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Schizophrenia is a severe mental disease that effects thousands of Americans, or only one percent of the population. Schizophrenia is defined as a disorder characterized by a range of cognitive and emotional dysfunction involving disturbances in content of thought, perceptions, language and communication skills, fluency of thought and speech, attention span, and interpersonal functioning. Schizophrenia was not always known as this. In the late 1800 s a French physician by the name of Benedict Morel first began to study this unusual mental disorder. His studies and findings carried over to another psychiatrist by the name of Emil Kraeplin. Emil Kraeplin began his study of this disease in the late 1800 s to the early 1900 s.
He came to give this disorder its first name of Dementia Praecox. He believed it to be a degeneration of the brain that started out in early childhood which in time would lead to the total deterioration of the person s personality and mind. Kraeplin felt that all of the symptoms involved with this disease were traced to a physical abnormality or disease. A few years after Kraeplin called this disorder Dementia Praecox, a Swiss psychologist, Eugene Bleuler, decided to challenge Kraeplin s view on this disease and felt that a more appropriate name to call it would be schizophrenia.
He said that this disease was a splitting of an individual s psychological function. He also felt that people could recover from this disease to live a normal life. Another thing that he felt was true about this disease was that it was a group of disorders rather than just one major mental dysfunction. (Abnormal Psychology) Schizophrenia has many different signs and symptoms. Due to the wide variety of symptoms, psychologists have divided this particular disease into four subtypes depending on its characteristics of the patient. One type of this disease is catatonic, in which the patient remains in one position for hours at a time without eating, drinking, and in some cases without using the restroom. Another form of this disease is the disorganized type.
These patients have a problem keeping their speech and behavior organized. They also show lack of emotion and have difficulty making their facial expressions coincide with what they are speaking about. They third type is undifferentiated type, which is used to categorize people who show a complex of schizophrenic symptoms, but does not meet the criteria of that of a person who suffers from the paranoid type. Paranoid schizophrenia is the fourth type of schizophrenia. This type is the most commonly diagnosed. A paranoid schizophrenic is an individual who is one that has many hallucinations such as auditory and visual; they also are suspicious of others and feel that everyone is out to get them.
People who suffer from this type of schizophrenia have tremendous interpersonal problems. (Schizophrenia) Paranoid schizophrenia is a serious disorder that neither scientists nor psychiatrists have found a cause or prevention for. Just because there are no preventions, there still is a way to treat this disease with therapy and certain types of medications. Even though there are treatments, most of the time people who suffer from this disorder tend to resist treatment, because they do not have good interpersonal relationships with other people and are fearful of their physicians. When schizophrenia was first discovered, some treatments were used in the 1960 s to treat the disorder. Shocking patients with electricity was one of the earliest treatments of schizophrenia, but today we no longer use it since there is no proof that this is effective. Lobotomies were also performed, but even though they noticed a very slight improvement after the operation, they decided to stop using this treatment because it wasn t worth the trouble.
Psychotherapy is also a treatment of choice, but it is often difficult to establish and maintain the trust of patients, because they have great difficulty tolerating certain levels of intimacy. Now, the best form of treatment is the use of psychoactive drugs such as Clozapine, Risperidone and Olanzapine which affect the action of the neurotransmitter serotonin. These drugs have been proven effective such that they reduced depression among the patients as well as the number of relapses. (British Medical Journal) It is not difficult to categorize one as a schizophrenic, but you can do a test to ensure that you are correctly diagnosing the individual. A psychological evaluation and a briefing on the history of the individual to see if they have ever suffered from a paranoid schizophrenic attack are some ways to test.
Also another way to find if an individual suffers from this disease is by the signs or symptoms one may display. These symptoms include such behaviors as suspicion, concerns with hidden motives, he or she expects to be exploited by others, the inability to relax and collaborate, social isolation, poor self image, detachment, hostility, argumentative, poor sense of humor, unforgiving and easily sighted. The biggest symptom for this disorder is the fear that the patient has of everyone conspiring against them to commit a harmful act or wrong doing towards them. The patient often looks for data to support their ideas. Also pathological jealousy is common with people who suffer from this disease. These patients are quick to counter attach and are frequently involved in what is going on around them.
Due to the severity of their paranoia, these individuals are always aware of their surroundings and who is in their immediate area. They usually watch people with a keen eye to make sure that they make no sudden moves that could be suspicious or harmful to the individual. Another symptom that they suffer from is hallucinations, both auditory and visual. These hallucinations can be frightening to the patient, which in some cases can cause the patient to inflict pain on them. (FDA Consumer) People who suffer from this mental disorder are always putting themselves and others in jeopardy of injury.
Paranoid schizophrenics are not too difficult to categorize, but are extremely complicated to treat. When they finally do get treatment, most of the time the patient can live a normal and functional life. If at any time the patient stops their medication or refuses to go to therapy, the patient can regress quickly back to the first stages of the disease, which includes the hallucinations. In the end, I think it all comes down to the willpower of the individual with the disease with whether or not they want to get help or remain the way they are.
Schizophrenia is a serious mental disorder that needs to be treated immediately if one is diagnosed with it. Paranoid schizophrenia, disorganized schizophrenia, undifferentiated schizophrenia, and catatonic schizophrenia can all destroy one s mind, life, social being, and body. Each one of these cases is severe in their own way, from being paranoid constantly to not moving a muscle for hours at a time. I say that the only way a person with schizophrenia can get by in life is through support from their friends and family members and also the will and determination of the individual to want to overcome the disease. This way the person diagnosed with this can live a semi-normal or fully normal and functional life. References Abnormal Psychology Third Edition (Clinical Perspectives on Psychological Disorders): Hanging, Richard P.
and Whitbourne, Susan Krauss; University of Massachusetts of Amherst: 1997 McGraw Hill Co. British Medical Journal (Treatment of schizophrenia): McGrath, John, 1999, Issue: Oct 16, 1999 Schizophrenia: web FDA Consumer (Real Lives, Imaginary Terror): Paltak, Margie, Sept-Oct 1997
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