We Have Read For Class, Saving Normal

She was also prescribed antidepressants, a tranquilizer, and an opioid to take daily for several years. Geerts was so desperate after struggling with her illness that she asked her psychiatrist to take her life. In 2014, her doctor prescribed her a lethal dose of drugs to take. Geert’s sister, Adriana, expressed that she thinks society should try harder to help people who suffer with mental illness. Cheng exhibits this euthanasia case to demonstrate how difficult it can be to balance between individual freedom and protecting patients that are vulnerable. I will use this text and include Geert’s case to show that there should be a more efficient way to deal with patients that suffer with depression other than

8 sane individuals (dubbed “pseudopatients”) attempted to be admitted to 12 psychiatric hospitals by solely complaining that they had been hearing an unfamiliar and often unclear voice that said “empty,” “hollow,” and “thud.” The 12 hospitals selected for the sample were chosen in order to generalize the study’s findings and they varied in location, staff-to-patient ratio, and age. The symptom of hearing a voice saying those particular words was chosen as there were not any reports of existential psychosis in the literature of the time. (Rosenhan,

Schizophrenia is a severe, disabling and chronic disorder that affects people. Schizophrenia is diagnosed as a psychotic disorder. This is because a person suffering from schizophrenia cannot tell their own thoughts, perceptions, ideas, and imaginations from the reality. There is continuing debate and research as to whether schizophrenia is one condition or a combination of more than one syndrome that have related features. People suffering from schizophrenia may seem perfectly fine until the time they talk actually talk about they are thinking. People with schizophrenia rely on others for help since they cannot care for themselves of hold a job. There is no cure for schizophrenia, but there is treatment that relieves some of the symptoms. People having the disorder will cope with the symptoms all their lives. There have been cases of people suffering from schizophrenia leading meaningful and rewarding lives. There are five types of schizophrenia namely paranoid, disorganized, residual, undifferentiated, and catatonic schizophrenia. This paper will discuss paranoid schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia is a mental ailment in which the person inflicted is taunted by uncontrollable voices heard inside their heads and very vivid, realistic hallucinations. The voices and hallucinations can be benevolent, but they can also be violent. Many cases constitute of people being told by such voices to hurt themselves or others. People who suffer from Schizophrenia are often isolated from society and admitted into psychiatric wards and mental institutions for the majority of their lives. The general public does not understand the torment that these people go through on a day-to-day basis. In order to give readers insight into the mind of a schizophrenic, the poet Jim Stevens uses the depleting condition and turmoil taking place inside

Felicia Allen is a 32 year old woman, who was initially brought into therapy after an attempt to steal a bus. Due to her reported “emotionally disturbed” nature, this consult became a priority. The police report states that Ms. Allen pulled out a knife, and threatened the driver after the driver declined her dollar bills. She then took control of the bus, and crashed it across the street. Upon our meeting, Ms. Allen was fidgety, and swayed back and forth all the while mumbling to herself. If she were questioned, she would look up and say “Sorry, sorry.” As far as patient history goes, Ms. Allen started hearing voices when she was 5 years old. These auditory hallucinations were mostly composed of critical, disparaging voices that made comments on her actions and behaviors. Her severe symptoms led her to be hospitalized fairly consistently since she was 11. Ever since she was young, she has been driven to please, and has a strong desire to be independent. Felicia has been prescribed clozapine for 1 calendar year, which helped her auditory hallucinations a great deal. Given the above symptoms and information, I have diagnosed Felicia Allen with schizophrenia.

Auditory hallucination is a fundamental presentation observed in patients suffering from schizophrenia. It is one of the frequently occurring symptoms considered to be disabling in schizophrenia, but despite vast and numerous organized studies undertaken in this area in order to comprehend the pathophysiology of auditory hallucination, little success has been realized, and it remains to be complex in research, understanding, and expressing the knowledge accrued (Kaprinis, 2008.) The auditory processing in schizophrenia seems to be different from that of normal individuals because patients inflicted with this mental illness complain of voices deep inside their heads. The voices are described as coming

The patient remains delusional, agitated and guarded, he always depressed, isolate and withdrawn. He still have disorganized thought and still has inappropriate emotional response because o the voices in his head. He stated that "I am so afraid of the voices in my head, they wont stop unless I'll follow them, I am afraid of dying but I think I would be better off dead, I have no choice but to follow the voices". He still insisting he will follow his belief. He remains sad and anxious, still showing self isolation and still cannot think for personal safety. His judgment, insight and impulse control are still poor. He remains a danger to self and a danger to self. He still needs an inpatient psychiatric hospital level of care as he refuses to

