Essay about Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a serious debilitating mental illness in which the victim is afflicted with bizarre delusions and prominent hallucinations. The delusions are profoundly invalid beliefs, and the hallucinations are equally invalid perceptions. There is also a disordering of the reasoning process, disordered emotional expression, and loss of motivation for work and social living. Typically, the illness starts in adolescence or early adulthood and, if untreated, usually worsens with age. (Lickey, Gordon, 1991)

Schizophrenia is classified as a mental disorder that shows profound disruption of cognition and emotion which affects a person’s language, perception, thought and sense of self. The dopamine hypothesis states that schizophrenic’s neurones transmitting dopamine release the neurotransmitter too easily, leading to the characteristic symptoms of schizophrenia. This hypothesis claims that schizophrenics have abnormally high amounts of D2 receptors; receptors that receive dopamine, therefore resulting in a higher amount of D2 receptors binding to the receptors causing more impulses. Dopamine neurotransmitters play a

Research by Johnstone in 1994, explained the biological approach of interventions, explanation and treating of schizophrenia patients (Hansell & Damour, 2005). In studies of Fisher in 2001, discoveries that the brain had more dopamine receptors know as B_2 receptors in a person suffering from schizophrenia, than a non-suffer (Hansell & Damour, 2005). Biological findings of schizophrenia suggest that a genetic factor was hereditary, but not conclusive because the element of environment does make a difference (Hansell & Damour, 2005).

For the past fifty years treatment of schizophrenia has been marked by its basis on the dopamine hypothesis for schizophrenia. However, this model for the disease and its subsequent treatment have left many patients without relief or help in dealing with this disease which has lead to a search for a better model. The dopamine model lacks the recognition of a whole range of symptoms associated with the disease and therefore can not be an accurate basis for treatment. More recently, there has been a shift to the glutamate hypothesis which has been shown to more accurately characterize the wide range of symptoms experienced by patients living with this disorder as well as the possibility in improvements for drug treatments.

The main criticism of an imbalance of neurotransmitters being the cause of schizophrenia is the finding that antipsychotics block receptors within a day or two, although it takes several weeks for them to take full affect (Wickens, 2005). This suggests that the key factor in improvement is not the

Over the years, experiments have produced evidence to suggest that dopamine plays a role in the development of Schizophrenia (Howes, McCutcheon, & Stone, 2015). Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is produced in the substantia nigra and ventral tegmental regions of the brain. The belief that dopamine was involved in Schizophrenia arose after multiple studies performed with compounds produced an increase in extracellular concentrations of dopamine (Lieberman, Kane, & Alvir, 1987). The patients that were administered these compounds had similar symptoms to those observed from patients who were diagnosed with Schizophrenia (Lieberman et al., 1987).

Biological theorists believe that people can inherit a disposition for Schizophrenia, according to the diathesis-stress perspective. It is also believed that biochemical abnormalities as well as abnormal brain structure could be factors in schizophrenic patients. Researchers have developed a dopamine hypothesis which explains “certain neurons that use the neurotransmitter dopamine fire too often and send too many messages, thus producing the symptoms of the disorder” (Abi-Dargham & Grace, 2011) The drugs used to combat these symptoms are known as atypical antipsychotic drugs, as they are much different from other antipsychotic medications. These drugs bind dopamine receptors to keep messages from being transmitted too quickly. Brain scans have found that many schizophrenic patients have enlarged ventricles. These patients tend to show greater cognitive disturbances. It is also believed that schizophrenia can be

Many studies have reported that the main cause of schizophrenia is unknown. The results of the disease are from combination between influences of biological, psychological, and environmental factors (Townsend, 2015).regardless of the exact causation, the results is impairment in brain function that may produce the psychotic symptoms that can be seen in the diagnosis of schizophrenia (tusae). Even though researchers are still struggling for additional facts about the etiology and development of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia typically presents in a gradual onset of abnormalities in perception, though, motion, and behavior often during young adulthood (). Patient with schizophrenia often suffer from terrifying symptoms such as auditory hallucination,

The Dopamine Hypothesis theorizes that the symptoms portrayed in Schizophrenia is can be explained by abnormal function of dopamine in the brain. There have been three versions of the Dopamine Hypothesis. The first version of the hypothesis focuses on the dopamine receptors. Antipsychotic drugs that impact the metabolization and reabsorption of dopamine where found to be effective in treating the symptoms. It was theorized that if the symptoms of a Schizophrenic episode can be treated by the use of dopamine

Carl Jung suggested that the presence of toxin x a mystery chemical that he though would eventually be identified. The demonstrated role of genetic factors in schizophrenia also suggested that biochemical’s should be investigated for it is the body chemistry and physiological processes that heredity may have an effect. (G, Davison, J, M,

In the brain it was noticed that individuals affected with schizophrenia there is “far more neurotransmitters are released between neurons, which is what causes the symptoms” at first scientist where thinking that the problems where only because of the overload of dopamine in the brain now according to The Effects of Schizophrenia on the Brain by Adina Cazaban

Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder that causes severe mental disturbances which disrupt ones thoughts, speech, and behavior. According to Paul Thompson, Associate Professor of Neurology, one percent of the world’s population suffers from this disorder. There is no one specific cause of schizophrenia, because it is caused by a combination of problems during development. It is a disorder which not only affects the patient, but their family and society as well. Schizophrenia can be a debilitating disorder, however, there are many treatments that can allow people who suffer from it to lead normal lives.

Schizophrenia effects approximately 1% of the human population, despite the high number of individuals being affected, not much is known about the pathophysiology and etiology of the disease. Through the use of pharmacological models such as ketamine and amphetamine, it allows us to purse the dopamine and glutamate hypothesis. The rise of these hypotheses is due to the nature of the disease, hence heterogeneous disorder not all patients exerts all the symptoms of the disease. As a result there is different ways in attaining schizophrenic animal models. One way is through ketamine administration which affects glutamate NMDA receptors. Another way is through amephetamine which increases the level of dopamine which affects the D¬2

Evidence has been found that those diagnosed with Schizophrenia tend to have either too many receptors for the neurotransmitter,

Schizophrenia, unlike most disorders, is a standout amongst the most genuine of the mental disorders. It is known that one in a hundred individuals are affected by it, and starts in either youth or early adulthood. Schizophrenia brings social interruption, anguish and hardship to the individuals who experience the ill effects of it, as well as to their family. Under those circumstances, it is known to be the most devastating of all disorders. There are both negative and positive symptoms when it comes to dealing with schizophrenia. Despite the fact that there are various negative indications, the most present one is limitations or absence in thoughts and behaviours that are characteristics in normal functioning. For this