Schizophrenia

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Schizophrenia

Introduction

It is a chronic and stark mental disorder that affects a person's thinking, feeling, and behavior. These people have no association with reality as they have false dogmas and confused thinking. Sometimes, they may feel that they are hearing voices that do not exist. Moreover, they may also have many more mental health problems such as nervousness as well as sadness. Due to highly disordered thought process, they often say odd things, show inappropriate emotions as well as move their bodies in peculiar ways. Hence, these people are mostly socially withdrawn and isolated.

Discussion

Causes

One of the main causes of Schizophrenia is genes. The disease finds its application in the genetic predisposition and people can inherit this disease. However, scientists have not got any proof of involvement of any single gene (Foster). It is believed that certain genes increase the risk of schizophrenia and people having these genes are at more risk of disease. For example, identical twins have the highest ratio of this disease. Moreover, risk in fraternal twins is also high as well as in children and siblings.

Similarly, people with Schizophrenia have structural brain abnormalities, explicitly enlarged ventricles. Their enlargement is the result of deterioration in brain functions. Schizophrenia progression in a patient damages the brain and results in severe symptoms. Furthermore, certain neurotransmitters are also found to link with the disease. Their presence or absence leads to the development of different symptoms in patients (Laura A. King). For example, if a person faces problems in regulations of the amount of dopamine production, then he can suffer from the disease (Foster). Likewise, the Glutamine amount is directly linked with the development and progression of the disease. Glutamine in a human is responsible for sending the excitement messages and drugs that are used to treat the disease cause an upsurge in the amount of the amino acid.

Moreover, different psychological factors are also responsible for increasing the symptoms. For instance, some children may have unresponsive parents and do not have good childhood experiences. This causes stress in these people and ultimately leads to the progress of different indicators of the disease in people. In addition, different sociocultural factors are also there that affect the state of the disease, although they are not directly responsible for the disease. Developing and non-industrialized cultures play an important role in lessening the symptoms of the disease as compared to the positive role of the industrialized cultures.

Symptoms

Schizophrenia symptoms get severe gradually starting from young adulthood and never resolving till the end. Its symptoms are classified as positive, negative and cognitive deficits

(Marder and Galderisi p.14). Positive symptoms refer to distortion of normal functions in the form of hallucinations, delusions and movement disorders. Hallucinations are the sensory experiences that a person practices in the absence of real stimuli. For example, a person can be seen complaining about hearing different voices (Laura A. King). Moreover, the grumping can be about tastes and smells. Likewise, delusions refer to false and unusual opinions that are not included in any person's cultural beliefs. With this, a person may also have movement disorders comprising unusual movements; body movements and facial expressions.

On the other hand, negative symptoms refer to a decrease in the normal functions of a person, resulting in people's social withdrawal and behavioral deficits (Marder and Galderisi p.14). Likewise, cognitive symptoms refer to deficits in executive functioning such as trouble in sustaining attention as well as incapability to construe evidence.

Treatment

It is also observed that there is not an accurate practical measure to deal with the issue of schizophrenia. People suffering from this disease need lifetime treatment (Gillespie p.12). If the treatment is provided at an earlier stage, then it is more beneficial for patients as symptoms mostly get under control. However, later stage or delayed treatments can lead to severe difficulties. Hence, adoption and proper implementation of the treatment plan can be a helpful approach to prevent the extreme complications of this psychological issue. It is also noteworthy to consider that gaining more knowledge about the risk aspects of this disease can be assistive to earlier identification of this concern and better treatment.

Conclusion

Schizophrenia is a grave mental illness that changes people's normal behavior. They start interpreting veracity peculiarly. This can be in the form of hallucinations, delusions, and exceptionally messy thinking and behavior. This affects the daily functioning of people. Moreover, the exact cause of this disease is not known (Laura A. King). Certain factors are associated with the disease that have the potential of increasing the risk of the disease. People may have a family history of schizophrenia and have more chances of getting this disease in their childhood.

Similarly, if the immune system is extremely activated as a result of any inflammation or autoimmune disease, then there are also chances of getting the disease. Likewise, some people are also in the habit of having mind-altering drugs during their teen years and may get this disease. Former research studies indicate that the disproportions in the form of complex, interlinked chemical reactions of the brain eventually associate with the neurotransmitters. The imbalance approach can also be observed as dopamine and glutamate that ultimately leads to the issue of schizophrenia.

It is also argued by some researchers that the approach of brain development before birth may also be the cause of defective associations. Extensive changes in the case of brain functioning can also be observed during the phase of puberty. The alterations of brain operations during this phase can also be the reason for psychotic symptoms specifically for the individuals who are vulnerable due to the aspects of genetics or brain differences.

Works Cited

Foster, H. D. What Causes Schizophrenia. Trafford Publishing, 2003, https://books.google.com/books?id=F90i_FOSvbEC.

Gillespie, Amy L., et al. “Is Treatment-Resistant Schizophrenia Categorically Distinct from Treatment-Responsive Schizophrenia? A Systematic Review.” BMC Psychiatry, vol. 17, no. 1, 2017, p. 12.

Laura A. King, P. King, The Science of Psychology (NASTA Reinforced High School Binding). McGraw-Hill Education, 2010, https://books.google.com/books?id=1hMIYgEACAAJ.

Marder, Stephen R., and Silvana Galderisi. “The Current Conceptualization of Negative Symptoms in Schizophrenia.” World Psychiatry, vol. 16, no. 1, 2017, pp. 14–24.