Schizophrenia: Explained And Treatments

Schizophrenia:  Explained and Treatments


Jeffrey A. Hurt

Professor Leary

Abnormal Psychology 203

2 May 1996


Schizophrenia is a devastating brain disorder affecting people worldwide of all

ages, races, and economic levels.  It causes personality disintegration and loss

of contact with reality (Sinclair).  It is the most common psychosis and it is

estimated that one percent of the U.S. population will be diagnosed with it over

the course of their lives (Torrey 2). Recognition of this disease dates back to

the 1800's when Emil Kraepelin concluded after a comprehensive study of

thousands of patients that a "state of dementia was supposed to follow

precociously or soon after the onset of the illness."  Eugene Bleuler, a famous

Swiss psychiatrist, coined the term "schizophrenia," referring to what he called

the "splitting of the various psychic functions" (Honig 209-211). Having a

"split personality" is often incorrectly associated with schizophrenia.

Possessing multiple personalities on different occasions is a form of neurosis

vice psychosis (Chapman).  Symptoms most commonly associated with schizophrenia

include delusions, hallucinations, and thought disorder (Torrey 1). Delusions

are irrational ideas, routinely absurd and outlandish.  A patient may believe

that he or she is possessed of great wealth, intellect, importance or power.

Sometimes the patient may think he is George Washington or another great

historical person (Chapman). Hallucinations are common, particularly auditory,

as voices in the third person or commenting upon the patient's thoughts and

actions (Arieti).  Persons may also hear music or see nonexistent images

(Sinclair). Schizophrenic thought disorder is the diminished ability to think

clearly and logically (Torrey 2).  Many times, schizophrenics invent new words

(called neologisms) with unique meanings (Chapman).  Often it is apparent by

disconnected and meaningless language that renders the person incapable of

participating in conversation and contributing to his alienation from his family,

friends, and society (Torrey 2). There appears to be three major subtypes of

Schizophrenia:  paranoid, hebephrenic, and catatonic.  Delusions, often of

prosecution, are prominent in the paranoid type (Arieti).  Hebephrenic

schizophrenia is characterized by thought disorder, chaotic language, silliness,

and giggling (Eysenck, Arnold, and Meili 961-962).  In the catatonic form, the

person may sit, stand, or lie in fixed postures or attitudes for weeks or months

on end.  The person may also have a symptom known as "waxy flexibility" in which

the victim will maintain positions of the body in which he is put for long

periods of time, even if they are uncomfortable (Arieti). There have been many

theories to explain what causes schizophrenia.  Heredity, stress, medical

illness, and physical injury to the brain are all thought to be factors but

research has not yet pinpointed the specific combination of factors that produce

the disease (Sinclair).  While schizophrenia can affect anyone at any point in

life, it is somewhat more common in those persons who are genetically

predisposed to the disease (Torrey 3). Studies have shown that approximately

12% of the offspring will be schizophrenic if one parent has the disorder and

50% if both parents have the disorder.  This may be due to the fact that the

offspring are reared in an environment other than normal.  Although statistics

from adoption agencies show that these rates are more affected by genes rather

than environment (Chapman).  Three-quarters of persons with schizophrenia

develop the disease between 16 and 25 years of age.  Onset is uncommon after age

30, and rare after age 40 (Torrey 3). Psychiatric patients are generally

insulted by contentions that their trouble was brought on by bad parenting,

childhood trauma, or week character (Willwerth 79).  Sigmund Freud has suggested

that schizophrenia is developed from a lack of affection in the mother-infant

relationship in the first few weeks after birth
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