Schizophrenia is a Disease - Term Paper Example

Schizophrenia is a Disease Schizophrenia is indeed a strange psychiatric disease. This comes under the mental disorder that is linked closely with the impairments which are there due to the perception cycle of the patient and it could also relate with his expressions in terms of realism that he foresees or pictures for his or her own self. This dysfunction is thus linked with the social and occupational interaction of the patient with the outside world. A patient who has been diagnosed with untreated schizophrenia finds himself having distraught form of thinking mindset developing in him as well as he starts to find his brain having hallucinations and delusions which are not there in the real world for him. These hallucinations are in the form of an auditory nature. [Keltner, 1996] Thus schizophrenia not only takes over the cognition side of the patient but also contributes, though in a negative manner, towards the emotional and behavioral psychology of the patient. It is for this reason that schizophrenia entails all three aspects related with cognition, emotion and indeed the ultimate behavior of the patient under the mental disorder. [Cohen, 2002] With the passage of time, there has been a lot of debate as to whether schizophrenia is indeed described by the adequate diagnosis in the first place or there is something else which goes into making the necessary history of the disease. This could also mean that the schizophrenia disease could lead to a number of other but related disorders and hence all said and done, this is one malaise which is sure to inject much debate and confusion as well, in the times to come. The diagnosis of schizophrenia is based on the experiences which the patient himself shares with someone and it is after that that the psychiatrist looks for some certain signs in the patient that he can confirm the availability of the said disease within him. This can also be detected by a clinical psychologist or a clinician for that matter. Biological tests do not make up for the certainty cause of this disease and thus it gives emphasis on the fact of its unrelated link with the said field of medical science. However, an interesting observation that comes under its diagnostic heading lies in the fact that schizophrenia can have a genetic relation with the parents, the ancestors or the predecessors in the family. Thus it means that the neurobiology has got an important part to play in this whole discussion as well. Social environment can also contribute to as one of the strongest points towards the detection of the disease of schizophrenia in the first place. There are some questions in the current research which ask about its legitimacy related with qualifying schizophrenia as a disease. The term schizophrenia means “shattered mind” and it has no relation with the dissociative identity disorder at all. The two are completely different in nature as far as medical science is concerned. The latter is also called as the split personality or multiple personality disorder. The symptoms that come under the description of schizophrenia include the positive and negative signs. This means that there is a categorical distinction between the two states and indeed the symptoms. [Marley, 1998] The positive symptoms include the delusions, hallucinations of an auditory nature as well as thought disorders which are pretty much the common demonstrations of the psychosis. The negative ones entail the loss of normal characteristics or traits as well as similar abilities within the individual. This could mean that negative symptoms comprises of the blunted and constricted affects and emotions, speech poverty and a complete lack of motivation on the part of the patient. [Skultans, 1999] Furthermore, formal thought disorder is one such model that comes under the disease of schizophrenia which has a role in the planning difficulties. [Ronan, 2005] Within schizophrenia, neurocognitive deficits are also available at times which can account for a reduction or at times an impairment in the psychological functions including memory, decision making when problems are faced, attention, social cognition, etc. [Booth, 2001] This disease can take place either at the late adolescent stage within an individual or when he is within his early adulthood. There are chances of men falling in for this disease more than the women. There has been some controversy which clouds the diagnostic category of schizophrenia and the same has been criticized whereby the researchers suggest that there is a serious lack of scientific reliability and validity. There has been a suggestion that the disease could better be addressed if it is on the individual tangents which are different for every patient, thus clearly there is a distinction present between the ill and the normal. The anti-psychiatry movement also has its say in the argument raised against the diagnosis of schizophrenia. It fathoms on the fact that the classification of unusual thoughts and feelings is pretty much unscientific right from the onset and thus there is no way the patients should be abandoned by the society for no reason of theirs as they have committed no crime. The legitimization of social control of people with respect to these patients is thus one factor that speaks of the society getting undesirable for the patient. There does not seem to be a singular cause for the diagnosis of this disease. However the single point where clinicians and researchers agree is on the fact relating with brain vulnerabilities, which could either be genetically transferred from the parents or ancestors or acquired as a result of some trait. Not to forget, the same can be due to the different events of the life which are stressful nonetheless. [Cave, 2002] This works on the line of the stress vulnerability model and this heading entails a lot of significant factors which contribute directly or indirectly towards the development and maintenance of the disease of schizophrenia. Research has made it clear that there is a marked difference between the people who have schizophrenia in terms of their brain structure to the ones who do not have this disease. The same is pretty much in balance with the group level and the brain structure cannot account for reliable presence since there are a lot of pivotal differences between individuals. The signs and symptoms of schizophrenia include the behaviors involved with the person who is under examination. However, there is a definitive standard criterion which needs to be found for the sake of proper diagnosis. [Warner, 2000] A person must have characteristic symptoms, social/occupational dysfunction and lastly the duration is also important. We go further in relation to each of these. Under the heading of the characteristic symptoms, we find that delusions, hallucinations of an auditory nature and disorganized speech, uncertain behavior which does