Understanding What We Don’t Understand: Schizophrenia
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).
The word schizophrenia comes from the Greek words skhizein meaning ‘to split’ and phren meaning ‘mind’, this doesn’t give great
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Schizophrenia can be ruinous not only to the Schizophrenic patient but also to their families and peers because they do not understand these often sudden and unique changes in their co-worker, family member, friend, or loved one. Unfortunately the media does not always aid in proper conceptions of mental illness; especially when it comes to Schizophrenia, because it often portrays Schizophrenia’s most chronic patients and most eccentric themes.
In the 1993 film Benny and Joon such characters are portrayed with some of the extreme eccentric behaviors of Schizophrenia. The film also shows the effects that Schizophrenia can have on family because Joon, which is portrayed as a “disabled” woman, lives with her brother Benjamin Pearl “Benny” after the death of their parents and the struggles that can take place within the family are viewed. Initially her brother doesn’t take notice to much of Joon’s signs of needing some form of help. He only sees what he wants and doesn’t quite understand all that is going on. Her brother “Benny” shows a lot of frustration in having to continuously find new “housekeepers” due to Joon chasing them off because of her quirky ideologies about them. He continues to struggle with having these “housekeepers” to care for Joon and ultimately ends up having to leave her alone for a short time as he has to
Schizophrenia is a serious debilitating mental illness in which the victim is afflicted with bizarre delusions and prominent hallucinations. The delusions are profoundly invalid beliefs, and the hallucinations are equally invalid perceptions. There is also a disordering of the reasoning process, disordered emotional expression, and loss of motivation for work and social living. Typically, the illness starts in adolescence or early adulthood and, if untreated, usually worsens with age. (Lickey, Gordon, 1991)
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).
The actual term “Schizophrenia” was coined by a Swiss psychiatrist name Eugen Bleuler in around 1911. Bleuler believed that Krapelin’s name for the disease was inaccurate because Schizophrenia did not always lead to a mental deterioration of the brain and it could occur at almost any time in a person’s life. The word Schizophrenia come from two Greek roots Schizo (meaning split) and Phrene (meaning mind) because people who develop this disorder often have fragmented thinking. Schizophrenia can be defined as “a long-term mental disorder of a type involving a breakdown in the relation between thought, emotion, and behavior, leading to faulty perception, inappropriate actions and feelings, withdrawal from reality and personal relationships into fantasy and delusion, and a sense of mental
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 term schizophrenia' covers a group of serious psychotic disorders characterised by a loss of contact with reality. It comes from two Greek words: schiz meaning split' and phren meaning mind'. DSM IV (1994) estimate that the occurrence rate of schizophrenia ranges from 0.2%-2.0% worldwide. There are two main explanations of schizophrenia: the biological explanations and the psychological explanations. In this essay I will critically consider the biological explanations. These include genetics, neurochemistry, brain structure and evolution.
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).
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
Psychiatrist D. Fuller Torrey, M.D., states Schizophrenia is the “modern-day equivalent of leprosy” (qtd: in Tartakovsky, 2014). There are harsh stereotypes surrounding those affected such as a higher level of danger, universal symptoms, predetermined traits, a need for hospitalization, and even, put simply by Demian Rose, M.D., Ph. D., a belief Schizophrenics are either psychotics or not. (Tartakovsky, 2014). These stigmas lead to extremely detrimental effects such as, more homeless sufferers, less job opportunities, a lower quality of life, lower self esteem, higher stress levels, and more symptoms (Corrigan, 1998). Like most problems, these stigmas could be corrected with a fairly basic understanding of Schizophrenia and how it affects its sufferers.
During your lifetime, chances are you’ve probably met someone who has been affected by schizophrenia in some way and you might not have even known. So what is Schizophrenia? Schizophrenia is a group of severe disorders involving major disturbances in perception, language, thought, emotion, and behavior. People with schizophrenia are able to control the disorder with medications and therapy and can even lead normal lives. Schizophrenia is not something everyone understands. This disorder is more than just hearing voices. To be able to fully understand schizophrenia you must know the symptoms, how it affects you biologically, psychologically, socially, and how to treat it.
Schizophrenia – a term that has many negative connotations. Many people consider those who suffer from schizophrenia to be “crazy” or “psychos”. Far beyond the thoughts regulating about schizophrenia, it is a very serious mental disorder that is often misunderstood. Schizophrenia is “a group of disorders characterized by severely impaired disintegration, affective disturbances, and social withdrawal,” (Sue, D., Sue, D.W., Sue, D., Sue, S., 2013, p. 348). Comparatively to the idea that people with schizophrenia have at least some control over their disorder, schizophrenia is extremely painful to endure, and it potentially only goes into partial remission with the help of medication.
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
Approximately 22% of the American population suffers from some kind of mental disorder at any given time. (Passer and Smith, 2004) Schizophrenia is one of the most serious of these mental disorders, and there are many different kinds of treatment. While all mental disorders offer diagnosis and treatment challenges, few are more challenging than schizophrenia. It is both bizarre and puzzling, and has been described as “one of the most challenging disorders to treat effectively.” (Passer and Smith, 2004, 534)
Movies and other forms of popular entertainment sources have often presented varied information and as well as misinformation about schizophrenia, most specifically in regard to its negative portrayals, which can lead to confused public opinion. In summary, majority of movies and popular entrainment media sources portrays people with schizophrenia as violent and with homicidal and suicide thoughts. In addition, most characters in these media sources are portrayed as Caucasians, males, and with supernatural abilities (Gaebel, 2011).
Schizophrenia, unlike most disorders, is a standout amongst the most genuine of the mental disorders. It is known that one in a hundred individuals are affected by it, and starts in either youth or early adulthood. Schizophrenia brings social interruption, anguish and hardship to the individuals who experience the ill effects of it, as well as to their family. Under those circumstances, it is known to be the most devastating of all disorders. There are both negative and positive symptoms when it comes to dealing with schizophrenia. Despite the fact that there are various negative indications, the most present one is limitations or absence in thoughts and behaviours that are characteristics in normal functioning. For this