The cause of schizophrenia is unknown however, researchers believe that a combination of genetics, environment, and brain chemistry contribute to the development of the disorder. It tends to run in families. One inherits a tendency to develop the disease. Schizophrenia may also be triggered by environmental factors. People with schizophrenia have an imbalance of brain chemicals which are neurotransmitters. These neurotransmitters allow nerve cells to send messages to each other. The imbalance of these chemicals affects the way an individual’s brain react to stimuli. This explains why patients with schizophrenia may be overwhelmed with sensory information. This can also lead to delusions and hallucinations (“What Causes”). According to …show more content…
Treatment for schizophrenia is less effective for individuals abusing substances. Drugs such as marijuana and stimulants such as amphetamines or cocaine, may make symptoms worse. Use of these drugs during schizophrenia treatment can greatly reduce the effectiveness of treatments. It may also delay or prevent any improvement in an individual’s mental health. Individuals with schizophrenia who abuse drugs are significantly more likely to skip their treatments than other individuals with the disorder (“What About”). People with schizophrenia seem to be driven to smoke. Several studies have found that smoking may make antipsychotic drugs less effective. Quitting smoking may be very difficult for people with schizophrenia because nicotine withdrawal may cause their psychotic symptoms to get worse for a while. Quitting strategies that include nicotine replacement methods may be easier for patients to handle. There are many places that will offer treatment for drug addiction and can help one deal with this lifelong disorder. Doctors must address the two problems together and find treatment for them at the same time. There are many places that will offer treatment for drug addiction and the mental …show more content…
Family members can make a huge difference by helping their loved one find the right treatment, and cope with symptoms. The disorder can also be tough on families. Individuals with schizophrenia usually have difficulty keeping a job and caring for themselves. They rely on family and friends for help. It may be scary, frustrating, or hopeless trying to live with a family member who has this disorder. The illness is sometimes difficult for one to accept. One may be confused and embarrassed by strange behaviors they don’t understand. One may even try to hide their loved one’s illness from others. It’s important to accept the illness and its difficulties, be realistic in what one expects of the individual with schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is an ominous word often associated with psychosis, delusions, as well as paranoia. Society supposedly understands how horrible symptoms like these make schizophrenia one of the worst mental diseases that one could live with, and the story of Elyn Saks is definitely no exception. In the memoir The Center Cannot Hold, Elyn R. Saks brings her readers through the harsh realities of living with schizophrenia, while also dealing with the stresses associated with high school, getting a college degree, while still maintaining relationships with family and friends. Saks had inadequate care as a child when her symptoms first began appearing, and being transferred through countries following school, and being passed from doctor to doctor
One way that they are different, they become more addicted to nicotine by 60% than people without schizophrenia. This makes it even harder to quit smoking, not only because they are more addicted to it, but also because quitting may make their already existing symptoms worse. This mental disorder cause people with it to have an altered perception of reality. They cannot differentiate between reality and their own imagination.
In rare cases, heavy users have reportedly experienced amphetamine psychosis. Those who overdose are most likely to suffer from amphetamine psychosis, this condition is characterized by delusional thoughts, paranoia, and even hallucinations. Current statistics project that the number of people treated for amphetamine psychosis that never completely recover could be as much as 15 percent
In Mr. Kaczynski's case, the two most effective treatments would be either drug therapy or group therapy. Drug therapy would undoubtedly be an effective measure in minimizing the effect that schizophrenia has Mr. Kaczynski’s life. Drugs such as Prochlorperazine and Reserpine help alleviate the symptoms of schizophrenia by acting as dopamine antagonists within the brain. Since schizophrenia is thought to arise more severely with an excess amount of dopamine within the brain, dopamine antagonists would help decrease the effect that an excess of dopamine would incur. Furthemore, medication such as these drugs are extremely effective and can be taken on a regular basis without impeding too much on day to day life.
Doctors must also rule out drug and alcohol use by running test and may have to do imaging scan of the brain by MRI or CT scan. An evaluation of schizophrenia is come to through an assessment of particular signs and indications, as depicted in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5). According to Doble, the DSM-5 expresses that the criteria for schizophrenia must have two or more of the dynamic stage side effects, each going on for a huge bit of no less than a one-month time span: daydreams, mind flights, disrupted discourse, horribly scattered or mental conduct, and negative symptoms. At slightest one of the qualifying manifestations must be fancies, pipedreams, or confused speech
In recent years, the general trend has progressed towards the biogenetic endorsement of Schizophrenia. The biogenetic model focuses on combining two previous models, genetic and biological, into one coherent framework (Angermeyer et al 152). By doing this, the hope that the negatives of one model would be balanced out with the positives of the other model. For example, a consequence of endorsing the genetic model was a phenomena called genetic essentialism. In a case study by Nicolas Rusch, he defines genetic essentialism as a mindset that “…implies that genes are the unchangeable basis of a person’s identity…” which subsequently increased the prejudice against the diagnosed (Rusch pg 328).