not follow a set pattern and lastly the present of negative systems that comprise of affective flattening, alogia and/or avolition. It is also significant here to state that characteristic symptoms are enough if delusions are of an enormous nature and when the audio hallucinations consist of one or two voices which affect the overall conversation process. The social/occupational ailment leading to dysfunction takes into consideration the functions of certain areas which might include work, the interpersonal relations and self care to fall markedly as a result. The duration phase tells us about the period that lasts in the life of the patient who is being checked for schizophrenia. The continuous signs and symptoms of schizophrenia last for a period of at least six months. Schizophrenia is classified into simple, hebephrenic, paranoid and catatonic stages or types. The DSM states that there are five sub types of schizophrenia while ICD-10 fathoms it is 7. The DSM and ICD-10 are diagnostic models of schizophrenia. The catatonic type looks at the presence of the marked absence or specific traits in the movement. The disorganized type mentions the basis of presence of thought disorder and flat affect working in a cohesive fashion with each other. The paranoid kind of schizophrenia includes the delusions and hallucinations but shows absence of thought disorder, disorganized behavior and lastly affective flattening within it. The residual system shows the positive symptoms of schizophrenia but in a low intensity rate and lastly the undifferentiated type includes the psychotic symptoms however the role of the disorganized, catatonic and the paranoid kinds is not met in a proper manner. The causes of schizophrenia include the genetic and environmental influences and the neurobiological influences under it. The genetic and environmental influences of schizophrenia look at the evidence which suggests one thing or the other about the role played by the genetic make up of the individual and whether or not the same traits have been transferred upon him courtesy his parents or ancestors. The genetic vulnerabilities thus look into the related equation so as to understand the patient’s life history. The environmental influence speaks of the stressful life events that are going on in the life of an individual and thus make him fall an easy prey for the disease of schizophrenia. These events can eventually trigger the disease in much larger proportions than is generally accepted. These could include certain experiences related with abuse and trauma in the childhood years as well as other related problems. [Flora, 1995] Poverty and discrimination can also contribute towards the increase in risk of schizophrenia or its relapse at some point in patient’s life. This is usually due to high levels of stress that they are exposed to and the faults which happen in the diagnostic procedure and the related assumptions of the disease of schizophrenia. The neurobiological influences include the early neurodevelopment, the role of dopamine, the role played by glutamate and the NMDA receptor and the anatomy and physiology of the brain. The view raised by alternative medicine suggests that schizophrenia is caused by imbalances which are there in the patient’s body’s reserves as well as the absorption of dietary minerals and vitamins to name a few. This also includes the usage of fats and high levels related with the toxic metals. The incidence and prevalence of schizophrenia in the western world is usually within the late adolescent stages of individuals or in their early adulthood. Women seem to have a better mechanism which guards them against this disease as compared to men, however, in the western world it seems to be equal in between the two genders but in women, it tends to appear somewhat late. There are also certain cases where schizophrenia has been seen in instances related with childhood onset schizophrenia and late onset schizophrenia which seems to make its mark in the lives of the adults. The prevalence rate for the whole life time of a patient as concerns to the disease of schizophrenia stands at 1% which is a common ratio. Recent studies have shown that the rate has dropped down to 0.55% within adults and thus it also says that this prevalence rate varies from country to country. Schizophrenia can form up as a major part of the disability regime. Research has suggested that active psychosis is rated at number three in terms of the most disabling of conditions after quadriplegia and dementia. The other two that follow active psychosis or schizophrenia for that matter include paraplegia and blindness. There has been some difficulty in establishing as to what can actually be termed as a rehabilitating and relief act in the line of this disease. The chances of recovery stand somewhat limited and the patient takes a very long time to come back to his original self. The statistics which are quoted in these researches back up the argument thus raised. But one can easily state here that rehabilitation provision is indeed one factor that is imbalanced at the moment and depends very heavily on the political culture of the area where the patient resides as well as the resources available at his and his family’s disposal. Schizophrenia is thus a major disease which can affect the normal activities of an individual and needs to be assessed in a proper context for the patients under examination. It is also important to ascertain their past records before they are declared as schizophrenic patients and thus the whole medical process starts. BIBLIOGRAPHY Keltner, Normal L. (1996). Pathoanatomy of Schizophrenia, Vol. 32. Perspectives in Psychiatric Care Booth, James R. (2001). Development and Disorders of Neurocognitive Systems for Oral Language and Reading, Vol. 24. Learning Disability Quarterly Cave, Susan. (2002). Classification and Diagnosis of Psychological Abnormality. Taylor & Francis Warner, Richard. (2000). The Environment of Schizophrenia: Innovations in Practice, Policy and Communications. Brunner-Routledge Flora, Stephen R. (1995). Cognitions, Thoughts, Private Events etc. Are never Initiating Causes of Behavior: Reply to Overskeid, Vol. 45. The Psychological Record JOURNALS Marley, James A. (1998). People Matter: Client-Reported Interpersonal Interaction and its Impact on Symptoms of Schizophrenia, Vol. 43. Social Work Cohen, David. (2002). Research on the Drug Treatment of Schizophrenia: A Critical Appraisal and Implications for Social Work Education, Vol. 38. Journal of Social Work Education Skultans, Vieda. (1999). The Psychiatric Team and the Social Definition of Schizophrenia: An Anthropological Study of Person and Illness, Vol. 5. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute Ronan. Kevin R. (2005). Models of Madness: Psychological, Social and Biological Approaches to Schizophrenia, Vol. 34. New Zealand Journal of Psychology Word Count: 2,036 Read More