The neurodevelopmental hypothesis of schizophrenia - Research Paper Example

An adult diagnosed as having schizophrenia will go to a completely separate facility and will see a very different specialist—though the doctor will still likely be a specialist. What is most unfortunate about the current mind set and treatment set-up is that neither allows for comprehensive understanding of these neurological disorders or for continuous treatment of them. What is most relied upon for diagnosing neurological disorders at present (outside of the symptoms themselves) is the prevalence of the suspected disorder among the patient’s immediate and distant family.

The thought is that such disorders are largely hereditary, and so if several other members of the family have this particular disorder, then the patient likely has it as well. More recent research could definitely shift that thought process, however. According to research, there is a clear overlapping of various symptoms and developmental delay between many of these disorders. The symptoms themselves (i.e. developmental delay, cognitive impairment, social impairment, etc) are seen across the spectrum of disorders, and where they differ is in their severity.

With that kind of overlapping, treatment of one disorder could most certainly benefit from understanding of treatment of another disorder. As we well understand, more comprehensive understanding of a disorder allows for more creative and more effective treatment options. Obviously, with more and better treatment options, doctors are more likely to be able to better the quality of life for their patients. At the end of the day, is that not the end goal of all medical understanding—to improve the quality of life for the patient?

Administrative set-up for treatment facilities is also limiting the medical community’s ability to treat their patients. While studies are showing that neurodevelopmental disorders cross the age spectrum from children with ADHD to adults with bipolar disorder, treatment facilities only allow for treatment of one or the other. What happens to those individuals who develop what becomes labeled as one disorder as a child, and then continues to need treatment as an adult? Often times these adults are re-diagnosed with a different disorder and are subjected to a completely new set of lifestyle rules and treatments.

More comprehensive understanding of these neurological disorders as being on a spectrum and having overlapping symptoms (and possibly treatments), would allow for doctors to take information of a childhood disorder and factor that in to treatment of the adult patient. Better communication between facilities would also surely result from better comprehension given that members of the medical community already have well-established policies of working with other members who may offer insight in to what would help their individual patient.

The connection of the information in this article to my personal major and career aspirations were strongly felt by me. As a psychiatric social worker, it will be my duty to understand both what individuals’ symptoms indicate in terms of illness and comprehend the way those symptoms are felt by the individual. That is to say, how the symptoms present themselves and what they mean to and for the client. Aside from my duties, being a psychiatric soc