Summary Of The Schizophrenics

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

In the world today, there are many illnesses and disorders that affect people each and every day. One illness in particular that is very big in the US and all around the world is Schizophrenia. It is also the most researched topic. A person who is diagnosed with Schizophrenia lives a very different lifestyle than someone who is not. Many people would consider a person with schizophrenia to be “crazy.” Sadly enough, people with this illness do posses symptoms that might come off as crazy or insane. There are many different causes that come along with schizophrenia. A person who is diagnosed may not know it at first but they do later realize that they have some interesting thoughts, depending on the type of symptoms they posses while having this illness. Although the symptoms may be very brutal and causes cannot be controlled, there still is hope and treatments for individuals who have schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder characterized by distorted thinking, impaired emotional responses, poor interpersonal skills and a distortion of reality. It is the most common of psychotic disorders that, in most countries around the world, affects around 1 per cent of the population. In terms of explanations for the disorder, two central types of explanations arise – psychological explanations and biological explanations. Whereas psychological explanations tend to focus on cognitive, emotional and environmental factors that may cause the disorder, biological explanations tend to focus on genetic, biochemical and neuro-anatomical factors as the cause of the

Schizophrenia is a disease that has plagued societies around the world for centuries, although it was not given its formal name until 1911. It is characterized by the presence of positive and negative symptoms. Positive symptoms are so named because of the presence of altered behaviors, such as delusions, hallucinations (usually auditory), extreme emotions, excited motor activity, and incoherent thoughts and speech. (1,2) In contrast, negative symptoms are described as a lack of behaviors, such as emotion, speech, social interaction, and action. (1,2) These symptoms are by no means concrete. Not all schizophrenic patients will exhibit all or even a majority of these symptoms, and there is some

Currently there are no cures for schizophrenia, but the symptoms are helped by taking antipsychotic medication. The symptoms experienced by those with schizophrenia are grouped in to three categories: negative symptoms, positive symptoms, and cognitive symptoms (Regier 1993, p.92). The positive symptoms include, hallucinations, delusions, unusual or dysfunctional ways of thinking, agitated body movements. Negative symptoms include, flat affect, reduced pleasure in everyday life, difficulty sustaining tasks, and reduced speech. Cognitive symptoms include, disruption in executive functioning and working memory, as well as reduced ability to concentrate. The etiology of schizophrenia is still debated by psychologists and neuroscientists, but factors such as neuroanatomy, and environmental influences are believed to play a key role. A genetic predisposition to schizophrenia has been established by researchers, but it remains unclear what causes the phenotype to be expressed. The most agreed upon cause of schizophrenia refers to the diathesis-stress model, which explains schizophrenia as a response to an individual’s allostatic load becoming too much for the brain to cope with. Another popular explanation amongst neuroscientists is the dopamine

This paper defines schizophrenia from a biological and psychological perspective and also provides treatment to help combat symptoms of schizophrenia. This paper has three important contributions. First, by defining and expanding on schizophrenia from a biological perspective, I can identify the nature related predispositions. After expanding from a biological approach, secondly, I will analyze schizophrenia from a psychological aspect by determining if there is any environment or nurturing externals that can result to schizophrenia. Lastly, I will provide treatment details and also reveal early signs to schizophrenia. This paper is important because schizophrenia is an epic mental disease and it is crucially important to bring awareness to the public of how we can limit the illness. It is unclear whether schizophrenia have only a biological background or psychological background, but what was discovered is that both contribute to schizophrenia. Positive and negative treatment can be combatted undergoing pharmaceutical and psychotherapy,

Reduction in grey matter volume, disordered white matter integrity, and abnormal activity of neurons when a person is engaged in cognitive tasks is present in the schizophrenic brain (Karlsgodt et al. 2010). Furthermore, schizophrenia is not caused by one factor, but several different factors, including genetics and the environment. An individual with a positive family history for the disorder have a higher risk for developing it and premature birth, low birth weight, and perinatal hypoxia have a subtle effect on how the brain develops. The typical time period that the development of schizophrenia occurs is in late adolescence or early adulthood (Picchioni and Murray 2007). In adulthood, factors such as social isolation, migrant status, and urban life act contribute to the development, or worsening of the disorder.

Scientist believe that there is a correlation between the percentage of Schizophrenic diagnosis and the environment of the individual. It is necessary to define environment as the everything other than “genes” and “genetic makeup”. Factors of the environment include exposure to various types of bacteria/viruses, malnutrition at birth, problems at birth, and other psychosocial factors. Contrary to popular belief, schizophrenia is not multiple or split personalities, but on the other hand, it is a mental and emotional imbalance. Schizophrenic people are not always violent as many popular tv shows enjoy depicting them as. And schizophrenia is not a result of traumatic childhood experiences or poor parenting. It is a disease that requires lifelong treatments as it is incurable at the present time.

Biological, psychological, and sociocultural viewpoints have been developed in an attempt to explain schizophrenia. All three viewpoints point out various factors that may contribute to the development of the disorder.

A number of factors have been linked to schizophrenia:genetics, psychological vulnerability, and poor environmental surroundings. The understanding the of this mental illness is called

(Szasz,1982, p.4, p.29) In 1900, the term schizophrenia, now used worldwide, was used to describe the condition that one out of every hundred people had. This statistic remains the same today. Through research and years of study, the world has a better understanding of schizophrenia, its forms, characteristics, symptoms, types, possible causes, and treatments, if any. ( Pierce, 1990. p.263 )

The exact causation of schizophrenia is not yet fully understood, since it has a very complex relation between genetics, brain chemistry and environmental factors.

While anatomy and physiology of the brain play an important role in the causes of schizophrenia, many environmental factors

The diathesis-stress model of schizophrenia describes how genetic and environmental factors work together to cause the onset of schizophrenia. An inherited vulnerability is a major factor in a person being diagnosed as having schizophrenia. A person’s risk of having schizophrenia increases with genetic relatedness. There are even studies that have been done that shows that most identical schizophrenic twins end up having offspring who develop schizophrenia later on in life. There is also numerous brain abnormalities found in schizophrenia. For example, people with schizophrenia tend to have enlarged cranial ventricles, a decreased cerebral size, and reduced tissue volume. The abnormalities found in the different parts of the brain correlate with

What is the first thing you think of when you hear the word “Schizophrenia” ? Sadly, most people react with “they’re going to hurt me” or “they’re not normal”. The main cause behind schizophrenia is believed to be that there is two neurotransmitters that have a change in their levels. This causes the person to generally have memory problems, makes them easily agitated, might make them very anxious and they also might not have good emotional responses. The symptoms caused by it are different for everyone, which I will explain later. So today I am going to tell you about Schizophrenia and what it does to people. In my paper, I will enlighten you on the causes of it, the symptoms and the people it affects. I will also tell you how the families