Comparative Analysis - Essay Example

Comparative Analysis of the Psychology of the Concerned August 24, Comparative Analysis Schizophrenia is mostly characterized by a severing of contact with the realities of life, usually addressed as psychosis (Butcher, 2002). I believe that Alice is suffering from schizophrenia. If one delves into epidemiology aspects of schizophrenia, the incidence of schizophrenia is more common in people affiliated to low socio-economic status as the patients usually tend to drift down the socio-economic scale before the symptoms of schizophrenia get manifested (Gill, 2007, p. 42)). The disheveled and unkempt state of Alice is indicative of this.

As per the opinion held by DSM-IV-TR, a person could be diagnosed of schizophrenia if he or she evinces two or more of the symptoms, on a frequent basis during a month that are hallucinations, delusions, inability to hold on to an organized speech pattern, or an inability to lead a patterned and organized life (Butcher, 2002). Alice is evincing all such symptoms as she believes that the police have stolen her child and recognizes a doll as being her real baby. Many a times the patients suffering from schizophrenia first surface after a contact with the criminal justice system as happened in the case of Alice (Gill, 2007, p. 49). Indulgence in drugs, alcohol and substance abuse tends to be quiet frequent in cases of schizophrenia (Gill, 2009, p. 49). Alice also smells of alcohol.

People suffering from schizophrenia are commonly found to be ailing from Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) (Drake, 2002). Roughly speaking, in 50 percent cases of schizophrenia, the patients tend to have ‘schizoid’ features manifested as eccentricity, asyndetic thinking and social isolation (Gill, 2007, p. 48). Schizoid features may also be manifested as a tendency to remain alone and feeling uncomfortable in the presence of a company, harboring a life based on vivid fantasies, a feeling of being cut off from the people and evincing an attitude of distrust with regards to people, feeling quiet vulnerable, etc (Gill, 2007).

In that sense, Alice when interviewed tends to be minimal in her response and her answers lack any discernible meaning or coherence. The patients of schizophrenia show low and compromised standards of self care (Gill, 2007, p. 49). The infected and uncared for sores on Alice’s feet are indicative of this. ReferencesButcher, James N. (2002). Abnormal Psychology. VitalSource Bookshelf. Pearson Learning Solution. Retrieved August 24, 2012, from: http://digitalbookshelf.argosy.edu/books/0558241484/outline/13Drake, R. (2002). Co-occurring Alcohol use Disorder and Schizophrenia.

Retrieved August 24, 2012, from: http://www.athealth.com/Consumer/disorders/schizophreniaalcohol.htmlGill, David. (2007). Hughes’ Outline of Modern Psychiatry. New York: John Wiley & Sons.