Symptoms And Symptoms Of Schizophrenia Essay

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.

It is a frightening disorder that strikes about one percent of the world population. It surfaces most frequently during puberty and has the potential to forever destroy the lives of the people who are unfortunate enough to be its victim. The disorder is schizophrenia and it manifests itself by disturbing normal psychiatric behavior. The symptoms of schizophrenia are characterized by both positive and negative symptoms. Positive symptoms include hallucinations, delusions, and other unusual or disorganized behavior. Unresponsiveness, lack of activity, and loss of interest characterize negative symptoms. Though it is possible for doctors to diagnose and treat patients with schizophrenia, the causes of schizophrenia are

Schizophrenia is characterized as a chronic mental disorder that affects a person’s thoughts, emotions, and behavior (Bartol and Bartol, 2014). Individuals with schizophrenia experience positive psychotic symptoms that consist of hallucinations or delusions. Negative symptoms may also arise such as a diminished emotional expression known as flat affect, as well as poor attention and speech production (Bartol and Bartol, 2014). These symptoms are further categorized into five subtypes that include paranoid, disorganized, catatonic, undifferentiated, and residual categories. A person is diagnosed with one of these subtypes depending on how severe their most symptoms are. It affects both men and women equally but tends to appear earlier in men than in women (Bartol and Bartol, 2014). To this day, it is not known what causes schizophrenia and remains to be misunderstood.

Schizophrenia is a severe, chronic (long-term) mental disorder that affects how a person thinks, feels, and behaves, much like other mental disorders such as depression or anxiety. About 1% of Americans have schizophrenia. People with schizophrenia sometimes seem as if they have lost contact with reality. Although schizophrenia is not as common as other mental disorders, the symptoms have the potential to be very debilitating.

The symptoms of schizophrenia are wide and varied, typically falling into three main categories, positive symptoms, negative symptoms, and cognitive symptoms. Each of these symptom types affect the patient in different ways, and in different degrees of severity. The symptoms may range from mildly irritating, to severe and debilitating. Positive symptoms are behaviors not normally seen in healthy people. Negative symptoms are behaviors that are usually exhibited in healthy people but are lacking in the patient. Cognitive symptoms are subtle symptoms that affect the patient’s thought processes and cognitive functioning.

Per MentalHelp.net, schizophrenia is rare with approximately one-percent of the worldwide population and 1.2 percent of the population of the United States suffering from the disease as of 2009. Accurate statistics are difficult to obtain because many sufferers do not seek help. Symptoms typically – but not always – present in teen years with different peak times for females and males. Females have two peak times of vulnerability – mid- to late twenties and again around 40 – whereas males have one between the ages of 18 and 25. (Nemade & Dombect, 2009)

Schizophrenia is one of the most severe psychiatric disorders that affects both male and females, respectively. This illness is characterized by gradual increase in changes of perception, thinking, social activities, speech, feelings, and motivations. Many studies have shown that there is a clear difference in outcome between genders including symptom severity, age-at-onset and functional outcome (as cited in Gogos, Kwek and van den Buuse, 2011, p. 213). For example, schizophrenia occurs on average 1.5-4.5 earlier in men compared to women. Further evidence suggests that women who have a psychiatric disorder such as schizophrenia may have various levels of estrogen; the most severe phase of the disorder will be when there is low level of

A person diagnosed with Schizophrenia has a variety of symptoms which are divided into positive and negative symptoms and may vary depending on the severity. Some people might have more positive symptoms while others have more negative symptoms. Both positive and negative symptoms are usually present. The difference is that they are somewhat opposites of each other in how the symptoms are presented.

What is schizophrenia? The America Psychiatric Association explain schizophrenia in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV(DSM-IV) as a disarray with active symptoms for at least 1 month, consisting of delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, grossly disorganized/bizarre behavior, and/or a lack of organized speech, activity, or emotions. Usually, at least two of these sets of indication are present. The illness, with a prodromal stage prior to diagnosis and a residual stage after treatment (both having some often nonspecific behavioral symptoms), lasts at least 6 months with a continuous sign of some disturbance. During this period, an individual with schizophrenia is clearly considered impaired in his or ability to perform at work, attend school, or participate in social activities in a productive way (Jones& Bartlett, 2010).

