and social components assessed throughout the treatment process. Co-occurring disorder individuals battle to maintain their sobriety as they need to find services for both mental health and support groups catering to their unique needs.

Schizophrenia is a mental health condition that is the base of several psychological symptoms. There are many people out there who suffer from this disorder and have no idea on how to cure it. Some people tend to spend their whole life with this disorder; whilst others get it treated as soon as they see first sign or symptom of it. Schizophrenia is not a disorder that cannot be treated; with the right kind of treatment, the disorder can be controlled and the individual suffering from it can be cured. The paper will discuss the schizophrenia disorder in detail, causes, risk, signs & symptoms, and treatments of it.

Individuals with a mental illness often turn to drugs or alcohol to reduce their symptoms, as opposed to or in addition to seeking treatment for their illness. This problem is much worse than previously imagined, with experts estimating 65 percent of prison inmates suffering from a dual diagnosis. The prevalence in the general population is likely very high also, thus anyone with a mental illness or substance abuse problem may find they need specialized care.

A statistical piece of information that was interesting is that how the number of mental disorders increases as the number of substance abuse disorders increases as well. Services, U.D. (2005) states the likelihood of mental disorders rises alongside with substance abuse dependencies. With the rise of both abuses at the same time, it complicates treatment for the mental disorder patients that have drug use however, multiple drugs is normal for those who are substance abusers (Services, U.D., 2005). The reason this information is found to be interesting is because with the two disorders rising at the same level, it appears that the challenges will be harder and more co-occurring disorder patients are going to need help with their issues. As a counselor, one must be dually competent to treat these clients or have staff available to treat the clients who have co-occurring disorders to ensure an effective outcome.

Did you know that 19.9 percent of adult Americans had some sort of a mental illness, according to the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (samhsa.gov, 2015, Para. 3). This is a total of 45.1 million adults in America suffering with mental health disorders (samhsa.gov, 2015, Para. 3). There are also currently 20.8 million adults in America who suffer from substance use disorder ever year (NAMI.org, 2015). Both of these are alarming statistics of the wellbeing of the American citizens. To make matters worse, these two groups intertwine to a population of people known with a co-occurrence of mental illness and substance use or, more commonly known as, dual diagnosis.

Many Americans are given this dual diagnosis of mental illness and drug addiction and it seems to be rapidly increasing. The federal and state governments are responsible for the citizen’s well-being and they must create more programs and assistance in order to treat more than one diagnosis. As well with the changing presidential administration in office currently the states need to act on what they will do to continue to support these

Schizophrenia is a very serious mental disorder. This disorder affects many people across the world as it does not matter an individual’s age, race, and their economic levels. An individual’s personality is distorted and they can lose their sense of reality where the individual has an unclear thought process, false beliefs, or even hearing voices. There have been mental disorders that add on to schizophrenia where the individual develops substance abuse, experience depression, and has an anxiety disorder and among other symptoms. Treatment for schizophrenia has come a long way in

Experts think that there could be genetic predisposition that can be triggered by early life experiences and environmental factors (Everyday Health). The disorder occurs in 1% of the general population, but in 10% of people who have a 1st degree relative with the illness. There are many environmental and behavioral risk factors believed to be associated with schizophrenia (Psychology Today). These risk factors include childhood exposure to lead and X-rays, or certain viruses in utero or as an infant. Another risk factor believed to be connected to the illness is childhood isolation. Alcohol and substance abuse along with tobacco use are also presumed to be risk factors (Everyday Health). “If schizophrenia and substance abuse disorders share genetic underpinnings, then this strongly challenges the rigid diagnostic boundaries that separate these psychiatric disorders and might have clinical implications.” (BBR

Life creates living but constructs barriers in between which conquers the living. There are some difficulties which occur while living a normal life. An abnormal life may consist of some Mental Illnesses which can disturb one’s living. Schizophrenia is one of the most common Mental Illness, which occurs amongst 1% Canadians (Butcher, Mineka, Hooley, Taylor, & Antony, 2013). “Schizophrenia is one of this mental illness that affects the way you understand and interact the world around you” (Canadian Mental Health Association, 2016). People who suffer from schizophrenia start feeling that there is something unusual

Schizophrenia is a life-long disorder that affects about one percent of the population (Mueser & McGurk, 2004). The cause of this mental illness is still unclear. Studies have suggested that Schizophrenia does not arise from one factor but from a combination of genetic, environmental, and social factors (Liddle, 1987). People diagnosed with Schizophrenia struggle to deal with a multitude of symptoms that make it difficult to function (Mueser & McGurk, 2004). Antipsychotic medications are a popular treatment of the symptoms of Schizophrenia (Mueser & McGurk, 2004). Research is constantly being done to develop these medications to enhance the quality of life of those diagnosed with Schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia is one of psychology’s most interesting mental illnesses. Each case of schizophrenia is so different in the symptoms and way it’s expressed, which is what makes it such an intriguing topic. As said in the paper “Nature vs. Nuture: Schizophrenia” by Gil Benahmou, nature can definitely be greatly attributed to schizophrenia. However, schizophrenia in itself is not caused by misuse of certain drugs, as mentioned in the paper. In fact, there is a completely separate diagnosis for this type of psychosis, called substance or medication induced psychotic disorder. This disorder is separated from general schizophrenia because this type of psychotic disorder is specifically brought on by drugs, while general schizophrenia has risk factors

Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder that is characterized by a variety of symptoms and the disorganization of feeling and thought. It is an incurable disease whose causes are unknown, yet whose effects are mind and body crippling. (Young, 1988, p.13-14) This topic was chosen because it is interesting to study a disorder that worldwide, is viewed as a classic example of madness and insanity. Another reason of interest is because unlike many illnesses, schizophrenia doesn't have a noticeable pattern and its difficulty to be diagnosed as a disease makes the collection of statistics difficult. It is important to learn more about schizophrenia because a significant numbr of people are affected everyday

Clearly, this is a very serious disorder, which is often utterly incapacitating. Therefore, individuals urgently require efficacious treatment, both for survival and for quality of life, and many different kinds of treatment and therapy are used. This paper will examine the use of two of these, cognitive behavioral therapy and drug therapy, and evaluate which one is better. It will take the position that drug therapy is a more effective therapy for treating schizophrenia than is cognitive behavioral therapy.

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).