The Role Of Family Members On Recurrence And Severity Of Schizophrenic Episodes Essay

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

According to NAMI (), schizophrenia is a long term mental illness that interferes with a person’s ability to think clearly, make decisions, and relate to others, impairing a person from functioning to their full potential when left untreated. For these persons affected, it is many times difficult to distinguish what is real from what is not. “Unfortunately, no single simple course of treatment exists.” Research has linked schizophrenia to a multitude of possible causes” (NAMI).

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, schizophrenia is characterized by the development of two or more symptoms of the following symptoms in a one-month period. The symptoms most characteristic of schizophrenia are delusions, hallucinations, and/or disorganized speech. Schizophrenia has always been a disorder shrouded in mystery. There have been many hypotheses from varying perspectives proposing different sources of causation for schizophrenia. Some of these hypotheses have considerable amounts of research, while some lack support. To fully comprehend and appreciate the disorder, it is important to take into consideration its history. In this way, the full extent to which each branch of the disorder has developed can be

Schizophrenia, it’s a long and confusing word. It can be quite a puzzling disorder to most as well. It has been called madness, hysteria, and even paranoia in the past but that is not the case today. However, Schizophrenia has many meanings, for there is not a specific definition. One of those meaning states it is a “chronic (long-lasting) brain disorder, affecting 1 in every 100 people worldwide” (Schizophrenia, 2013). What exactly is schizophrenia though? What are the symptoms of schizophrenia? What can I do treatment wise? These are common questions every person has when discovering and being diagnosed with a disorder. These questions are very significant and need to be answered.

In childhood-onset schizophrenia, researchers do hypothesize that the cause might be slightly different from the cause of adult-onset schizophrenia, as there must be a reason why children develop such a severe mental disorder before the age of thirteen. The question in relation to childhood-onset schizophrenia is whether it develops more from environmental factors or genetic factors. The aim of this paper is to discover how the development of schizophrenia in affected children is more nature-based than nurture-based. Although there are valid points for both sides of this argument this paper serves to argue how in affected children the genetic factors that result in the disorder influence the development much more than any environmental

Mental health has been studied for centuries now. There have been fast differences major evolutional discoveries and changes since mental health has been researched and studied. Many theorists have been pioneers in their respective studies and laid the blueprint for what it is today. One of the interesting diagnosis’s during the early development is how Schizophrenia is a diagnosis that has been misunderstood over the centuries. The criteria that would determine one such a label, has shifted drastically. Although it has shifted and the information we have today is much more polished due to the amount of research and studies that have taken place, it’s important to learn and know the history behind how schizophrenia came to be and how it was coined to become such a noticeable and intricate part of diagnosis’s in psychology. Leading the way in the foundation and discovery of

Research has shown that one of the main factors of schizophrenia is genetics. Despite the fact that there has been no specific gene linked to the cause of schizophrenia, there is a gene related to the risk of one developing schizophrenia known as the brain derived neurotropic factor (Egan, Weinberger, Lu, 2003). This brain deriving factor is known to effect the hippocampus, this aids in the creation of impairments of individuals with schizophrenia. Perhaps one of the most interesting elements in the development of schizophrenia is that it truly developed; it is a psychological disorder that has many factors that work in conjunction with a susceptibility gene before the onset (Bray, 2007).

Biological theorists believe that individuals may have a genetic predisposition for the schizophrenia if a close family member has been diagnosed with the disorder. Stress during adolescent years seems to provoke the disorder among individuals who have a family history of the disorder. In addition, this theory suggests biochemical abnormalities related to the dopamine neurotransmitters may also contribute to the illness as the brains neurotransmission of the dopamine is too frequent in occurrence (Comer, 2005). CAT and MRI scans have also indicated that abnormal brain structuring may also play a role in the development of schizophrenia due to a common occurrence of enlarged ventricles within schizophrenia sufferers (Comer, 2005). Various parts of the brain may not develop for function properly which seems lead to Type II schizophrenia. Studies have also pointed towards the idea that exposure to certain viruses before birth may lead to the eventual development of schizophrenia (Comer, 2005).

