Taking a Look at Schizophrenia

While this article goes over an array of treatment options, cognitive therapy is the main focus of this summary. Cognitive therapy was developed in the 1950s. It is known for its effectiveness in treating those who suffer from a depressive disorder. Eventually it has become a promising treatment

(Salinger 173). Holden has molded his life around this fantasy and fails to realize that

The debate of whether schizophrenia is a brain disorder has been a controversial issue for decades. Most researchers consider schizophrenia a brain disorder for numerous reasons. The evidence revolves around the symptoms that can impact a patient biologically, psychologically, and socially. Some speculations suggest that schizophrenia begins in the womb which also contributes to the evidence towards schizophrenia being a brain disorder.

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

Many people today believe they are experts on schizophrenia due to hollywood titles such as 1948 blockbuster The Snake Pit or the 2001 hit A Beautiful Mind. However, many people do not know the cause, the symptoms, or the experiences people who suffer from schizophrenia face. Schizophrenia is a psychological disorder characterized by a split between thought and emotion where a person has difficulty distinguishing whether altered thoughts, perceptions, & conscious experiences are real versus imagined (Grison, Heatherton, and Gazzaniga, 2015, p. 518).

Schizophrenia is a very complex disorder and people who suffer from this disorder suffer in different ways. Schizophrenia is a psychological

Schizophrenia is a mental illness that affects an estimated 3.2 million people in America alone (Nemade). Often, people have scattered reactions when they hear the word “schizophrenia.” Some may associate this word with uncontrollable actions that could potentially cause harm to those around them. People may think of serial killers, rapists, or any form of negative archetype seen in the the media. According to the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), schizophrenia is characterized by a patient experiencing delusions, hallucinations, and/or disorganized speech for more than a month. Delusions include, but are not limited to, the belief one is going to be harassed or harmed, environmental cues are directed at oneself,

Throughout the years people with schizophrenia has dealt with different type of treatments, exorcism, insulin shock, electroconvulsive therapy, lobotomy, and fever therapy.

Schizophrenia is often a misunderstood disorder. With many disorders individuals can at least empathize because in some form or another they can relate them to something; but, Schizophrenia has symptoms that make it harder for others to understand, such as hearing voices that are not there or speaking sentences that have no meaning (Oltmann & Emery, 2014). These patients can have misconceived thoughts of others around them too. The name Schizophrenia and the media often only enhance our misunderstandings of the disorder (Morgan, J., & Morgan, C., 2010).

There are three ways that symptoms of schizophrenia are categorized by; positive, negative, and cognitive. Positive symptoms are psychotic behaviors not generally seen in healthy people. These symptoms include hallucinations, delusions, thought disorders, and movement disorders (NIMH). Negative symptoms are associated with disruptions to to normal emotions and behaviors. These symptoms include “flat affect” (reduced expression of emotions via facial expression or voice tone), lack of pleasure in everyday life, lack of ability to begin and sustain planned activities, and reduced speaking. Cognitive symptoms consist of loss of the capacity for very basic human functioning. Symptoms include inability to focus attention, impaired “working memory”, and lack of fundamental individual initiative to do anything (Psychology Today). “It (schizophrenia) has definitely made everything a lot more stressful. It makes it a lot harder for me to be devoted and have the motivation to do basically anything” (Dickey, Madeline).

When you hear someone mention the word “crazy”, most people automatically think of the symptoms which make up schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is seen as typically the ideal case of insanity. Schizophrenia is a turmoil of the mind, which causes the "host" to gradually begin disengaging from reality, until the point when they can not differentiate between what is genuine and what isn't.

Schizophrenia occurs in both women and men, and only about one percent of Americans have it. Men tend to experience the symptoms of the disorder before the women do. There is not one single factor that causes schizophrenia because it is caused by multiple things in clusters such as genetic factors, environmental influences, and psychological or social influences. Schizophrenia usually starts to affect men between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five, and between ages twenty-five and thirty-five in women. Depending on the person, the disorder can occur suddenly and fast, or it can be so slow that the individual does not even know they can it for a while.

Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder differentiated by degeneration of thought processes and of emotional reaction. It is characterized by auditory hallucinations, delusions, or disorganized speech and thought process along with considerable social or occupational dysfunction. Onset of symptoms is usually during early adulthood. Diagnosis is based on DSM-IV criteria for diagnosis of Schizophrenia (PubMed, 2010).

Schizophrenia is a chronic neurological disorder that causes people to interpret reality abnormally. “Accurately described as a psychosis - a type of illness that causes severe mental disturbances that disrupt normal thoughts, speech, and behavior” (Brain &Behavior Research Foundation).According to the Brain and Behavior Foundation Schizophrenia is caused by a combination of genetic and environmental disorders. This disorder also affects men and women equally and usually affects them between 16-30 years old, after 45 the chance of getting schizophrenia is very unlikely. It rarely occurs in children but with ongoing research that can soon change.

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