Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by persistent defects in the perception or the expression of reality. A person experiencing untreated schizophrenia typically demonstrates disorganized thinking, and may also experience delusions or auditory hallucinations. Although the disorder mainly affects cognition, it can also contribute to chronic problems affecting behavior and emotions (White, Harvey, Opler & Lindenmayer 1997). Due to the several possible combinations of symptoms, it is difficult to say whether it is in fact a single psychiatric disorder; psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler deliberately called the disease "The Schizophrenias" when he coined the present name. Psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin was the first to note a difference between what he had termed dementia praecox ("premature dementia") and other psychotic illnesses (Silverstein, Kovбcs, Corry & Valone 2000). In 1911, "dementia praecox" was renamed "Schizophrenia" by Bleuler, who found Kraepelin's term to be misleading, as the disorder is not exact form of dementia (White, Harvey, Opler & Lindenmayer 1997).

Schizophrenia is a chronic, severe, and disabling brain disease found world-wide. The severity of the symptoms and the long-lasting, chronic pattern of Schizophrenia often results in disability, and many individuals need ongoing assistance to manage the most basic functions of independent living (Bellgrove, Vance, & Bradshaw 2003). Schizophrenics' behavior may seem odd, unusual or even bizarre at times. They sometimes hear voices, talk to themselves, or respond to imaginary fears (Bellgrove, Vance, & Bradshaw 2003). At times, normal individuals may feel, think, or act in ways that resemble schizophrenia. Undiagnosed, healthy people may sometimes be unable to think straight. They may become extremely anxious, for example, when speaking in front of groups and may feel confused, be unable to pull their thoughts together, and forget what they intended to say. This would not be classified as Schizophrenia. At the same time, people with Schizophrenia do not constantly act abnormally. Of course, some people with the illness can appear completely normal and at the same time responsible, even while they experience hallucinations or visual and auditory delusions. An individual's behavior may change over time, becoming bizarre if medication is stopped and returning closer to normal when receiving appropriate treatment (White, Harvey, Opler & Lindenmayer 1997).

The term "Schizophrenia" translates roughly as "shattered mind," and comes from the Greek σχίζω (schizo, "to split" or "to divide") and φρήν (phrēn, "mind") (Buchanan, Strauss, Kirkpatrick, Holstein, Breier & Carpenter 1994). Despite its true meaning, Schizophrenia is not transposable with Dissociative Identity Disorder, also known as Multiple Personality Disorder or "split personality"; in popular culture the two are often confused and used interchangeably (White, Harvey, Opler & Lindenmayer 1997).

One factor neurologists have used to determine the likelihood of one developing this disorder is by examining the patients' genealogy (Silverstein, Bakshi, Chapman, & Nowlis 1998). Schizophrenia is one disease that most doctors have claimed to be hereditary. People who have a close relative with Schizophrenia therefore are at a higher risk to acquire the disorder than are people who have no relatives with the illness. For example, an identical twin of a person with Schizophrenia has the highest risk - 40 to 50 percent - of developing the illness (Silverstein, Bakshi, Chapman & Nowlis 1998). A child whose parent has Schizophrenia has about a 10 percent chance of also acquiring the disorder. By comparison, the risk of Schizophrenia in the general population, for someone without an affected parent, is about one percent (White, Harvey, Opler & Lindenmayer).

According to Aleman and David (2006), "Behavioral and neuro-imaging evidence [conclude] that patients with Schizophrenia are characterized by deficits in emotional perception, abnormal emotional experience, and impaired emotion regulation is accumulating at a rapid rate" (Silverstein, Kovбcs, Corry & Valone 2000). Although Schizophrenia often leads to social or occupational dysfunction, there is little association of the illness with a predisposition toward aggressive behavior (White, Harvey, Opler & Lindenmayer 1997). Typically, patients diagnosed with Schizophrenia display less outward emotion than would be exhibited by a healthy patient. Those with Schizophrenia have reduced amounts of amygdale, which is essential in the emotional structure of the brain (Bellgrove, Vance, & Bradshaw 2003). fMRI studies, which are non-invasive images taken of the brain in order to view its physical structure (in this case, mental function and physical changes are also noted), are reliable when determining whether or not there is an abnormality in the neuro-anatomy. According to Pinkham et al., "Several fMRI studies have shown that Schizophrenia patients in general are characterized by reduced activation of the amygdala in response to emotional stimuli" (Buchanan, Strauss, Kirkpatrick, Holstein Breier & Carpenter 1994).

Schizophrenia is characterized by auditory hallucinations, disorganized thinking, delusions, and altered perception of reality. Typically, according to Bellgrove, Vance, & Bradshaw, (2003) the onset of schizophrenia occurs during early adulthood or late adolescence; males often display symptoms of schizophrenia earlier than females. Research also shows that there is usually something either dangerous or unintentional that happens to the patient that eventually triggers the true onset of the disease. For example, some reports of patients state that from hitting their skull or "spine in an uncomfortable manner", "being involved in a car accident", "or after having a bad landing during a skydiving experience"; instances like these are what had sparked something inside and initiated the onset of Schizophrenia (Bellgrove, Vance, & Bradshaw 2003).

Along with the surplus of definitions and explanations provided by psychologists and psychiatrists world wide come a handful of ways that they prefer to "group", Schizophrenic patients. Primarily, regarding the