The Lack of Insight in Schizophrenia

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.

When schizophrenics first experience voices and other worrying sensory experiences, they turn to others to confirm the validity of what they are experiencing. Other people fail to confirm the reality of these experiences, so the schizophrenic comes to believe that others must be hiding the truth. They begin to

Using anatomical likelihood estimation (ALE), a meta-analyses of forty- two studies demonstrated extensive gray matter deficits in frontal, temporal, cingulate and insular cortex and thalamus in schizophrenia (SZ) when compared to healthy controls. Similarly the same meta-analyses of fourteen studies showed gray matter reductions in anterior cingulate and bilateral insula in bipolar disorder (BD) when compared to healthy controls (Ellison-Wright I and Bullmore E, 2010). However the regions of grey matter reduction were less extensive in bipolar than schizophrenia. Another recent meta-analyses conducted using revised ALE showed consistent gray matter decreases in patients (SZ, BD) in bilateral anterior insula, dorsal anterior cingulate (dACC), dorso/ventro medial prefrontal cortex, thalamus, amygdala, hippocampus, superior temporal gyrus along with gray matter increases in

Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness that usually shows up in adolescence or young adulthood but can be seen in children as young as eight years old. It is a long term mental disorder characterized by a faulty perception of reality, inappropriate actions and feelings, withdrawal from relationships into fantasy and delusion, and a sense of mental fragmentation. It typically involves the breakdown of a person’s relationship between thought, emotion, and behavior. Currently, there are five subtypes of schizophrenia included in the DSM-5; paranoid, disorganized, catatonic, undifferentiated, and residual. Each subtype is characterized by their most prominent symptom. For instance, paranoid schizophrenia is a subtype in which a person experiences

Expert’s reason that unevenness in the complicated interconnected chemical responses of the brain connecting the neurotransmitters dopamine and glutamate, and maybe others, performs a part in schizophrenia. Neurotransmitters are elements that permit brain cells to interconnect with each other. Experts are acquiring more about brain chemistry and its connection to schizophrenia. Similarly, in small methods the brains of people with schizophrenia appear diverse than those of healthful people. For instance, fluid-filled holes at the middle of the brain, called ventricles, are greater in certain people with schizophrenia. The brains of people with the disorder similarly manage to have less grey matter, and certain

Throughout the many years, there have been many negative public perceptions of Schizophrenia, which is known by majority of the public as an indication of mental illness. This disorder is most of the time perceived by the public as caused by psychological factors. People with this mental illness are considered to be unpredictable and threatening (Angermeyer & Matschinger, 2003, p. 526). Most patients have a behavioural dysfunction. Victims, families and society carry a substantial burden due to this illness (Wood & Freedman, 2003).

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 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

The most serious forms of mental illness are psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar (manic-depression), which affect the mind and alter a person’s ability to understand reality, think clearly, respond emotionally, communicate effectively, and behave appropriately. People with psychotic disorders may hear nonexistent voices, hallucinate, and make inappropriate behavioral responses. Others exhibit illogical and incoherent thought processes and a lack of insight into their own behavior. They may see themselves as agents of the devil, avenging angels, or the recipients of messages from animals and plants (Siegel, 2011).

Additional, inferences about the disorder are provided by Whitcomb and Merrell (2013). The authors characterize the symptoms of schizophrenia as delusions that are “typically bizarre and implausible” and pronounced hallucinations such as hearing voices for long periods of time (p. 363). Additional, impairments noted by the authors include “severe disturbances in perception, thought and affect, a severe decline in personal and social functioning, poor personal hygiene, inability to function effectively at school or work, and a severe impairment in social relationships” (Whitcomb and Merrell, 2013 p.363).

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

This suggested individual who were at ultra high-risk for psychosis had impaired attentional resources much like those with schizophrenia (Kraus et al., 2016). Evidence here supports the aberrant salience theory (Haselgrove, 2015) as reduced levels of latent inhibition demonstrate those with schizophrenia/high levels of schizotypy cannot focus on relevant stimuli. This contributes to the understanding of positive symptoms and why those who suffer from schizophrenia become cognitively delusional to comprehend positive symptoms. This supports the idea that positive symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations are related to a failure of selective attention (Morris et al., 2012) Learning theory has improved the understanding of schizophrenia as the lack of latent inhibition contributed toward inappropriate attentional processing as shown by the studies discussed (Kraus et al., 2016) and supports the idea that positive symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations are related to a failure of selective attention (Morris et al.,

Schizophrenia is an incredible example of mental muddle which is exemplified by crumbling of thought processes and emotional receptiveness. It can be straightforwardly acknowledged by auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre illusions, dislocated speech or thinking aptitude pursued by social or occupational dysfunction. The warning signs initiate untimely in the adulthood. The disease is recognized to affect about 1% of the human population with about 2 million patients from the United States unaided.

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.

This paper, broken into two sections, includes a mock case study of a young woman, from the movie Black Swan, who meets criteria for a Schizophrenia spectrum disorder, followed by current research on schizophrenia and recommended treatment. Because specific temporal information is unavailable and the key difference between schizophreniform disorder and schizophrenia is duration, the diagnosis made for the purpose of this paper is schizophrenia. The research portion will cover current research and treatment of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a disorder defined by a heterogeneous set of irregularities across multiple modalities, including “cognitive, behavioral, and emotional dysfunctions” (American Psychiatric Association, 2013, p.100). This mock case study is an important reminder for counseling students: Client symptoms may not always be transparent to clinicians. Clients may purposefully withhold information, lack insight to report, or may have sufficient factual insight to avoid the perceived stigma of reporting.