Schizophrenia and Useful Tool Essay

Submitted By jcoc
Words: 433
Pages: 2
Open Document
Schizophrenia is a psychological disorder also known as a disabling disorder characterized by perceptual, emotional, and intellectual deficits, loss of contact with reality, and inability to function in life. An estimated 3 million Americans will develop schizophrenia during their lifetime. 100,000 patients take up 20% of psychiatric beds in the U.S. Many more receive outpatient care. Schizophrenia is a psychosis, which means the individual has severe disturbances of reality, orientation, and thinking. The schizophrenic has some combination of several symptoms: Hallucinations which internally generated perceptual experiences, such as voices telling the person what to do. Delusion which cause false, unfounded beliefs, such as that one is a messenger from God. Paranoia is characterized by delusions of persecution, disordered thought, inappropriate emotions or lack of emotion, and social withdrawal.
Schizophrenics are usually subdivided into diagnostic categories based on which of these symptoms is predominant, such as paranoid or catatonic.
Schizophrenia afflicts men and women about equally often. Men usually show the first symptoms during the teens or twenties, while the onset for women ordinarily comes about a decade later. Acute symptoms develop suddenly and are typically more responsive to treatment. The prognosis is reasonably good in spite of brief relapses. Symptoms that develop gradually and persist for a long time with poor prognosis are called chronic. Schizophrenia is a familial disorder, which means that the incidence of schizophrenia is higher among the relatives of schizophrenics than it is in the general population. The heritability for schizophrenia has been estimated at between .60 and .90. This means that 10-40% of the variability is due to environmental factors.
Criteria for defining psychological disorders depend on whether cultural norms are violated, whether behavior is maladaptive or harmful, and
Show More

Related Documents: Schizophrenia and Useful Tool Essay

Psychology in Film (finished) Essay

The wonders of the human mind is a topic that could be discussed and portrayed forever, each time very differently. While watching television and films I have started recognizing characters behavior as projected patterns within psychology. A very useful tool in daily life for more than figuring out a killers motivations before anyone else watching. Applying this knowledge to films I've watched in the past has opened my eyes to how very intricate a plot can be, none more so than the story of 'Fight…

Words 795 - Pages 4

Therapy and Treatment Essay

into these various parts. Once a person does that, problems that seemed overwhelming become manageable. During regular cognitive therapy sessions, a trained therapist teaches the tools of cognitive therapy. Then between sessions, the patient often does homework. That homework helps the person learn how to apply the tools to solve specific life problems. Biomedical therapy is physical or medical treatments such as drug therapy, electroconvulsive therapy, or surgery that are used to treat mental or…

Words 906 - Pages 4

Dissociative Identity Disorder Analysis

differentiate between the different types of dissociative disorders. With amnesia reinstated as a criterion, there can still be difficulty with discriminating between the dissociative, bipolar, and borderline personality disorder as well as sometimes schizophrenia. This difficulties in really being able to differentiate between disorders is believed to lend a hand in many cases of…

Words 579 - Pages 3

John Forbes Nash's A Beautiful Mind

In life humans are often exposed to risk. For the average highschool student, peer pressure is a risk presented through a social manipulation. The student pressured by their peer can avoid this pressure entirely, or fall into the maze of consequences that the pressure has in store. Peer pressure’s risk can be avoided, but some risks in the world are a compulsive offspring of capitalistic America—a social institution endured by every American. As Americans, we can choose to hate the private corporations…

Words 1610 - Pages 7

How Does DSM-IV Classify Substance Use Disorders?

Genetic epidemiology has become a fundamental clinical practice; family history is a basic diagnostic tool for many inherited diseases. (Thompson, Orvaschel, Prusoff, & Kidd, 1982) In 1955, Morton et al. demonstrated how the logarithm of odds scores could be used to detect linkage. (Newton E Morton, 1955) In 1974, Ott and colleagues began using a computer…

Words 985 - Pages 4

Essay on A Critical Evaluation of the Engagement and Psychosocial Asessment of a Client Living with Psychosis in the Health and Social Care Practitioners Work Setting.

assessment process l carried out a comprehensive assessment using CPA 1, 2, and 4 in conjunction with the Trust Policy. This was to establish what her problems were and formulate a clear plan. A process of structured, comprehensive assessment can be very useful in developing an in-depth understanding of issues surrounding resistance to services (Grant et al 2004). I carried out a Case Formulation (CS) using the 5W`s What?, Where?, When?, With Whom and Why, and Frequency, Intensity, Duration and Onset (…

Words 3280 - Pages 14

233 Module 6 Part 4 Schizophrenia Essay

Part Four: Schizophrenia (Austin, pp. 311-358) (JW) I have done my best to include all pertinent information, but I would like to point out that, the reading being 47 pages long, all information is not included, and large portions have been briefly summarized → pink is power point info 1. Discuss psychosis and the lived experience of people affected by schizophrenia. Consider the emotional, physical, spiritual, and intellectual significance for patients. Clinical picture of schizophrenia (means “split…

Words 3178 - Pages 13

Backfiring: Corporation's Manipulation Strategy

“obedient constituents” into corporate characters who are, ironically, turning against their creators (Bakan 134). Corporation forces our exposure to corporate culture. The beginning of a life-time manipulation, marketing to children is a powerful tool to infiltrate young—susceptible—minds (Bakan 122); it generates a positive feeling subconsciously for corporate brands. Corporations further exert their control over children with generous investment in education. For instance, Pfizer sponsors a school…

Words 931 - Pages 4

Questions On Stress

Psych module 3 Stress- hypothalamus/pituitary kick in fight or flight Medulla secretes catecholamines, which cause damage to cp system after long term exposure Cortisol also damages heart Different types of stressors’ responses General adaptation syndrome 3 phases Alarm- hypersensitive, something’s not right Resistance- I should fight this stress Exhaustion-emotional or physical Serotonin plays role in mood Main neurotransmitter implicated in depression Factors that affect stress response…

Words 7950 - Pages 32

The Importance Of Music Therapy

Since the beginning of human existence, music has been proven to cause a positive reaction on people. It was not only until the early 90’s when neuroimaging technology confirmed that musical activity had profound effects on the brain and that music could have therapeutic purposes. “Our auditory systems, our nervous systems are turned for music. Perhaps we are a musical species no less than a linguistic one” (Sacks). It all began in the 1940’s when nurses and professionals noticed that war veterans…

Words 2278 - Pages 10