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Schizophrenia5

Schizophrenia5 The devastating mental illness of Schizophrenia is a major concern of modern medicine. Schizophrenia associates any one person with multiple problems. These problems include delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized behavior (Long 1999). The illness is a disease of the brain that is explained clinically as, disease of the mind, a simple explanation given by Nancy Andreasen (1999). It is important to understand that there are different types of this mental illness as well. The different types are the paranoid, catatonic, disorganized, undifferentiated and the residual type. In cases of the paranoid type preoccupations with one or more delusions or frequent auditory hallucinations occur. The catatonic schizophrenics suffer from at least two of the following; motoric immobility as evidenced by catalepsy or stupor, excessive motor activity, extreme negativism or mutism, peculiarities of voluntary movement as evidenced by posturing, stereotyped movements, prominent mannerisms, or prominent grimacing. In disorganized Schizophrenia flat or inappropriate affect, disorganized speech and behavior are all prevalent. The undifferentiated type is unusual in that it may have some characteristics of each of the different types. The Residual type has symptoms of odd beliefs and unusual perceptual experiences (Hoffer 1999). Illnesses like schizophrenia bring untold misery to sufferers and their families. The suffering is magnified because of the unique stigma attached to this illness. Unlike other illnesses, it marks not only afflicted individuals, but also their relatives (Reynolds 1996). For example, the concept of the "schizophrenogenic mother" was rife till recently. Such suffering is unnecessary and probably arises from fear bred by ignorance. The search for the causes of psychotic illnesses like schizophrenia - may help dispel a lot of these notions However research is hampered by the relatively few clues available about the causes. This is not for lack of effort. Literally hundreds of causes have been proposed (Davidson 1995). They include viruses, accidental injury before and after birth, as well as illicit substances. However, only inherited factors are generally accepted as significant causes. Evidence for such factors comes from everyday experience: It is common to find families with several affected members. While such clustering' could also be due to shared non-inherited environmental factors, more convincing evidence has come from twin studies, as well as studies of ill individuals who were adopted away before the onset of illness. These studies do not suggest inherited factors as the sole causes (Mitchell 1991). As stated by Nancy Andreasen (1999) Schizophrenia is probably caused by these multiple environmental stimuli and a combination of inherited genes. A more reasonable explanation is that there are individuals who have an inherited proneness to illness. Such individuals may fall ill, if in addition, they are exposed to obnoxious factors in the environment such as drugs. It has already been proven that in the causation of diseases like diabetes and raised blood pressure. It is important to stress that statistical analysis does not support the presences of a single genetic factor in this scheme. Rather, the inheritance is probably due to several factors that may be inherited from either side of one's family. It is assumed that a single genetic factor is unlikely to cause psychotic illnesses like schizophrenia. Therefore, there is no trace to the inheritance of genetic factors in families (Nuthers 1993). Instead, the attempt is to identify genetic factors that are present at higher rates among ill individuals compared with non-ill individuals. Initially compared ill individuals with unrelated unaffected individuals, it is difficult to say if the differences reflected proneness to illness or some other unrelated characteristics, which happened to be different in the two groups. Studies help to identify predisposing inherited factors, but would not give information about a given family (Davidson 1995). An interesting fact about Schizophrenia is that a study of gender differences was done to recognize whether or not the illness effects males and females adversely. It was found those females more than males hallucinate more. Rajiv Sharma (1999) developed the study. In terms of medication for Schizophrenia many different options have been taken over the years. A newer atypical anti-psychotic that has come out over the past few years including Clozapine, Riperdal, and Zyprexa (Bradford 1999) has replaced older anti-psychotic medications including Hadol. There has been an ongoing battle in Canada and the United States for insurance support of the newer and much better atypical medications because while they generally provide much better relief and have fewer side-effects. The downside is that they are much more expensive than the older drugs that need to be replaced. The most informed psychiatrists are now recommending that these new drugs need to be used by new patients. The author states that just new patients try these new drugs because older patients may not have any side effects from the older drugs. It is advised to use whatever works with the least amount of adverse effects. However changing drugs may have significant risks (Oliveira-Souza 1999). The outlook for people with schizophrenia has improved over the last twenty-five years. Although no totally effective therapy has been devised, it is important to remember that many people with the illness improve enough to lead independent, satisfying lives. As the years go on we learn more about the causes and treatment of Schizophrenia. Studies that have followed people with Schizophrenia for long periods, from the first episode to old age, reveal that wide ranges of outcomes are possible. When large groups of patients are studied, certain factors tend to be associated with a better outcome. For example a pre-illness history of normal social, schools, and works adjustment. However, the current level of knowledge does not allow a sufficiently accurate prediction of long-term outcomes (Brown 1999) Given the complexity of Schizophrenia the major questions are its cause, prevention, and treatment. These questions need and will be answered in the future with research. The public should be aware of people offering answers of a cure for the disease. Such claims can provoke unrealistic expectations that, when unfulfilled, lead to further disappointment. Although progress has been made toward better understanding and treatment of Schizophrenia, continued investigation is urgently needed (Davidson 1995). It is thought that basic studies on the brain will continue to illuminate processes and principles important for understanding the causes of Schizophrenia and for developing more effective treatments (Brown 1999). In conclusion it is obvious that there is much more to be learned about Schizophrenia. Psychiatrists agree with this assumption for most part. I would say that living with this disease is terrible and can lay a huge block in a path of any ones life. However if it is correct in saying that it has become more bearable as time and technology work together. The most important aspect of this disease concerning common people would be diagnosing and treating themselves. However, the key aspect for people of medicine is obviously to find a treatment and an end to this horrific disorder. Bibliography: Reference List Andreasen, Nancy C. (1999). Understanding the causes of Schizophrenia. New England Journal of Medicine. Vol. 340, No 8. {online}. www.nejm.org Bradford, Daniel W. (1999). “Atypical anti psychotic drugs in treatment refractory schizophrenia”. Psychiatric Annals. Brown, Alan. (1999). New perspectives on the neurodevelopment hypothesis of schizophrenia. Psychiatric Annals. Vol. 29 (3), 128-130. Davidson, G.H. (1995) Outlook of Schizophrenics and their family. Schizophrenia and Beyond. 13-188. Hoffer, Abram. (1999). Diagnosing Schizophrenia: Past, present, and future. Journal of Orthomelecular Medicine. 3-15. Long, Phillip. (1999). American Descriptions of Diseased Minds, Mental Health. 1-125. Mitchell John. (1991). Coping with the Mental Illness. Schizophrenia 5-85. Nuthers, Ted. (1993). Causes and Effects of Schizophrenia. 55-228. Oliveira-Souza, Ricardo. (1999). Sustained long-term improvement with clozapine in Schizophrenia. Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria. 18-22. Reynolds, S.R. (1996). Treatment of Schizophrenia. Understanding and Coping with Schizophrenia. 32-42. Sharma, Rajiv P. (1999). Hallucinations in the acute schizophrenic-type psychosis: Effects of gender and age of illness onset. Schizophrenia Research. Vol. 37, 91-95.

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