SchizophreniaYou’re Not Alone

By Nicolette Petnuch

Schizophrenia What is Schizophrenia?Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that disables the brain from functioning correctly. People with Schizophrenia often hear voices that others do not hear, believe that someone is controlling their mind, or wanting to hurt them. They lose contact with reality. (Psychosis) This causes people with Schizophrenia to become paranoid and violent.

Schizophrenia is an autosomal dominant disease caused by a deletion believed to be found on chromosome 22. It is coded by the gene COMT. People with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome are much more susceptible to schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder.

History of SchizophreniaSchizophrenia may have been around since man was on earth but was never classified until 1887 when German Physician Dr. Emil Kraepelin described people with symptoms that we now know of as Schizophrenia, as “dementia praecox” meaning early dementia.

Kraepelin was the first person notice a difference in the psychotic disorders. He thought that dementia praecox was mostly a disease of the brain, and a form of dementia. The idea of dementia praecox came from the need to separate dementia praecox from other sorts of dementia such as Alzheimer’s which usually occurs in elderly people. Praecox, as Kraepelin noticed, usually happened in his younger participants.

History Continued

In 1911, Eugen Bleuler, a Swiss psychologist, was credited with the name "schizophrenia”. Bleuler changed the name to schizophrenia because he realized this disease was not a form of dementia. It did not end in all cases that the brain deteriorated and could occur early or late in a life. Schizophrenia is Greek for “spilt mind”. People with this disease often have fragmented thoughts. Schizophrenia should not be synonymous with split personality disorder.

SymptomsPositive Symptoms: people lose touch with reality. Hallucinations: a person can see, smell, hear or feel something that no one else can. The most common types of hallucinations are voices. These voices can instruct the person to do things, talk about the way the person is acting, or warn the person of danger. Delusions: bizarre beliefs that are believed even when proven not true by other people such as a person believing someone is communicating with them through the television.

People diagnosed with schizophrenia have a mix of positive (hallucinations, delusions, racing thoughts),negative (apathy, lack of emotion, poor or nonexistent social functioning), and cognitive (disorganized thoughts, difficulty concentrating and/or following instructions, difficulty completing tasks, memory problems) symptoms.

Symptoms Continued

Negative Symptoms: may include Flat Affect where a person’s face is motionless or speaks in a quiet, low voice, lack of happiness in life, lack of will to start or continue every day activities, and barely speaking even when asked to interact.

Thought Disorders: a person can have unusual or not rational thoughts. Ex. Disorganized thinkingMovement Disorders: a person may seem to have an agitated stride, become catatonic (does not move at all) or repeat the same movement over and over again.

Cognitive Symptoms: include having trouble focusing, understanding information and decision making (executive functioning), and the ability to use information after hearing or learning it.

Complications Associated with Schizophrenia Complications may include suicide, depression, abuse of alcohol/prescription drugs, self-injury, family conflict, homelessness, and inability to work or attend school. Since the symptoms of Schizophrenia are so severe, it often leads to broken families.

Complications, Detection, and Treatment

Detection MethodsDetection methods include: an MRI or CT scan, complete blood count, a psychological evaluation, and must fit at least two of the most common symptoms of Schizophrenia.

Treatment & ResearchThere are many medications to help aid Schizophrenia but there is no perfect cure. These medications are anti-psychotics and include Abilify and Seroquel. Just like many difficult to grasp diseases, research is being done to better understand this condition and hopefully to be able to prevent and cure Schizophrenia.

EthicsShould you tell a patient dealing with Schizophrenia that they indeed have Schizophrenia and need help?

The conflict between truth telling saving someone’s feelings by not telling them important information about his or her likely condition is very controversial. Psychiatrists usually choose to keep some knowledge from the patients at first because if they release all information right away, the psychiatrists are risking that the patient never gets angry or scared and never gets correct treatments and supervised care.

This withholding of information may be seen as unethical and considered lying, but the outcome may be accepted because of the patients need for secure treatment. The unethical decision to withhold information is a benefit rather than a negative situation and can potentially save patients lives.

Interesting Facts About Schizophrenia

   Identical Twins: if one twin has Schizophrenia, the other has a 48% chance of developing Schizophrenia.    

Schizophrenia is a disease that typically begins in early adulthood between the ages of 15 and 25. Men tend to develop schizophrenia slightly earlier than women. The average age of onset (when symptoms begin) is 18 in men and 25 in women. Schizophrenia onset is rare for people under 10 years of age, or over 40 years of age. 

The leading theory as to why people get Schizophrenia is a result of genetic predisposition with environmental factors such as stress during pregnancy or childhood trauma.

Citations

"Schizophrenia." NIMH · What Is Schizophrenia? 2012. Web. 24 Feb.2013.<http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/schizophrenia/what-is-schizophrenia.shtml>.

Staff, Mayo Clinic. "Definition." Mayo Clinic. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 27 Jan. 2012. Web. 24 Feb.2013.<http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/schizophrenia/DS00196/DSECTION=complications>.

"Schizophrenia Facts and Statistics." Schizophrenia.com, Indepth Schizophrenia Information and Support. 2012. Web. 24 Feb. 2013.< http://www.schizophrenia.com/szfacts.htm>.