Medical Diagnosis and Treatment Options for Schizophrenia - Research Paper Example

? Section/# Diagnosis and Treatment Options for Schizophrenia One of the more well-known varieties of mental disorders that exist within the current world is with regards to the mental disorder referred to as schizophrenia. At its most basic definition, schizophrenia is a mental disorder that is characterized by an acute breakdown and thought processes and oftentimes accompanied by a lack of emotional response. Due to the fact that this particular disorder oftentimes shares many symptoms with other disorders within the same spectrum, misdiagnosis is oftentimes something that is realized. However, improvements in diagnosis and treatment options within the past several decades have greatly reduced the impacts that schizophrenic disorders have upon the individuals who are a click did with them. However, it should not be assumed that schizophrenia is a disorder that an individual can live with by the same means that one might live with a moderate form of depression or a moderate level of anxiety disorder. Rather, schizophrenia is a life altering disorder the fundamentally affects the means by which the individual is capable of integrating with the world and drawing inference from the situations that they experience. As a function of understanding the diagnosis and treatment options for schizophrenia to a better and more complete degree, the following analysis will focus upon these aspects as well as seeking to integrate with the reader a better and more complete understanding of the disease itself. Through such unit of analysis, it is the hope of this author that the reader will not only be able to come to a more definitive conclusion with regards to the aspects of life that can be affected by schizophrenia and the medical means that can be exercised in the hopes of diminishing the symptoms, it is also hoped that key dissimilarities between other disorders will be fundamentally noted so that future confusion between diagnoses and symptoms can be averted. With regards to the actual diagnosis itself, schizophrenia is not diagnosed by the same manner that other disorders within the DSM are diagnosed. What is meant by this is that indication of symptoms alone is not a prerequisite for determining whether or not an individual suffers from schizophrenia. Rather, due to the vague nature of many of the symptoms, must include what specialists refer to as a “minimum duration” that accounts for six month’s time; in which at least one month is determined to exhibit verifiable symptoms of the disorder (Flanagan et al., 2012). Characteristic symptoms for diagnosis oftentimes include, but are not limited to, delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, disorganized or out of place behavior, and a noticeable or marked decrease in emotional response; either exhibited inwardly or within the context of being unable to empathize with others needs, wants, or sorrows/joys. However, the symptoms that have been thus far listed are not exhaustive. Rather, social or occupational dysfunction will be the final symptom to be discussed that helps to serve as a catch all for many of the other symptoms thus far discussed. As a result of the fact that schizophrenia disrupts the emotional responses and understanding of interpersonal relationship and functions of behavior, this secondary determinant is oftentimes the most powerful in helping to discern whether or not schizophrenia is indeed a likely diagnosis (Kring et al., 2012). As a result of the relative difficulty for diagnosis that many of the symptoms thus far discussed exhibit, it is not surprising that schizophrenia is among one of the more troublesome of the DSM issues to attempt to define and diagnose. Nevertheless, the difficulty in recognizing some of the symptoms of schizophrenia does not mean that this disease goes virtually undetected within modern society; rather, many of the tell tale markers and symptoms are merely oftentimes overlooked in the initial stages. However, as the progression of the disorder becomes more severe, it becomes increasingly easy for medical professionals to note some of the key similarities and relationships that exist between the symptoms that are exhibited. It is important to note however that all individuals that suffer, or will come to suffer, from the disorder do not display similar symptoms at outset; or even as the disease is noted. Rather, a litany of different markers is ultimately what makes the disease especially hard to simplify and rapidly diagnose. As a result of this, treatment for this is more often than not delayed as the individual, or those friends/family/loved ones seek to determine precisely what underlies the symptoms that they might be experiencing. Another complicating factor that exists with regards to effective diagnosis of schizophrenia is with regards to the fact that varying degrees of severity and many different layers of subtypes of schizophrenia are known to exist; thereby making the job of the medical professional that much more difficult in seeking to determine specifically what might be evidenced within the patient in question. Sadly, as with many disorders that exist within the DSM, there is no known cure or means of preventing or stopping schizophrenia from adversely affecting the lives of those afflicted by it. Rather, the main methods by which medical professionals have sought to integrate with the disorder over the past several decades is via pharmacological means (Myers, 2012). As with any pharmacological intervention, the use of drugs to mask the symptoms of schizophrenia has been something that has garnered the attention of more than a handful of research studies on the subject. Ultimately, as a result of an increased prevalence to suicide (approximately 5% greater risk than the remainder of non-schizophrenics within society) in tandem with the dependence upon pharmacological means to provide a semblance of normality to the interactions and sensory input that they receive on a daily basis, patients who suffer from schizophrenia tend to have a shorter life expectancy than the general population; by anywhere from 10-15 years. Although this cannot all be blamed upon the cocktail of drugs that they are oftentimes provided, many researchers have reported the clear linkages between decreased kidney and liver function and the complications from other issues that the most common causes of deaths for schizophrenics. A far more disputed means of providing the healthcare needs of schizophrenics is with respect to different types of therapies. Although it is not the expressed purpose of this brief analysis to totally discredit the means by which such therapies can be usefully employed to affect the prevalence of schizophrenic behavior and/or exhibition of symptoms within the individual, it must be expressly noted that seeking to avert the symptoms of schizophrenia via counseling and therapy alone is not an effective means of providing a net benefit to the patient. Rather, the fact of the matter is that schizophrenia is a disorder that fundamentally affects the perception of reality that the individual is faced with each and every day. Although it is true that therapy and counseling can go a long way in helping these individuals separate fact from fiction with regards to what impulses and realities are actual and what impulses and realities are contrived as a result of the disorder, the bigger issue remains the fact that invariably the behavioral exhibitions that are caused by perceived stimuli from sensory information of the schizophrenia patient are entirely involuntary and cannot be controlled. Moreover, whereas there have been a few cases in which the individual with relatively mild forms of schizophrenia has been able to recognize what types of sensory information is real and true and what types are imagined, most cases are far more complex and require intervention utilizing a mixed methods approach. Although the analysis has thus far been rather hard on the idea of counseling as a means of treating schizophrenia, it must be understood that a solitary pharmacological approach is also not maximizing the best approach to treating schizophrenia (Meyer & Maccabe, 2012). Rather, a dual approach treatment plan is oftentimes the better path; depending upon the type and severity of the symptoms that are evidenced within the individual case of the patient. In such a way, seeking to promote a treatment plan that is solely focused upon either the pharmacological approach or the counseling approach is missing out on the confluence of utility that can be gained by leveraging both approaches simultaneously; in whatever ratio as is deemed necessary by the healthcare professionals seeking to effect a positive change in the situation at hand. Although the situation that has been defined may seem rather hopeless, the fact of the matter is that schizophrenia has been one of the many disorders that have come to be understood in a more full and complete manner as a result of extant knowledge and new developments within both clinical and pharmacological research. Whereas the pharmacological means of schizophrenia treatment were previously reliant upon antiquated approaches that sought to integrate chemically utilizing but a handful of different neurological pathways and dopamine inhibitors, recent research has opened up an array of schizophrenia drugs that are able to handle different degrees of the disorder to varying degrees. This nuanced approach is one of the most promising aspects of the current research and treatment that are currently exhibited. References Flanagan, E. H., Solomon, L., Johnson, A., Ridgway, P., Strauss, J. S., & Davidson, L. (2012). Considering DSM-5: The Personal Experience of Schizophrenia in Relation to the DSM-IV-TR Criteria. Psychiatry: Interpersonal & Biological Processes, 75(4), 375-386. doi:10.1521/psyc.2012.75.4.375 Kring, A., Johnson, S., Davison, G. and Neale, J. (2012). Abnormal psychology. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons. Myers, D. (2012). Psychology Tenth Edition in Modules. 10th ed. New York: Worth Publishers. Meyer, N. and Maccabe, J. (2012). Schizophrenia. Medicine, 40 (11), pp. 586-590. Read More