But when the person themselves becomes an issue it creates a tango between the two, except medieval torture style and both are wearing heated iron shoes. Because of this it is important to tackle any issues that originate from oneself, a great example being Eleanor Longden. In her college years she was diagnosed with Schizophrenia and began hearing voices in her head. This had troubled her a great deal and even led her to take a break from school; however, she decided to take what she was given and make something of it, using it as a tool in her studies and profession. Whether one feels self doubt because mom doesn’t accept the neon leopard-print fringe as “the real me” or genuinely faces issues with self deprecation, many can take something away from this. In the beginning of Longden’s journey with Schizophrenia her life was riddled with fear and feelings of defeat. How is one supposed to progress if they themselves are prohibiting it? It is true that not everybody is as fortunate as her, but the day she overcame herself and her

behavior and thus I enter into a different self-state (para 11). He explains himself being

Although schizophrenia seems like a rare illness, there are an estimated 1.5 million people in the United States alone who suffer from this disorder (“Schizophrenia” 3). The most common form of this mental illness is paranoid schizophrenia, which is defined as a chronic mental illness in which a person loses touch with reality and is preoccupied with delusions (“Mental Health and Schizophrenia” 5). Symptoms of this disorder include auditory hallucinations, delusions, anxiety, anger, emotional distance, violence, argumentativeness, suicidal thoughts and behaviors, and self-important or condescending manner. Auditory hallucinations are when one hears sounds, usually voices, that are not real. The voices will give criticisms, insults, and commands (“Paranoid Schizophrenia” 5). Delusions are false beliefs that one refuses to give up despite being proved wrong with facts, a very common one being that someone is out to get the person (“Mental Health and Schizophrenia” 13). However, one could also have delusions of grandeur, which are false impressions of one’s own importance. Delusions can lead to aggression or violence if one believes they must defend themselves against those who want to cause them harm (“Paranoid Schizophrenia” 4). The narrator of “The Tell-Tale Heart” clearly has paranoid schizophrenia because he displays the symptoms of auditory hallucinations, delusions, violence or aggression, and anxiety.

Researchers went on to discover that an extreme life even or a significant amount of anxiety was a major factor in the emergence of negative auditory hallucinations. While this is true for many sufferers of schizophrenia, Lori did not report any history of abuse or extreme anxiety before her emergence of symptoms. In fact she grew up in a caring and loving environment. The most popular held perspective though is not caused by environment but is rather biological, this theory is called the medical model. The model views mental illness as an issue of brain chemistry rather than caused by childhood trauma or abuse. The model also views the solution as a chemical one, otherwise known as prescription medications (Shorto, 1999). Since Lori experienced very little anxiety and was a happy child and adolescent growing up, her story speaks more the medical model. According to Thomas, Bracken, and Leudar (2004), “Most people who hear voices, whether in schizophrenia or as part of a bereavement reaction, struggle to make sense of the experience” (p. 22). One of Lori’s major turning points to getting better was recognizing she was ill and that the voices were the inner workings of her brain conveying her worsts fears to her.

Before this video and class, I didn’t really know anything about schizophrenia, but now I know how terrible it is to have this illness. Like the video mentioned, there is no typical case of schizophrenia or typical symptoms. It varies per person. The person that was in the video mainly heard voices in their mind almost all the time (more than one person). They would say random things like “you’re so stupid” or “ungrateful”. In addition to hearing things, they would also see things that weren’t happening. For example, when the person opened the pizza box and was about to eat it, she heard voices saying “don’t eat it. Poison”. At that moment, the pizza started bubbling like if it were poisoned or if there were something wrong with it. Also, towards

During their initial psychiatric assessment, they claimed to be hearing voices of the same sex as the patient which were often unclear, but which seemed to pronounce the words "empty", "hollow", "thud" and nothing else. These words were chosen as they vaguely suggest some sort of existential crisis and for the lack of any published literature referencing them as psychoticsymptoms. No other psychiatric symptoms were claimed. If admitted, the pseudopatients were instructed to "act normally", reporting that they felt fine and no longer heard voices. Hospital records obtained after the experiment indicate that all pseudopatients were characterized as friendly and cooperative by staff.

Schizophrenia is a chronic mental disorder that effects the individual’s thoughts, feelings and actions (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.). This disorder leads to what society defines as abnormal behaviour. Through an analysis of the conflict of defining normal behaviour in contrast to abnormal behaviour it is evident that the approaches to treating Schizophrenia differ. The differing treatments show different understandings of the concept of hearing voices. Therefore, treatment using force and medication in contrast to understanding the disorder will show the tension.

As we read through the case of Robin Henderson, we can easily understand that this woman had a rough childhood where both parents were abusive against her, both mentally and physically. Various methods of abuse from her family members led Robin’s psychical health to a few disorders, like dependency on alcohol and bulimia nervosa. Together with these disorders she had a suicidal mind and urge for hurting herself. Numerous instances of suicidal gestures and self-inflicting multiple cuts and burns made Robin’s consider her being “too dangerous” to public and herself. Hopefully, her family and husband were supportive and wanted Robin to get well as soon as possible, so Robin’s husband accompanied her to her first meeting