Schizophrenia_FinalPaper

SCHIZOPHRENIA 7

Schizophrenia

Introduction

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder, particularly when people tend to interpret reality in an unusual manner. This condition results in hallucinations and delusions, which impair the daily functioning of an individual and can be in most cases, disabling the chronic disease require lifelong treatment. A lot of research has been conducted on the issue of schizophrenia. Most medical practitioners have been included in programs, which are aimed at the development of disease interventions. The criteria used in this paper involve the evaluation of causes, symptoms, and interventions relevant to this program. This paper is a complete analysis of the condition as well as recommendations on the same. The primary objectives of most writers are to pass on information to writers about the topic under consideration.

Body

Onset

Most individuals are exposed to schizophrenia during the late adolescent and early adulthood period. These are the most critical years especially in a young adult’s life (Saldivia, 2009). In 40% of women, 23% are diagnosed with this condition, which mostly manifests itself before the age of 19. There is a need to minimize the disruption in development, through the discovery of means to treat this condition in a more efficient manner. Those who unfortunately develop schizophrenia may end up experiencing transient and self-limiting psychotic symptoms, which in turn affect the growth and development into late adulthood. Most children who end up developing schizophrenia portray decreased motor development, and decreased intelligence and more so, isolated play preference and poor school performance.

Causes

Environmental factors play a significant role in influencing the development of schizophrenia. Most people with a history of this condition have more than a 20% chance of being diagnosed with the same, a year or later. Key factors are discussed in this section;

Genetic factors

There is great difficulty in separating environmental and genetic influences about schizophrenia. The most significant risk factor for developing the condition is to have a first-degree relative with the disease. If a parent is infected, about 13% of the children are also at risk.

Environment

Environmental factors, which are associated with the condition, include parental stressors and drug use. The parenting style imposed on a child during development has no significant impact. However, people with supportive parents are bound to perform better as compared to those raised by hostile and the most critical parents (Fenton, 2010). Child trauma and the death of a parent may be a cause of this condition. In some people, schizophrenia and its development are related to the intestinal tract dysfunction and significant abnormalities.

Theoretical perspective

Numerous numbers of attempts, according to research, have been made with the purpose of explaining the main link between altered brain function and the condition. This part is categorized into psychological and neurological mechanisms, which have been proposed;

Psychological

Psychological mechanisms have been implicated especially in the maintenance of schizophrenia. One of the elements, which have been recognized in those at risk, is the aspect of cognitive biases. Stressful and complex situations are also considered. Recent research findings conclude that the content of delusional beliefs can be reflected by emotional elements and how a person interprets traumatic experiences. The use and application of safety behaviors especially for the purpose of neutralizing imagined threats is a case of chronic delusions.

Neurological mechanism

The disease is identified by the use of technologies namely MRI and PET. A lot of attention has been directed towards treatment of this condition. A lot of interest is also focused on reduced functions in the reception of the condition. A lot of medical interventions about performance tests.

Diagnosis and treatment

The American psychiatric association and the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders have come up with guidelines to help diagnose schizophrenia (Green, 2004). This criterion is based on the use of self-reported mechanisms. No objective tests have since then, been conducted about schizophrenia. Schizophrenia requires long life treatment and care. Treatment with medications and hospitalization is the best approach towards this condition.

Signs and symptoms of schizophrenia

The symptoms of schizophrenia include the following: Delusions that are associated with false beliefs. These mean that patients with this disease have the tendency to believe what is not happening to them in reality. Secondly, patients with this disease do hallucinate more often. The patients experience the full force and impact of a situation normally as if it is happening in reality. However, in a real sense, the situations they are in are merely not exciting at all. The most common form of hallucinations experienced by such patients is that they hear voices.

Another symptom is disorganized speech. Such patients do not respond to what is answered as they give unrelated answers to the questions asked. Moreover, such patients add to their speech words that do not have any meaning hence; other people cannot understand them. Communication for such patients is commonly impaired. Patients with this diseases lack the ability to function normally (Hammann, 2007). They do not experience interest in life. They may show a lack of interest in personal hygiene.

When in constant communication, the patient does not observe eye contact; they don’t show expressions and also have no tonal variations in his speech. For teenagers with the condition, they tend to withdrawal from friends and family. Such teenagers tend to stay all alone. Also, parents, with adolescent patients tend to have a drop performance in academics. This is because of the disorganized speech. Adolescent patients lack motivation. The motivation to do is activities are less? Such patients are not motivated at all even with their personal life. Schizophrenia needs to be specifically controlled to enhance the health of individuals, and at the same time, caregivers need to be explicitly aware of all developments of the chronic condition.

Conclusion

Individual therapy, social skills therapy, family therapy and vocal rehabilitation and supported employment are the primary methods used in treating and facilitating the interventions of schizophrenia. While most individuals require some form of support in daily activities, this condition is effectively treated where patients and caregivers are actively involved.

References

Harvey, P. D., Green, M. F., Keefe, R. S., & Velligan, D. I. (2004). Cognitive functioning in schizophrenia: a consensus statement on its role in the definition and evaluation of effective treatments for the illness. The Journal of clinical psychiatry.

Hamann, J., Cohen, R., Leucht, S., Busch, R., & Kissling, W. (2007). Shared decision making and long-term outcome in schizophrenia treatment. The Journal of clinical psychiatry, 68(7), 992-997.

Fenton, W. S., & Schooler, N. R. (2010). Evidence-based psychosocial treatment for schizophrenia.

Chisholm, D., Gureje, O., Saldivia, S., Villalón Calderón, M., Wickremasinghe, R., Mendis, N., ... & Saxena, S. (2008). Schizophrenia treatment in the developing world: an interregional and multinational cost-effectiveness analysis. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 86(7), 542-551.