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Human Growth and Development Research Paper Essay Abstract The following research paper will be written on schizophrenia. I will discuss what schizophrenia is. I will discuss the history behind this chronic disease. Also, who is affected by it? In addition, how common it is in some people. And, I will talk about the different types. Furthermore, I will discuss the causes of schizophrenia. If schizophrenia is hereditary? And the different types of symptoms. Also, how it is diagnosed. Lastly, I will talk over the treatment for people with schizophrenia. What is Schizophrenia? Schizophrenia is a chronic and severe mental illness. It is considered one of the psychotic mental disorders and is described by symptoms of thought, behavior, and social problems. The thought problems associated with schizophrenia are described as psychosis, in that the persons thinking is completely out of touch with reality at times. An example of this would be, the sufferer of this disease may hear voices or see people that are not actually present or feel like bugs are crawling on their skin when there are none. The individual with this disorder may also have disorganized speech, behavior, physically rigid, significantly decreased feelings, and delusions, which are ideas about themselves or others that have no basis in reality (for example, the individual might experience paranoia, in that he or she thinks others are plotting against them when they are not). What is the history of schizophrenia? The term schizophrenia has only been in use since 1911. The word schizophrenia is less than 100 years old. Soon before that, it was deemed a separate mental illness in 1887 by Emil Kraepelin. Despite the fact that it is a more recent known disease, it has been described throughout written history. Ancient Egyptian, Hindu, Chinese, Greek, and Roman writings described symptoms similar to the symptoms of schizophrenia. During medieval times, schizophrenia, like other illnesses, was often viewed as evidence of the sufferer being possessed by spirits or evil powers. The film â€Å"A Beautiful Mind† depicts the life of a man named John Nash, a noted scientist, and his struggles with paranoid schizophrenia. In history, all people who were considered abnormal, whether due to mental illness, mental retardation, or physical deformities, were treated the same. Early theories  invented that mental disorders were caused by â€Å"evil possession† of the body, and the appropriate treatment was then get rid of these demons, through various means, reaching from innocuous treatments, such as exposing the patient to certain types of music, to dangerous and sometimes deadly means, such as releasing the evil spirits by drilling holes in the patients skull. 1996-2014 MedicineNet. 1996-2009. Schizophrenia.com. Who is affected, and who is it most common in? Schizophrenia affects about 1% of the population, corresponding to more than 2 million people in the United States and 100,000-200,000 newly diagnosed people every year. Other statistics about schizophrenia include that it affects men about one and a half times more commonly than women and that 50% of people in hospital psychiatric care have schizophrenia. Diagnosis is usually in people aged 17-35 years with the illness appearing earlier in men (in the late teens or early 20s) than in women (who are affected in the 20s to early 30s). Although there have been fewer studies on schizophrenia in children compared to adults, researchers are finding that children as young as 6 years old can be found to have all the symptoms of their adult counterparts and continue to have those symptoms into adulthood. 1996-2014 MedicineNet. What are the different types of Schizophrenia? There are five different types of schizophrenia, each based on the kind of symptoms the person has at the time of assessment. Firstly, there is paranoid schizophrenia. In this type the individual is preoccupied with one or more delusions or many auditory hallucinations but does not have symptoms of disorganized schizophrenia. On the other hand, disorganized schizophrenia is when the prominent symptoms are disorganized speech and behavior, as well as flat or inappropriate affect. The person does not have enough symptoms to be characterized as suffering from catatonic schizophrenia. On that note, catatonic schizophrenia is when the person with this type of schizophrenia primarily has at least two of the following symptoms: difficulty moving, resistance to moving, excessive movement, abnormal movements, and/or repeating what others say or do. Also, there is undifferentiated schizophrenia: This is characterized by episodes of two or more of the resulting symptoms: delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech or behavior, catatonic behavior, but the individual does not qualify for a diagnosis of paranoid, disorganized, or catatonic type of schizophrenia. Lastly, there is residual schizophrenia: While the full-blown  characteristic positive symptoms of schizophrenia (those that involve an excess of normal behavior, such as delusions, paranoia, or heightened sensitivity) are absent, the sufferer has a less severe form of the disorder or has only negative symptoms (symptoms characterized by a decrease in function, such as withdrawal, disinterest, and not speaking). Overall, those are all the different types of schizophrenia, there descriptions, and symptoms. 1996-2014 MedicineNet. What Are Causes of Schizophrenia? There are many causes to schizophrenia. Rather, it is the result of a complex group of genetic, psychological, and environmental factors. Genetically, schizophrenia is very similar to bipolar disorder, in the two disorders they both share a number of the same risk genes. However, the fact is that both illnesses also have some genetic factors that are unique. Environmentally, the risks of developing schizophrenia can even occur before birth. For example, the risk of schizophrenia is increased in individuals whose mother had one of certain infections during pregnancy. Difficult life circumstances during childhood, like the early loss of a parent, parental poverty, bullying, witnessing parental violence; emotional, sexual, or physical abuse; physical or emotional neglect; and insecure attachment have been associated with the development of this illness. The environment and the beings around the child as its young can decide whether or not the person suffers of that disease. 