Looking Deeper into Schizophrenia Essay Example

Looking Deeper into Schizophrenia Essay Schizophrenia is a never-ending, relentless and immobilizing or rendering the brain inoperative (National.., 2007). Approximately one percent of individuals living in the United States are affected by Schizophrenia (National.., 2007). Individuals who are diagnosed to have schizophrenia are typically fearful, withdrawn, as well as, agitated (National.., 2007). Such behaviors may be brought about by the fact that individuals suffering schizophrenia experience the following: 1) hear voices but other people do not; 2) belief that other people are reading their minds; 3) certainty that other individuals are controlling their mind; or 4) extremely feel that somebody wanted to hurt them (National.., 2007). The aforementioned are also the some of the reasons why: 1) if you hear them out closely, nothing they say seem to make sense; 2) they can sit for hours without moving or talking; or 3) appear alright that other people will only notice that there is something wrong when they begin to arti culate their thoughts (National.., 2007). The aforesaid facts confirm that countless individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia go through excruciating experiences including troubles in keeping their jobs, as well as, and especially, taking care of themselves (National.., 2007). This then affects not only the patients themselves, but their families and the society as well (National.., 2007).Meanwhile, history has it that Schizophrenia first emerged in 2000 BC (Wikipedia,2007). In 1893, Schizophrenia has been acknowledged by Kraepelin as mental disorder (Wikipedia, 2007).   The aforementioned disorder got its name from Eugene Blueler who strongly believes that there is an inadequacy of interface between perception and mental processes, thus he coined two Greek words which meant â€Å"split† and â€Å"mind† or shattered mind (Wikipedia, 2007). Furthermore, even before the symptoms has officially been stated or declared, Eugene Blueler already has said that it’s sy mptoms are the following: 1) â€Å"flattened affect†; 2) autism; 3) impaired association of ideas; and 4) ambivalence (Wikipedia, 2007). Interestingly, several years ago, schizophrenia’s only known cause is that it is said to be because of genetics or because it has been passed on from the first generation of the family to the succeeding ones (Wikipedia, 2007). Another extremely attention-grabbing fact with regards to the history of schizophrenia is that countless people were diagnosed to suffer from it before and that they were all annihilated in the Nazi program technically referred to as the â€Å"Operation T-4† (Wikipedia, 2007).Moreover, the first focus of this paper is on the causes of schizophrenia whichincludes: 1) genetic; 2) environment; 3) perinatal brain development; 4) childhood and adolescent development; 5) adult brain structure; 6) neuropsychology and brain function; 7) psychosocial factors; and 8) autoimmune theory (Wikipedia, 2007). Immediately after that, the signs and symptoms including the: 1) positive symptoms; 2) negative symptoms; as well as 3) cognitive symptoms will be briefly discussed also (National.., 2007).  Ã‚   Finally, treatment for schizophrenia will also be looked into (Wikipedia, 2007). Topics for this category entail: 1) medication; 2) dietary supplements; 3) neurological procedures; and 4) psychological and social interventions (Wikipedia, 2007).It is quite clear that schizophrenia affects the patients themselves, their families, aswell as, the entire society, thus, it is exceedingly important to reintroduce the causes, symptoms, as well as, treatment for schizophrenia, which this paper intends to do so.Causes, Symptoms, and TreatmentThere are several causes of schizophrenia and some of these are the following:1) Genetic – Experts claim that schizophrenia may be inherited (Wikipedia, 2007). This resulted from the research results wherein it can be deduced that there is a twenty eight percent c hance for a twin to develop schizophrenia if the other one already acquired it (Wikipedia, 2007).2) Environment – Researchers say that traumatic experiences, for instance, physical abuse during childhood causes schizophrenia (Wikipedia, 2007). Furthermore, negative treatments including, controlling attitude, aggression, lack of sympathy etc also triggers schizophrenia (Wikipedia, 2007). Moreover, stressful experiences including loss of a job, inadequacy of money, discrimination etc also leads to schizophrenia (Wikipedia, 2007).3) Perinatal brain development – It is said that if there are infections that emerged during the third trimester of pregnancy then it is possible that later schizophrenia will develop (Wikipedia, 2007). Prenatal negative experiences including psychological trauma may also trigger schizophrenia (Wikipedia, 2007).4) Childhood and adolescent development – Experts say that since schizophrenia typically develops during late adolescence and earl y adulthood, it may then be said that when the stage of childhood end, schizophrenia may already present itself (Wikipedia, 2007).5) Adult brain structure – It is said that there are certain size and structure of the regions of the brain that may cause the development of Schizophrenia (Wikipedia, 2007).6) Neuropsychology and brain function – Scientists say that functional disparities in mind activity influence the emergence of schizophrenia (Wikipedia, 2007).7) Psychosocial factors – Experts state that people who go through emotional stress, exceedingly confusing situations, depression, inferiority complex, difficulties in concentrating/listening etc are more bound to develop schizophrenia (Wikipedia, 2007).8) Autoimmune theory – It is also said that autoimmunity causes schizophrenia (Wikipedia, 2007). This is where the organism malfunctions and will not be able to identify itself causing it to go against its own cells and tissues (Wikipedia, 2007).Of cou rse, there are also a number of signs and symptoms that may be spotted to know if an individual suffers from schizophrenia and some of these are the following:1) Positive symptoms – If an individual is observed to be having delusions, hallucinations, then he may be suffering from schizophrenia (National.., 2007). In addition to that, if his or her thoughts are in extreme disorder and his or her physical movements are in disarray as well, then he or she may be diagnosed as having schizophrenia (National.., 2007).2) Negative symptoms – If a person who is not by nature lazy or is not suffering from depression and yet finds it difficult to articulate his or her emotions, find and pinpoint what will make him or her happy, and cannot make plans on his or her own   then he or she may be schizophrenic (National.., 2007).3) Cognitive symptoms – If an individual have a difficulty trying to focus, encounter memoryEven though the aforementioned causes and symptoms are sca ry, it is extremelyfortunate that there are ways to manage/treat the aforementioned disease. Some of these are the following:1) Medications, which are usually antipsychotic, including dopamine system stabilizers or agonists (Wikipedia, 2007).2) Dietary supplements like omega-3 fatty acids, alpha lipoic acid, d-sarcosine, glycine, folate, vitamin A, vitamin C, as well as, vitamin E (Wikipedia, 2007).3) Neurological procedures like electroshock and psychosurgery (Wikipedia, 2007).4) Psychological and social interventions like cognitive behavioral therapy, cognitive remediation therapy, music therapy, psychological education for the whole family and psychotherapy (Wikipedia, 2007).ConclusionThis paper intends to reintroduce the causes, symptoms, as well as, treatment forSchizophrenia. It has been carried out because of the fact that it affects the patients themselves, their families, and the whole of society.Furthermore, this paper is very important because it plays a large role in the reintroduction of the topics on the basic information about schizophrenia. It will not only remind individuals but will also help them familiarize themselves with the following:   First of all, schizophrenia is brought about by the following: 1) genetic; 2) environment; 3) perinatal brain development; 4) childhood and adolescent development; 5) adult brain structure; 6) neuropsychology and brain function; 7) psychosocial factors; and 8) autoimmune theory (Wikipedia, 2007). Secondly, the symptoms are known as: 1) positive; 2) negative; as well as 3) cognitive (National.., 2007). Finally, that it may be treated/managed through: 1) medication; 2) dietary supplements; 3) neurological procedures; and 4) psychological and social interventions (Wikipedia, 2007).On a final note, it is also good to mentioned that there are also several researches conducted that may be extremely helpful in the future. Some of these are the following:A) Acupuncture for schizophreniaDescription of Study: This particular study entitled, â€Å"Acupuncture for Schizophrenia†, looks into a treatment wherein extremely thin needles are placed just underneath the surface of the skin throughout the body. It seeks to provide evidence to clinicians, as well as, patients with regards to the benefits of acupuncture in schizophrenia (Rathbone et. al., 2006).Methodology: independent extraction of data/randomized controlled trialTreatment Protocol: acupuncture/electro-acupuncture/laser-acupuncture/no treatment/antipsychotic drugsFindings/Results:The researchers conclude that acupuncture can not be proposed and suggested for people suffering from schizophrenia because of inadequate substantiation (Rathbone et. al., 2006).B) Amisulpride for SchizophreniaDescription of Study:This experiment scrutinizes the selective dopamine antagonist, Amisulpride (Mota Neto et. al., 2002). It aims to assess its effects (Mota Neto et. al., 2002). It also intends to compare it with placebo, typical, as well as, at ypical antipsychotic drugs for schizophrenia (Mota Neto et. al., 2002).Methodology: randomized controlled trialTreatment Protocol: amisulprideFindings/Results:Researchers conclude that Amisulpride brings about improvement in the general negative symptoms of people suffering from Schizophrenia (Mota Neto et. al., 2002). Researchers also claim that as compared with high-potency typical antipsychotics, amisulpride may offer better outcomes (Mota Neto et. al., 2002).ReferencesNational Institute of Mental Health. (2007). Schizophrenia. Retrieved April 13, 2007 fromhttp://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/schizoph.cfm#definitionMota Neto, J.I.S., Lima, M.S. Suarea, B.G.O. (2005). Amisulpride for Schizophrenia.The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, volume # 2, n.p.Rathbone, J. Xia, J. (2005). Acupuncture for Schizophrenia. The Cochrane Databaseof Systematic Reviews, volume # 1, n.p.Wikipedia. (2007). Schizophrenia. Retrieved April 13, 2007 fromhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizophrenia#Cau ses