Typical antipsychotics affect the central nervous system differently than atypical antipsychotics. The central nervous system (CNS) is made up of the brain and spinal cord, and controls our thoughts emotions and actions. Neurotransmitters control these actions and travel between different areas in the brain through nerve cells called neurons, and within these nerve cells, there are several different neurotransmitters that use different receptors. Antipsychotic drugs work by blocking the D2 dopamine receptor. Typical antipsychotic medications, however, block the D2 receptor, which decreases the positive symptoms of schizophrenia, but also block certain D2 receptors that are located outside of the mesolimbic pathway, a dopaminergic pathway in the brain that begins in the ventral tegmental area of the midbrain and connects to the nucleus accumbens.
People with schizophrenia often don't realize that they are unwell or struggling from a mental disorder so they neglect the fact and continuously suffer by themselves. Which is why it's important for people to have friends or family to watch over them. Unfortunately some people don't have people to rely on or take care of them.
Patients were treated in this way due the lack of understanding of the neurochemical aspect of Schizophrenia rather than the biological expression of the disorder. With the recent advances in understanding and abilities to see the chemical difference between a person with and without Schizophrenia makes it easier for scientists to understand where the problems lay thus bring one step closer to a solution. In recent years, particular attention has been paid to the function of dopamine in the mesolimbic pathway of the brain. This focus largely resulted from the accidental finding that phenothiazine drugs, which block dopamine function, could reduce psychotic symptoms. It is also supported by the fact that amphetamines, which trigger the release of dopamine, may exacerbate the psychotic symptoms in
For any schizophrenic person, they may have had a very discouraging childhood, which will carry with them through the mental illness, making them depressed among other causes. Luckily, a combination of nature and nurture is necessary to be exposed toward the chances of being diagnosed with
The effects of this type of drug can be defined as drug-induced psychosis — misinterpretation and confusion relating to a person’s ability to perceive reality, think
What are some thoughts that come to mind when a person brings up the word schizophrenia? According to Ford-Martin, “Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder or group of disorders marked by disturbances in thinking, emotional responsiveness, and behavior” (2139). The character, Alice, from the film, Alice in Wonderland is a perfect example of schizophrenia, and the director, Tim Burton, further emphasizes the disorder by his use of film techniques. One characteristic of schizophrenia is delusions. According to Fallon, “The delusions of paranoid schizophrenics usually involve thoughts of being persecuted or harmed by others or exaggerated opinions of their own importance, but may also reflect feelings of jealousy or excessive religiosity” (2957).
Literature review Symptom types of Schizophrenia Schizophrenia is generally divided according to symptom types. The symptoms of schizophrenia have been divided into three specific complexes (i.e., positive symptoms, negative symptoms and cognitive deficits; Buchanan, 2007), while others use a dichotomous model, such as type I and type II Schizophrenia (Crow, 1980) that roughly corresponds to positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia (Andreasen, 1982). Positive symptoms were characterized over the past 150 years by active excesses in normal functioning; while negative symptoms of schizophrenia are characterized by a loss of normal functioning (Berrios, 1985; Rector, Beck & Stolar, 2005). Hence, while there are different symptom types, all typologies and dimensional models acknowledge negative symptoms. Negative symptoms of schizophrenia are thought to be a marker of dysfunction and cognitive impairments (Rabinowtiz et al., 2012).
Drugs are substances that trigger temporary changes in the body which may result in such a pleasurable and relaxing effect. Some of the types can slow down the nervous system’s action, while other types can have the exact opposite effect; spurring the nervous system into rapid action. Drugs are connected to cravings or addiction since a person’s body starts yearning for drugs after he or she has taken it for a while. Drugs affect consciousness significantly! They may cause people to hear or see things that aren’t real (hallucinations), experiencing mood swings, or may even distort people’s perceptions.
The symptoms are being divided into negative and positive which include hallucinations, delusions, behavior and disorganized speech. The latter symptoms include avolition, alogia, affective flattening and asociality (MHA, 2014). There is no clear cause of schizophrenia. Some theories about the cause of this disease include genetics, biology and possible viral infections and immune disorders. Scientist have been able to prove this disorder runs in families.