Schizophrenia is a brain disease. Psychology Research Paper

Schizophrenia
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Schizophrenia
Abstract
Schizophrenia is a brain disorder characterized by delusions, hallucinations, negative symptoms and disorganized speech and behaviors. Research has shown that the level of brain damage in schizophrenic patients correspond severity of symptoms, with symptoms worsening with more considerable damage. When a diagnosis of schizophrenia is made, the subtype must be specified which may be catatonic, disorganized, undifferentiated, residual or paranoid. Schizophrenia has no cure but can be treated with antipsychotic medication and supportive counselling.
This paper aims to review the current literature on schizophrenia. It is divided into the following sections: Introduction; a background which gives an insight into the historical and contemporary understanding of schizophrenia; literature review and concludes with a reflection. The literature review provides details on schizophrenia as a brain disease, the various forms, and symptoms of schizophrenia, the diagnostic criteria and treatment, and medication.
Introduction
Schizophrenia is a chronic mental disorder characterized by the disintegration of thoughts processes and emotional responsiveness with episodes of exacerbation and remissions which results to social and occupational disability in patients (Cella et al., 2017). It is a burden to both the patient and their family. The World Health Organization recognizes schizophrenia as one of the top 10 most common diseases that are a burden to the community.
It is not always that schizophrenia can be disabling. Patients can live relatively normal lives when given effective treatment, which includes access to appropriate medications and counseling. Although people with schizophrenia can pass for ‘relatively normal,’ some odd behaviors and habits will often be experienced in social interactions. People with mild forms of schizophrenia can continue working and live independently but function at a lower capacity than their pre-morbid condition. Although a few people experience mild symptoms of the disease, most have moderate to severe symptoms which medical treatment partially helps (Jauhar et al., 2014). Lifelong disability varies and affects both the patient and their families. The inability for the schizophrenic patient to take care of themselves and meet the expectations of others is the major challenge faced and the one that leads to disability.
This paper aims to review the current literature on schizophrenia. The paper explores the following areas about schizophrenia: history and contemporary understanding, symptoms, the various forms, diagnostic criteria, treatment, and medication. The study aims to answer the following research questions
1 What is schizophrenia?
2 How is the understanding of schizophrenia transformed since the ancients?
3 What are the different forms and symptoms of schizophrenia?
4 What are the treatment options for schizophrenia?
Background
In ancient times, people did not have a good understanding of mental illness. There was no distinction between schizophrenia and other psychiatric diseases, and they were thought to originate from the supernatural, caused by demons possession, evil spirits, punishment for sin and other spiritual phenomena. The primary remedy for was exorcism and sometimes surgical procedure which involved drilling holes in the skull meant to let the demons out. Schizophrenia was a spiritual and moral problem that was dominant for years (Boyle, 2014).
In 1887, Dr. Emile Kraepelin was the first to make a formal description of schizophrenia. He described it as “dementia praecox” meaning “early dementia” (Boyle, 2014). He used “early” to differentiate schizophrenia from dementia that occurs later in life such as Alzheimer’s disease. Kraepelin was correct in his belief that dementia was a disease of the brain but was mistaken in believing that it was a form of dementia: schizophrenia and dementia are distinct disorders. The term schizophrenia was first used in 1911 by a Swiss psychiatrist, Eugen Bleuler coming from Greek words schizo (split) and phrene (mind). He used these words in emphasizing the mental confusion and fragmented thinking seen in people with schizophrenia (Boyle, 2014). Over time the classification of schizophrenia and the theories of its causes became more refined. The DSM-V recognizes the following categories of schizophrenia: paranoid, disorganized, catatonic, residual and undifferentiated subtypes.
Literature review
Schizophrenia is a brain disease
Schizophrenia is a biological brain disease like Bipolar Disorder and Alzheimer ’s disease as proved by data from modern scientific research. Genetics is known as a partial cause of schizophrenia and are inherited. On the other part, none-invasive brain imaging techniques (such as Computed Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)) have shown that the brains of people with schizophrenia are structurally different from those of normal people (Cornelis et al., 2015). The volume of the grey matter of their brains is up to 25% less, particularly in the temporal and frontal lobes responsible for coordinating thinking and judgment. Patients exhibiting the worse symptoms tend to have the worst brain tissue losses. Technologies such as Positron Emission Tom...