Diverse Causes of Schizophrenia - Research Paper Example

? Schizophrenia Introduction Schizophrenia entails a psychological disorder. Victims of the mental disorder are subject to diverse hardships and adversities. This mental disorder entails intense hardship in differentiating reality from appearance. Therefore, the patients do not accurately detect what is real. Schizophrenia also involves an intense incapability to think clearly (Noll, 2007). The emotional and social response is intensely impaired. This is therefore a sophisticated disorder to the practitioners. Clarity of the illness’ causes is not surfaced to the medical practitioners. Nevertheless, diverse medical practitioners implicate that genetics is a major attribution of the disorder. Therefore, the unclear causes of the disorder surfaced the formulation of theories (Streiner, 2010). The theories seek to give an attribution of the disorder. This paper entails a breakdown of the theories, causes, and symptoms of the disorder. Family, biological, endocrine, and neurochemical theories seek to explain the causes of the disorder (Almann, 2008). Scholars and professionals have no vivid or definite cause of the schizophrenia. Recommendations and treatments are purely based on the theories’ implications. As denoted previously, there are no definite causes of schizophrenia. In this case, diverse theorists emerged with unique perspectives towards explaining the causes of the disorder. They provide curative and treatment measures in their essays. Family theory Gregory Bateson was a key proponent in this theory. According to this theory, the family has an immense impact towards the children’s psychological course. Therefore, schizophrenia has a significant attribution towards the family. According to theorists under this perspective, the family has a significant impact on personality development. This principle is applicable to the development of schizophrenia. Human beings are integrated with symbolic systems (Noll, 2007). They interact with their immediate environment through symbols. During the socialization process, children learn to interact with their environment through symbols. Therefore, children always observe the family objects as symbols of socialization (Streiner, 2010). Language is an essential symbol of socialization for the children. Therefore, children are socialized according to the observed communication systems portrayed by the care givers. They learn their culture upon direct observation and execution of the communication systems. The communication systems of the family affect the child’s culture and intellect (Davis, 2011). The intellect is a biological domain of the human being. This implicates that the communication systems within the family have an impact on the biological domain of the children. Ultimately, the correlation amongst genetics and family impacts influence the personality of the children. Schizophrenia victims suffer from distorted communication systems from their families. This principle accounts for the semantic and syntactical disarrangements (Austin, 2010). Gregory Bateson denoted that linguistic incapability and cognitive impairments as key symptoms of the victims. According to this theory, psychiatric therapy is a major recommendation towards prevention and treatment of the disorder. Biological theory Kraepelin was a major proponent of this theory towards the explanation of the causes of schizophrenia. In this theory, Kraepelin has outstanding perspectives about the biological principles that contribute to the disorder. The scholar also provides curative and preventive recommendations for the disorder. According to this theory, the biological structure of the victim can result in schizophrenia (Noll, 2007). In this theory, genetics is a key attribution to the psychological disorder. The parents might have recessive genes that engross dementia traits. Therefore, the children inherit the traits from the parents. Genetic processes result to a dominant genotype of the dementia genes. Therefore, gene loci are key attributions towards schizophrenia. Inadequate prenatal environments also cause schizophrenia. This is evident in a breach birth where the child is subject to limited oxygen. Consequently, the brain cells undergo major impairment. Early scholars in this theory had initially identified the disorder as premature dementia (Davis, 2011). This was after a scientific observation of the victims’ behavioral symptoms. According to the scholars, the victims portray a loss of the brain’s function. Out of this condition, they manifest a set of characteristics. The victims always portray observable autism (Streiner, 2010). In the early childhood stage, victims manifest developmental fixation. In this case, the development pace is slower than normal. Consequently, the social, communication, and cognitive capabilities are significantly impaired. The victims also manifest ambivalence. This is a state of expressing mixed reactions. Feelings of the victims are dominantly conflicting (Roeckelein, 1998). Scholars under this theory recommended genetic and prenatal therapy prior to birth. They also advocate for drug prescription to harmonize the symptoms. In this case, antipsychotic drugs are prescribed for the disorder. Endocrine theory Nolan Lewis was a major proponent in this theory. The impacts and attributions of the endocrine system towards schizophrenia became a major concern. This concern propagated biochemical research towards schizophrenia. Endocrine theory took a significant course and initiation from 1930s. The study of the endocrine system involves the functions and distribution of the hormones (Noll, 2007). Hormones are biological chemicals that transmit sensory information to the brain. The features of the endocrine system are suspected causes of schizophrenia. Scholars in the endocrine theory had diverse