Running head: Cognitive dysfunction of the brain. Schizophrenia: A Cognitive Dysfunction? Schizophrenia is often a chronic relapsing psychotic disorder that disrupts normal thought, speech, and behavior. It is a cluster of severe prolonged mental disturbances that ...is by far the most chronic and disabling of the major mental disorders. This disease may be one disorder, or it may be many disorders, with different causes (Andreasen & Schutlz, 1999). It is a disease that makes it difficult for a person to tell the difference between real and unreal experiences. In addition, it enables the person to think logically, to have normal emotional responses to others, and to behave normally in social situations (Andreasen, 1999). People with schizophrenia may have difficulty in remembering, talking, and behaving appropriately. Schizophrenia is a disease with a physical cause, like cancer or heart disease; therefore, it must not be confused with split personality. Since schizophrenia is such a complex disorder, there is some dispute as to what causes it. In order to understand the world of a schizophrenic, it is imperative to understand all possible causes, including cognitive dysfunction in the brain. Since there is no one distinct cause for the onset of schizophrenia, there is no known cure. In this review, several important studies dealing with the causes of this disease will be reviewed. However, it is Andreasens Integrative Theory of Schizophrenia that will be the main focus of the review. According to the statistics, about 1% of the population has schizophrenia. Although it strikes men and women equally, the symptoms may appear later in women than in men, however it most commonly begins between the ages of 15 and 25 (Arango, Bartko, Gold, & Buchanan, 1999). People with schizophrenia suffer from several cognitive and emotional impairments, such as perception (hallucinations), inferential thinking (delusions), motivation (avo...