Schizophrenia is a brain disorder that manifests itself in the patient by causing drastic changes in the person 's behavior and causing other symptoms that are divided into two categories: positive symptoms and negative symptoms (Mental Health America [MHA], n.d.). The positive symptoms include delusions, hallucinations, disorganized and deluded speech, and an exhibition of inappropriate laughter, tears, and aggressiveness (MHA, n.d.). The negative symptoms include having a toneless voice, expressionless face, having rigid bodies or catatonia, and extreme apathy (MHA, n.d.). Their decline in health would be evident when the patient’s symptoms start to prevent them from excelling in their work, social life, and school (Mental Help, 2009). The most common type of delusion is that of persecution and the most common type of hallucinations are auditory (MHA, n.d.). These persecution stories can be inconsistent, meaning they do not follow a timeline. In addition, the patient is unable to give a great amount of detail about who is persecuting them, why they’re are being persecuted and when the persecution started. Another type of delusion is grandeur in which people believe they are someone important such as a respectable scientist or the president. The positive symptoms are also manifested in the early stages of the disorder and the negative symptoms are presented in the late stages of the disorder. The disorder affects about 1% of the population worldwide, and

Schizophrenia is very complex and “startling disorder characterized by a broad range of cognitive and emotional dysfunctions” (Barlow & Durand, 2015, p. 477). It can greatly impact a person’s life in a negative manner: affecting physical, emotional, relational, and occupational health. The National Institute of Mental Health defines schizophrenia as a “chronic and severe disorder that affects how a person, think, feels, and acts” (National Institute of Mental Health, n.d., para. 1). It is believed to be caused by an excess of the neurotransmitter dopamine (Brisch, Saniotis, Wolf, Bielau, Bernstein, Steiner, …, Gos, 2014).

Aberration; noun; a departure from what is normal, usual, or expected, typically one that is unwelcome; something that is different from what is normal; Everyone knew that the teenager had an aberration, but they could not figure out why. He would always do weird things, such as laugh when someone died. Soon he was taken to a physiatrist, so diagnosed his aberration as schizophrenia. They realized the reason why he acted so different was because he would think one thing, but act the opposite way. Although the way he acted was an aberration for other people, it was not uncommon for people with schizophrenia to act this way.

Jaime is a 17 year old caucasian male, living with a younger brother and both parents. According to his parents, he has been suffering from hallucinations for the past 8 months and has has been dealing insomnia for the past 4 months. When meeting him, he showed signs of movement disorders and thought disorders. After Complete Blood Count tests and interviews with multiple mental health professionals, Jaime was confirmed to have paranoid schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia is a mental illness that has a severe effect on the daily functioning of people that are diagnosed with it. People living with schizophrenia can easily lose their sense of reality as they may hear voices that others do not hear or witness stimuli that others may not see (National Institute of Mental Health, n.d.). These may be referred to as hallucinations as they are the one of the common symptoms of the disease that affects 1% of the population of the United States of America (National Institutes of Mental Health, n.d.). Another common symptom of schizophrenia are delusions, in which a person with schizophrenia can hold a belief that is not true or logical, such as believing that they are a famous celebrity, such as Channing Tatum (National Institutes of Mental Health, n.d.). It does not always mean that people living with schizophrenia cannot perform single or dual tasks related to

Schizophrenia is a disease that ebbs and flows, which means that the people with the disease have acute periods called relapses. This is when a person with schizophrenia experiences a number of sensations that are an addition to their usual feelings, and because they are additions, they are called "positive symptoms." The term "positive symptoms" does not mean it is positive in the sense that it is wanted or a positive thing to have. They are hallucinations, and delusions and they are believed to