propositions about the causes of schizophrenia. A major cause of this disorder was the impact of hallucination drugs (Streiner, 2010). These drugs had an effect of altering the brain systems. Consequently, the brain would produce unregulated responses towards the endocrine systems. This would trigger irregular secretion of biochemical materials. Therefore, victims would manifest abnormal traits and responses due to this irregular secretion. For example, LSD-25 was a hallucinatory drug that had this effect (Davis, 2011). The abnormal hormonal shifts are evident in diverse contexts of proving their direct link with schizophrenia. For instance, women victims of schizophrenia manifest abnormal hormonal levels. This is an observable trend in the abnormal shifts of their reproductive hormones. Under this theory, there is a set of symptoms. Patients tend to be unfamiliar with their immediate environment. Their emotional and intellectual responses are highly maladjusted. Mortar, cognitive, social, and emotional developments are intensely deprived and limited. Medical therapy is highly recommendable for hormonal regulation. Physiological therapy enhances regulation of hormonal levels for the patients. Neurochemical theory Moghaddam was one of the major proponents under this theory. There are diverse forms of chemicals within the brain. They have an essential function to transmit information amongst the brain cells (Noll, 2007). Brain faculties use the neurochemicals to transmit information. Information transmission triggers the onset of responses and cognitive reactions. In this case, schizophrenia is attributable to irregularities within the neurochemical transmissions. The irregularities within the neurochemicals may be caused by blockages. For instance, PCP is a drug that enhances blockage within the neurochemical transmission (Streiner, 2010). According to ancient proponents of this theory, dopamine action manifested schizophrenia symptoms. Therefore, the function of this neurotransmitter may result to schizophrenia. However, modern theorists reject this factor as a cause of the disorder. Instead, the modern scholars implied that GABA and glutamate are the key attributions to the disorder. The action of these neurotransmitters brings the schizophrenia symptoms. However, all the probable neurochemicals are examined during diagnosis of the disorder. According to this theory, patients have an impaired cognitive structure. Memory, imagination and creativity are extremely deprived (Davis, 2011). Responses to environmental stimuli are also abnormal to an immense extent. This theory recommends various strategies for prevention and cure of the disorder. Blocking the action of dopamine neurochemical material is a remedy to cure the disorder. It facilitates the culmination of the schizophrenia symptoms significantly. Blocking would also be recommendable to GABA and glutamate materials (Austin, 2010). These strategies provide an assurance of the culmination of schizophrenia symptoms. These theories provide a congruent rationale about schizophrenia. They independently reveal the causes, symptoms, and remedies of the disorder. However, despite of the diverse implications of the theories, they have a uniform implication about the symptoms of the disorder. This affirms the validity of the theories significantly. The theories provide a harmonious state of the disorder’s characteristics. Diversity in the theories also has an implication that schizophrenia is not attributable to a single factor. Therefore, various biological and environmental factors may cause schizophrenia. The findings are tested principles, and they are accurate. Therefore, I agree with the propositions of the theories. This is because empirical observation affirms the implications of the theories. As denoted previously, the theories uphold uniform implications despite of their diversity in ideas. It is evident from the theories that schizophrenia is attributed to many causes. Additionally, the theories uphold uniform symptoms of the disorder. These are key affirmations that enhance my agreement with the theories. Nevertheless, a key limitation is evident in the application of the neurochemical theory (Noll, 2007). The brain involves interactions of each neurochemical material. Therefore, applying the theory according to observation of GABA, glutamate, and dopamine can be extremely dynamic. This would challenge the accuracy of the theory application. Conclusion Etiology entails the study of causes. The evaluation and reflection of these theories contribute to the study of etiology as diverse causes are revealed. According to the implication of the theories, there are diverse causes of schizophrenia. The theories reflect internal (biological) and external (environment) causes of the disorder. This study also implies uniform and congruent symptoms of the disorder. However, curative and preventive measures vary across the theories. Therefore, schizophrenia is a psychological disorder that is controllable. An intact cause of schizophrenia does not exist. Diverse theories provide unique causes and recommendations of schizophrenia. References Almann, K. V. (2008). Schizophrenia research trends. New York: Nova Biomedical Books. Austin, W., Boyd, M., & Austin, W. (2010). Psychiatric & mental health nursing for Canadian practice. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Davis, S. (2011). Community Health in Canada: Policy, Theory, and Practice. Canada: UBC Press. Noll, R. (2007). The encyclopedia of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. New York: Facts on File. Roeckelein, J. E. (1998). Dictionary of theories, laws, and concepts in psychology. Westport, Conn: Greenwood. Streiner, D. L., & Cairney, J. (2010). Mental disorder in Canada: An epidemiological perspective. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Read More