Schizophrenia The Challenging Mental Illness Essay

Schizophrenia is a disorder that is characterized by a broken thought process and poor emotional responses. Typical symptoms of this disorder include delusions, paranoia, hallucinations, social dysfunctions,

Schizophrenia is a complex psychotic disorder evident by impaired thinking, emotions, judgment and behaviors. The person’s grasp of reality may be so disordered that they are unable to filter sensory stimuli and may have intense perceptions of sounds, colors, and other features of their environment. Although there are different levels of severity in symptoms, the Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine (Fundukian, Ed., 2014) states that schizophrenia may typically interfere with a person 's ability to think clearly and to know the difference between reality and fantasy. People with schizophrenic symptoms have hallucinations and delusions, and often have difficulty with everyday life. It is a complicated disease that is not well understood and carries significant stigma for its sufferers.

Schizophrenia is a disorder of the brain affecting how one acts, thinks and sees the world around them. Persons with schizophrenia have an altered perception of reality and may see or here things

Another type of schizophrenia is disorganized schizophrenia. With this condition people behave oddly or disturbed, with no particular reason why they would behave in such a way. Disorganized schizophrenia has multiple symptoms to be on the look out for, and some to your surprise may be very distinct. Some symptoms include being active but in an aimless sort of way, inappropriate emotional responses. An

There are many symptoms that can come with schizophrenia. So people can see and some people are not able to see. The mind of the person can be very different than what we might think is going on. The difference between inward and outward signs can be difficult for a person to notice. Even when looking at brain scans you may not be able to see what is going on in the mind and what might be wrong. The symptoms of schizophrenia fall into three categories; positive, negative and cognitive.

SCHIZOPHRENIA Schizophrenia, from the Greek word meaning “split mind”, is a mental disorder that causes complete fragmentation in the processes of the mind. Contrary to common belief, schizophrenia does not refer to a person with a split personality or multiple personalities, but rather to a condition which affects the person’s movement, language, and thinking skills. The question of whether schizophrenia is a disease or collection of socially learned actions is still a question in people’ mind. People who are suffering from schizophrenia think and act in their own the world and put themselves in a way that is totally different from the rest of society. In other words, they have lost in touch with the reality. Most schizophrenics accept

Per the DSM-5 a diagnosis of schizophrenia requires the presence of the following symptoms: delusions of thoughts, prominent and lasting hallucinations, incoherent or marked loosening associations, catatonic behavior, and flat or grossly inappropriate affect (APA, 2013). If using the DSM-5 classification these characteristics must be present on a continuous basis for at least six months prior to diagnosis.

Symptoms can affect people more than others, but in the end they lead to the same thing. Hallucinations and delusions are the most common symptom, it is only diagnosed as schizophrenia if it lasts more than 6 months. Some other symptoms are behavioral changes for example, social isolation, disorganized behavior, repetitive movements, self

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

Although the commonness for males and females is similar, the course of schizophrenia is often more severe and with earlier onset for males. It is important to note that “false starts and research dead ends have taught the field the need for cautiousness; the

“Please hear this: There are not ‘Schizophrenics’ There are people with Schizophrenia.” (Elyn Saks). How much do you actually know about Schizophrenia and the people who have it? You may know that it is a mental disorder in your brain that affects function and fragmentation. What so many of you do not know is the way it is diagnosed, how it is treated, the different types of Schizophrenia, and of course so much more. What I will be covering in this paper will be the different types, the process of the diagnosis, treatment you can receive, causes, possible complications, history and a variety of different topics you most likely did not know were involved with Schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a mental disorder in your brain that can be both fascinating and frightening.

2011). Varcarolis et al. 2006 describe positive symptoms of schizophrenia as ‘florid psychotic symptoms’ ‘as they capture attention’. Cognitive deficits lay primarily within the domains of memory and language affecting mood and behaviour (Elder et al. 2009). Positive symptoms of schizophrenia include delusions, hallucinations and sever thought process disturbances and have an acute onset (Elder et al. 2009).Varcarolis, Carson and Shoemaker (2006) state that a patient experiencing a delusion is convinced that what they perceive is real and consequently the patients thinking often reflects feelings of great fear, isolation and trust issues. Additionally Elder et al. (2009) state that cognitive deficits are considered psychotic symptoms and that behaviours, perceptions and beliefs shown in a person having an exacerbation of schizophrenia are not consistent with normal human experience.

Schizophrenia has many criteria that is associated with it and it involves many different types of symptoms such as: First, Delusion which involves a disturbance in the content of thought, it occurs in more than 90% of patients at some time during their illness (Cutting,1995). They are numerous types of delusion which associates with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders.

It occurs at the same rate in males as it does in females, though average males seem to be more severely disabled than females (Chapman 1). All social classes are affected by schizophrenia though in large cities about three or four times more frequent in lower classes than in middle or upper classes. This disease usually develops in late adolescence or early adulthood but may develop later. Childhood schizophrenia is relatively rare, but does exist.

In some people's cases, Schizophrenia appears suddenly and without warning. But for most it comes slowly, with subtle warning signs and a gradual decline in functioning long before the first severe episode. “In the early phases of Schizophrenia people often seem eccentric, unmotivated, emotionless, and reclusive (Helpguide.org).” They may isolate themselves and not want to participate in daily activities such as playing with their children, going outside, or getting off the couch. They abandon their hobbies and they do not do well in their jobs. “The most common early warning signs of Schizophrenia include: social withdrawal, hostility or suspiciousness, deterioration of personal hygiene, having a flat and expressionless gaze, the inability to cry or express joy, inappropriate laughter or crying, depression, oversleeping or insomnia, odd or irrational statements, forgetfulness or the inability to concentrate, extreme reaction to criticism, and or strange use of words or way of speaking (Helpguide.org).” There are five types of symptoms of Schizophrenia. Positive is a symptom that involves having hallucinations or delusions. Negative is when one shows no emotion or flat behavior. Avolation is when a person shows little interest in whatever they are doing. Cognitive behavior is when you have disorganized speech or memory loss. Catatonic behavior is considered poor functioning such as your voluntary muscles