1996-2014 MedicineNet. Is Schizophrenia Hereditary? One of the most frequently asked question about schizophrenia is if it is hereditary. Like most of the other mental disorders, schizophrenia is not directly passed from one generation to another genetically, but it is known to run in families. Consequently, the risk of illness in an identical twin of a person with schizophrenia is 40%-50% and a child of a parent suffering from schizophrenia has a 10% chance of developing the illness. So, yes schizophrenia is somewhat hereditary. 1996-2014 MedicineNet. What are some signs or symptoms of schizophrenia? When it comes to symptoms there are two different categories. There are positive and negative symptoms. Positive: Beliefs that have no basis in reality (delusions) Hearing, seeing, feeling, smelling, or tasting things that have no basis in reality (hallucinations) Disorganized speech Disorganized behaviors Catatonic behaviors Negative: Inhibition of facial expressions Lack of motivation/ speech 1996-2014  MedicineNet. How is schizophrenia diagnosed? There is no test that definitively indicates that someone has schizophrenia. Therefore, health care officials diagnose this disorder by gathering comprehensive medical, family, and mental-health information. Patients have a tendency to to benefit when the practitioner takes into account their clients entire life and background. This consists of but is not restricted to the persons gender, sexual orientation, cultural, religious and ethnic background, and socioeconomic status. The symptom sufferer might be asked to fill out a self-test that the practitioner will review if the person being appraised is able to complete it. The practitioner will also either perform a physical examination or request that the individuals primary-care doctor perform one. The medical examination will usually include lab tests to evaluate the persons general health and to explore whether or not the individual has a medical condition that might produce psychological symptoms. Also, mental-health professionals are often exploring if the individual suffers from hallucinations or delusions, depression and/or manic symptoms, anxiety, substance abuse, as well as some personality disorders and developmental disorders. As a result, some of the symptoms of schizophrenia can also occur in other mental illnesses, the mental-health screening is to determine if the individual suffers from schizoaffective disorder or other psychotic disorder, depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, or a substance-abuse or personality disorder. Any disorder that is associated with bizarre behavior, mood, or thinking, like borderline personality disorder or another psychotic disorder, as well as dissociative identity disorder, also known as multiple personality disorder, which may be particularly challenging to tell between from schizophrenia. In order to judge the persons current emotional state, health-care providers perform a mental-status examination as well. In addition, providing treatment that is appropriate to the diagnosis, determining the presence of mental illnesses that may co-occur with schizophrenia is important in improving the life of individuals with schizophrenia. For example, people with schizophrenia are at increased risk of depression, or thoughts of suicide. 1996-2014 MedicineNet. What are some treatments for schizophrenia? There are a number  of helpful treatments available; medication remains the key of treatment for people with schizophrenia. These medications are often referred to as antipsychotics since they help decrease the intensity of psychotic symptoms. Many health-care professionals prescribe one of these medications, sometimes in combination of one or more other psychiatric medications, in order to maximize the benefit for the person with schizophrenia. Medications that are thought to be particularly effective in treating positive symptoms of schizophrenia include olanzapine (Zyprexa), risperidone (Risperdal), quetiapine (Seroquel), ziprasidone (Geodon), aripiprazole (Abilify), paliperidone (Invega), asenapine (Saphis), lurasidone (Latuda), and lloperidone (Fanapt). These medications are the newer collection of antipsychotic medications, also called second-generation antipsychotics. They are known for having the ability to work quickly compared too many other psychiatric medications. As a group of medications, side effects that occur most often include sleepiness, dizziness, and increased appetite. In addition to medication there are psychosocial treatments. One, Family psycho-education: In addition to educating family members about the symptoms, course, and treatment of schizophrenia, this form of treatment consists of providing family support, problem-solving skills, and access to care providers during times of crises. Secondly, there is the treatment of Social skills training: Also called illness management and recovery programming, social-skills training involve teaching clients ways to handle social situations appropriately. It often involves the person scripting (thinking through or role-playing) situations that occur in social settings in order to prepare for those situations when they actually occur. This treatment type has been found to help people with schizophrenia resist using drugs of abuse, as well as improve their relationships with health-care professionals and with people at work. Although, these are only a couple of the many options for treatment; these are some of the best. 1996-2014 MedicineNet. References: http://www.medicinenet.com/schizophrenia_pictures_slideshow/article.htmhttp://schizophrenia.com/family/sz.overview.htm http://www.medicinenet.com/schizophrenia/article.htm http://www.helpguide.org/mental/schizophrenia_symptom.htm Title Schizophrenia Authors John M. Neale, Thomas F. Oltmanns Edition illustrated Publisher John Wiley Sons, 1980 Original from the University of California Digitized Aug 24, 2010 ISBN 0471630861, 9780471630869 Length 554 pages http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizophrenia