I was reading some stuff for my physiological psychology
course, and I came upon schizophrenia. I’ve always thought schizophrenia was an
immensely interesting but horrible disease. I have also done very much research
on it. During my junior year, while taking my research methods course, I did a
9 page research paper on this topic and I still felt like I needed more. Basically,
I can’t think of a more interesting topic to write a blog about.
Schizophrenia, or dementia praecox, is a split between the
emotional and intellectual aspects of experience. For example, someone might
laugh for no apparent reason or show no reaction to horrible news. There are
various types of schizophrenia, each with different symptoms. Paranoid
schizophrenia is a type of schizophrenia where people live with the fear that
someone will try to hurt them and they are also very anxious about many things.
Disorganized types have problems with their thinking and how they organize
their thoughts. These are the patients who talk in “word salads”. Where you
can’t understand anything they are saying, but they’re talking without a stop. They
also, at many times, experience childlike behavior. Catatonic types are usually
less responsive to others. Their muscles and posture become very rigid. Undifferentiated
types may have symptoms of one or more types of schizophrenia. Residual types
experience some symptoms but not as many as those who have very serious
schizophrenia.
There are many things that can be the cause of
schizophrenia; from the environment of the womb of the mother during pregnancy,
to everyday stress, to drug use, to virus exposure, and even to head injuries
during child hood. The symptoms are divided into two major categories; positive
and negative symptoms. Positive symptoms are those that are present but
shouldn’t be, for example hallucinations or delusions. Negative symptoms are
those that aren’t present that should be, for example grossly disorganized
behavior, flat affect, and a deficiency in speech and psychomotor retardation.
Thankfully, there are many different medications available.
One of the options is psychosocial treatment. This treatment includes,
individual psychotherapy, group therapy, family therapy, and community support
systems. Another treatment is antipsychotic medications, which is the most
common type of medical treatment available. Patients taking atypical
antipsychotic medications, as opposed to typical antipsychotic medications,
appear to be more cooperative.
This is a terrible, terrible disease that I would not wish
on my worst enemy. I can’t imagine this especially in children. Seeing videos
of children with schizophrenia is traumatizing, to say the least. Some can’t
even live in the same household as their siblings for fear of them hurting each
other.
This disorder is truly something terrible, I couldn't imagine living in a world where I would not be able to differentiate the difference between reality and imaginary. From what I know of this disorder one of the most common symptoms is that of auditory hallucinations, basically what this means is that they hear things that aren't real, such as voices telling them stuff about themselves and others. As it stands I can barely stand to listen to people in real life, I would be driven insane if I had to constantly listen to people that aren't truly there.
ReplyDeleteThe presentation and the information of this blog is great. I have also found this topic to be quite fascinating and I loved how you took the time to explain briefly what the different types of schizophrenia are. I recently saw this simulation video on how schizophrenia is like. Of course this video is maybe 5 minutes long, but throughout those five minutes I got very stressed out because I felt I couldn't hear myself think. I've watched many documentaries of individuals dealing with schizophrenia and it seems to be something VERY hard not just for them but for their families.
ReplyDeleteMore awareness is needed for this disorder. I'll be honest, before this assignment I had no real idea of what schizophrenia was. I knew the term and the basic concept, but I didn't know much more after that.
In the text it talks about how were not really sure what is the cause of schizophrenia. There are many hypothesis and ideas that have been tested and suggested, and yes most of them seem to be IT, but there are so many factors that need to be taken into consideration that its still not "crystal clear". From gene mutation, neurotransmitters, to the neonatal and prenatal environment, schizophrenia is still pretty much a mystery
.Yes, medication is available for individuals with schizophrenia, but i hope that one day we develop something more that doesn't suppress it, but rather cures it and possibly eradicate it from individuals.