What is Schizophrenia? While many of us are not aware of what exactly it is, one out of every hundred person in America has it. The reason why I chose to write a paper on this topic is because my cousin is suffering from this disorder. Although the word Schizophrenia comes from the Greek words "split" and "mind," Schizophrenics do not have split personalities. This misunderstanding has caused many people to misuse the term schizophrenia. The "split mind" refers to the way that schizophrenics are split off from reality; schizophrenics cannot tell what is real and what is not real.
Schizophrenia affects men and women in equal numbers; although on average, men appear to develop schizophrenia earlier than women. Generally, men show the first signs of schizophrenia in their mid 20s and women show the first signs in their late 20s. Schizophrenia has a tremendous cost to society, estimated at $32.5 billion per year in the US. (Keefe 104) The behavior of people with schizophrenia is often very strange and shocking. This change in behavior, when people cannot tell the difference between what is real and what is not, is called "psychosis" or a "psychotic episode." The American Psychiatric Association has published guidelines that are used to classify people with mental disorders. There are a lot of symptoms associated with schizophrenia. Some of the symptoms are as follows:.
1. Delusions, bizarre, false beliefs .
These beliefs seem real to the person with schizophrenia, but they are not real. For example, a person may believe that aliens or spies are controlling his or her behavior, mind and thoughts. Sometimes these delusions can be paranoid in nature. People with paranoia have an unreal fear or suspicion that someone is "out to get them." Delusions may also be of grandiosity. In these cases, people believe that they are someone important like a president, king or prime minister. .
2. Hallucinations:.
It is a disorder called schizophrenia. ... Schizophrenics are not able to tell the difference between what is real and what is their imagination. The exact cause of schizophrenia is not known. ... There have been causes where only one of the identical twins has schizophrenia. ... There are many theories about the causes of schizophrenia. ...
The word schizophrenia means a splitting of the mind. ... Schizophrenia is one of the most common mental disorders. ... Physicians do not know the cause of schizophrenia. ... In 1896, the German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin grouped what were previously considered unrelated mental diseases under the term dementia praecox. ... The cause of schizophrenia is unknown. ...
Schizophrenia Introduction Schizophrenia is a chronic, severe, disabling brain disease that affects approximately one percent of the population. ... Signs and Symptoms of Schizophrenia Generally, schizophrenia's onset is in adolescence or young adulthood. Schizophrenia affects young men just as much as young women. ... Delusions are also common in those with schizophrenia. ... The afflicted person may hear voices telling them of danger or telling them what to do. ...
Schizophrenia is a disease that takes over your brain. ... Schizophrenia emerges at different times in men and women. ... Because people with Schizophrenia cannot grasp the cause of what is affecting them, they do not believe they are sick. ... I hope this paper has cleared up a few questions about schizophrenia. ... "New Hope for People With Schizophrenia." ...
People with schizophrenia describe strange of unrealistic thoughts. ... Phrases seem disconnected, and ideas move from topic to topic with no logical pattern in what is being said. ... They may believe that their thoughts are being controlled by others or that everyone knows what they are thinking. ... Catatonic schizophrenia is marked by striking motor behavior. ... Schizophrenia seems to be a syndrome of multiple causes and types. ...
Types of Schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a group of disorders that are characterized by the loss of contact with reality, and the marked disturbances of thought and perception as well as bizarre behavior. ... The first subtype of schizophrenia that I will be discussing is the paranoid subtype. ... The next subtype of schizophrenia is the disorganized type. ... Catatonic schizophrenia is another subtype. ... Other symptoms associated with the catatonic subtype include an almost parrot-like repeating of what another person is saying or mimicking the movements of another person. ...
Oddly enough, although this individual may seem not to be attending to the environment around him, when he later returns to a normal state of consciousness he will remember in detail what has occurred (Fortinash and Holoday-Worret, 1995). ... Schizophrenia appears to be extremely complex. What is clear is that schizophrenia is a disease that makes it difficult for the individual with the illness to decide what is real and what is not real. ... Because these individuals are experiencing perceptual difficulties, distinguishing what is reality and what is not, the individual who is ill often...
There are many ways to define what schizophrenia is, not only by what the illness truly is to the different forms of schizophrenia, which includes paranoid schizophrenia, catatonic schizophrenia, disorganized schizophrenia and undifferentiated schizophrenia. I will be focusing on what schizophrenia in general is: what the true definition of this common mental illness. ... Schizophrenia is a disease of the brain, which can be one of the most disabling and emotionally devastating illnesses known to humans. ... Schizophrenia deals with an individual who is hearing voices or seeing things that...
(MHA, 'What You Should Know About Mental Illness') More specifically, 1 in 100 Americans will suffer from schizophrenia. ... (MHA, 'Facts on Schizophrenia') When schizophrenia is literally translated it means, "split mind". ... (Psychology Eighth Edition) These symptoms are what make schizophrenia such an unbelievably hard illness/disorder to live with. What are the symptoms? ... (WebMD) The distinction between reality and imagination, between what is real and what is not real, is unclear to a schizophrenic person. ...