Schizophrenia is one of the most intriguing mental disorders that have captivated scientists to study more about it each year. The dictionary definition of schizophrenia is: a mental disorder that is characterized by disturbances, perception (hallucination) and behaviors that deteriorates the functioning in everyday life (Merriam Webster n.d. ). In other words, it is a severe mental disorder that affects how a person thinks or behaves. There are many sub types of schizophrenia; however, paranoid schizophrenia is among the most common ones. Schizophrenia affects 1 in every 40,000 children, which makes it uncommon among this category. However, it affects 1 in every 100 adults where the average age for males is 18 years old and for females is

For ethical reasons all our results and conclusions will be based on statistics without revealing who among those we tested is affected or not affected to the public. From the adoption study we expect Schizophrenia to be more in biological relatives of schizophrenic adoptees than in those of control adoptees. It will also be of great interest to us to observe if the risk of the adopted away children to develop Schizophrenia increases if both genetic parents are schizophrenics compared to if only one of the genetic parents is schizophrenic. Some of the genes may appear to be associated with the disorder in some ethnic groups and not in others, which would make it difficult to for us to say that a specific gene is associated with Schizophrenia in general population. This may be because predisposition for Schizophrenia is created by different combination and/or of genes in different populations interacting with certain environmental factors. As association studies always follow linkage studies which identify possible genomic regions or even specific candidate genes which contribute to the development of a genetically influenced disorder. Results from linkage studies depend on a variety of factors, including the presumption of the mode of inheritance, the involvement of genes whose effects are large enough to detect and the extent to which family members are diagnosed accurately as either affected or unaffected with a disorder in the schizophrenia spectrum. Since all of these factors are problematic, it is will not be suprising that results from linkage studies are less conclusive and have yet to identify genes that major effects to the development of

These family studies show that although there is a genetic component, other factors influence schizophrenia as well

Schizophrenia can be passed down thru generations even though there is not a specific gene associated with the disorder. It is considered to be a combination of genes that make a person susceptible to becoming schizophrenic. This information is found mainly thought the study of twins. By having the same genes it can be viewed why genes contribute to the potential of schizophrenia. Even though genetics is a viable factor in the analysis of the cause of schizophrenia there are more supporting factors found in neurotransmitters.

This essay will discuss whether schizophrenia is genetically inherited disorder. There will be an understanding to what schizophrenia is with a brief description in the introduction. This essay will also talk about weather schizophrenia is genetically inherited or weather it is a biological (Inherited) disorder. It will also include weather schizophrenia is cause by other factors such as social factors, environmental, pre natal, childhood and neurobiology. The essay will also state weather schizophrenia is caused by a combination of the two.

Using the word “environment” in science has a wide range of definitions. It is publically associated with the surrounding environment such as family history, home, or work environments. Although it is true, it is not thorough. In science the word “environment” can mean abuse, drug use, or some birth complications. The fact that both monozygotic twins do not develop schizophrenia indicates the presence of environmental factors. One may have whereas the other does not. It suggests that environmental factors have an impact and can cause schizophrenia. 1 According to Lesley Stevens and Ian Rodin schizophrenia can be caused by minor congenital abnormalities, low birth weight, abnormalities of dermatoglyphics , small head circumference, and being born in winter months. Another environmental factor that is believed to increase the risk of schizophrenia is the exposure to viruses. Moreover, studies have shown that fathers’ ages are believed to increase the risk of schizophrenia. These studies present a potent connection between the fathers’ ages and offspring developing of schizophrenia. 2 As older the fathers are, the higher the risk of evolving schizophrenia in their offspring. It might be explained by the genetic mutations in the sperm which is

Aim: The aim of this experiment was to explore the synergistic effects of heritability and environment in the cases of two brothers with schizophrenia.