Schizophrenia

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. 

Mood Disorders

I was reading up on the different anti-depressants out there. I came upon an atypical antidepressant; something not categorized with SSRI’s, MAOI’s, or Tryciclic antidepressants. This antidepressant is called St. Johns wort, and it is an herb. It is, however, marketed as a nutritional supplement instead of a drug; which means that the USDA cannot and does not regulate it. Also, the purity of this “magical herb” varies from bottle to bottle, like others would as well.

An advantage of this is that it is less expensive than antidepressant drugs, also that it is available without a prescription; this may be advantageous or disadvantageous. It can be attained easily but can also be misused, and its effectiveness appears to be about the same as a typical antidepressant. It, however, has potentially dangerous side effects, as it increases the effectiveness of a liver enzyme that breaks down plant toxins. This may sound like a good thing, but it may also break down most medicines. Therefore, taking this can decrease the effectiveness of other drugs such as, AIDS drugs, cancer drugs, and other antidepressant drugs. This also decreases the effects of contraceptive medicines.

There is some scientific evidence that St. John’s wort may be helpful in treating minor depression, but the benefit seems similar to that of antidepressants. However, two large studies showed that the herb was no more effective than a placebo treating major depression of moderate severity. St. John’s wort is often taken in liquid or pill form, but may also be used as a tea. The most common dose in these studies has been 300 mg, three times a day. For a long time, investigators thought a chemical in St. John’s wort called hypericin was responsible for its effects, but more recent information suggests another chemical called hyperforin may play a larger role. Hypericin and hyperforin act on chemical messengers in the nervous system that regulate mood.

This “medicine” is possibly unsafe when taken by mouth in large doses, and might cause severe reactions to sun exposure. There are a lot of special precautions and warnings, and it also decreases the effects of some other medicines. There is a long list of the different medications you cannot take along with St. John’s wort. It could be good to take if you think it might help, however you should always consult with your doctor before taking any medicine. 

This video explains something that I actually forgot. It has additive effects that cause serotonin syndrome. Even if she is a bit monotone, she explains it perfectly! 

Stress & Emotions

It seems that everybody has some kind of stress that they’re dealing with. Whether it’s school, work, or your kids everyone has something.  A few months ago I was in a small car accident. I was waiting at a red light when I saw the car behind me going much faster than I would have liked, the reason for this was, I later found out, that his breaks had given out and he was going to crash into whatever was in front of him. Which happened to be me. The next day, while driving, I was terrified that for some reason it would happen again. Whenever I was waiting at a red light and I would see a car coming behind me I would drive just a couple inches forward, for if he did hit me it wouldn’t be as bad. I know that sounds crazy but that was the logic I used. This went on for a couple more days, but it soon died out and I was back to driving normally.

I know this incident isn’t as big as I made it out to be, but just imagine it being much greater and not being able to get over it in a matter of days. Imagine if it took you many years to get over a single moment. Well my fellow readers; that is what I’m going to talk about.  Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD for short, occurs in people who have endured terrifying experiences, such as a life-threatening attack, or an incredible accident. This happens a lot with soldiers after the war. They suddenly wake up in a cold sweat after having terrible nightmares of what they experienced while they were in war. Symptoms of PTSD are lumped into three main categories, including:

1. Reliving: People with PTSD repeatedly relive the ordeal through thoughts and memories of the trauma. These include flashbacks, hallucinations, and nightmares. They may also feel great distress when certain things remind them of the trauma.

2. Avoiding: The person may avoid people, places, thoughts, or situations that may remind him or her of the trauma. This can lead to feelings of detachment and isolation from friends and family.

3. Increased arousal: These include excessive emotions; problems relating to others, including feeling or showing affection; difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep; and being “jumpy”. There may also be physical symptoms, such as nausea, muscle tension, rapid breathing, and diarrhea.

Not everybody who witnesses a trauma will develop PTSD. The type of support a person receives from family and friends may influence the development or the severity of the symptoms. An estimated 7.8 million Americans will experience some form of PTSD at some point in their lives. About 3.6% or adult Americans suffer from PTSD during the course of a year. Personally, I think the best treatment for PTSD is psychotherapy. This involves the person learning skills to manage symptoms and develop ways of coping, and also helps the person work through the fears associated with the traumatic event. There are a variety of psychotherapy approaches that are used to treat people with PTSD, all of which work very well. 

This video is so great and shows exactly what I mentioned about this happening mostly with soldiers.