Schizophrenia in Young Men and Women Research Essay Assignment paper
Schizophrenia in Young Men and Women Research Essay Assignment paper
The paper analyses the recent researches on the problem of schizophrenia. The works that study the historical, statistical and medical aspects are reviewed. Particular attention is given to the positive, negative, and psychomotor symptoms of schizophrenia like delusions, hallucinations, poor speech, confused thinking, etc. The importance of their early identification is underlined, as timely diagnosing increases the chance for the positive outcome of the illness. The approaches to diagnosing this disorder are presented. It is underlined that not only the symptoms but their duration are essential for diagnosing schizophrenia. The epidemiology and the possible preconditions for this disorder both in men and women are outlined. The gender differences in schizophrenia development are considered. The research reveals that schizophrenia most frequently develops in early adulthood. That is why special attention should be given to the study of this disorder in young men and women. Besides, the treatment methods which take into account the gender peculiarities are stated. The causes of the differences in schizophrenia development in young men and women are analyzed. Schizophrenia in Young Men and Women Research Paper
Many people in the modern world experience depression, panic attacks, and other mental disorders. These symptoms are the subject of abnormal psychology which studies the pathologies of the mind. Schizophrenia is among the common mental disorders. It occurs in people regardless of culture or status. Butcher, Hooley, and Mineka (p.444, 2013) state that this “disorder is characterized by an array of diverse symptoms, including extreme oddities in perception, thinking, action, sense of self, and manner of relating to others.” Still, the major sign of schizophrenia is a critical loss of connection with reality. Miller (2015) mentions that the diagnosis of schizophrenia is usually applied to the people who behave so differently from the way they used to, that they look like different people. This state is also called psychosis, which is a psychological condition of breaking or delusion of the person’s mind. The majority of researchers agree that the symptoms of this condition are hallucinations, incoherent speech, delusions, bizarre behaviors, disregard for personal safety, erratic dangerousness to self or others, becoming immobilized or completely withdrawn, or being uninterested in self-care and personal hygiene (Miller, 2015). The psychotic symptoms (like hallucinations and delusion) usually appear in men in early adulthood, or just after the age of 20. In women, they are revealed between the age of 25 and 30. The occurrence of schizophrenic symptoms after 45 is rare as well as before adolescence
Schizophrenia in Young Men and Women Research Essay Assignment paper
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That is why schizophrenia should be considered first of all as the illness of young men and women. The early disclosure of characteristic symptoms, further diagnosing together with adequate treatment increase the chance of the positive outcome. Thus, the research of the problem among the young people is the primary task. Schizophrenia in Young Men and Women Research Paper
Literature Review
According to Long et al. (as cited in Comer, 2015, p. 467), about 1 of every 100 people in the world has schizophrenia at some time in his or her life. The statistics of 2010 estimated the number of people with schizophrenia in the world as 24 million, among them 2.5 million people in the United States (Comer, 2015, p. 467). Apart from moral and financial resources, this illness increases the risk of other diseases which are often fatal. Laursen (as cited in Comer, 2015, p.467) states that people with schizophrenia live on average 20 years less than other people.
McNally (2016) investigates schizophrenia in the historical context. He studies the symptoms suggested by researchers throughout the history. He also analyses the problem of defining the notion of schizophrenia by different scholars and psychiatrists. He mentions “the historic lack of agreement and inability to find an essential characterization of schizophrenia” (2016, p.199). Still, McNally mentions the numerous approaches to schizophrenia treatment already as of 1936 (2016, p.208). Schizophrenia in Young Men and Women Research Paper
Abel and Nickl-Jockschat (2016) consider schizophrenia “a severe neuropsychiatric disorder that not only causes a high burden of disease but also challenges our understanding of how the mind and brain work” (p.3). If a healthy person controls actions or thoughts, the one suffering from schizophrenia cannot do it. Thornicroft, Brohan, and Kassam (as cited in Barlow & Durand, 2014, p.477) define schizophrenia as “a complex syndrome that inevitably has a devastating effect on the lives of the person affected and on family members.” This illness disorganizes the individual’s perception, thought, language, and activity. Thus, it affects almost all components of everyday life. In spite of numerous researches and substantial progress in the treatment of schizophrenia, the number of absolute recovery examples is limited. This destructive disorder demands a lot of emotions from the sufferer and the surrounding people. Apart from emotions, it is a very expensive illness. According to Barlow and Durand (2014), schizophrenia costs about $60 billion to the United States every year. This amount includes the cost of treatment, care in the family, and the loss of earnings, for the people with this disorder do not work. Schizophrenia in Young Men and Women Research Paper
Symptoms
It is certain that schizophrenia is a clinical diagnosis. It has definite symptoms and signs, but there is still no test to discover and prove this disorder. International Classification of Diseases of World Health Organization (as cited in Castle & Buckley, 2015, p.4) states the following symptoms of schizophrenia. If a person observes at least one of those: “thought echo, insertion, withdrawal, broadcast; passivity phenomena or delusional perception; third-person conversing or running commentary hallucinations” or at least two of the following: “persistent hallucinations in any modality, with delusions; disorganized speech; catatonia” or any negative symptoms (which are primary), a visit to a doctor should be planned. Comer (2015) speaks of three types of schizophrenia symptoms. They are positive, negative, and psychomotor.Schizophrenia in Young Men and Women Research Paper
Positive Symptoms
Positive symptoms usually are the extremities and strangeness in an individual’s behavior. Among these symptoms are delusions, confused thinking and speech, heightened perceptions, and hallucinations. Delusions are observed by most people with schizophrenia. Those ideas seem true but confuse the people. Some patients experience one dominating delusion during the illness. The others may have various delusions. Among the most frequent delusions is that of persecution. People believe they are chased or spied on. Other common delusions are those of reference, grandeur or control. Confused thinking and speech mean that people lose the ability to think logically, and speak unusually. It complicates the communication with the ill person.Schizophrenia in Young Men and Women Research Paper
As for heightened perceptions and hallucinations, the researchers agree that some people with schizophrenia observe the intensified perceptions and attention (Comer, 2015). Consequently, any important event becomes a torture for them. The problems with attention and perception may appear long before schizophrenia develops. Thus, they can be a signal of the coming disorder. Another frequent symptom of schizophrenia is hallucinations. Auditory hallucinations are the most common. People may hear voices or other sounds in their heads. The voices often give directions, thus stimulating the people for certain actions. Hallucinations can also be tactile, somatic, visual or gustatory (Comer, 2015). Apart from the mentioned above, people with schizophrenia demonstrate emotions inappropriate to the situation. For example, they may smile when telling bad news, or be sad in a situation happy for a healthy person.Schizophrenia in Young Men and Women Research Paper
Negative Symptoms
Negative symptoms can be explained by the absence of certain characteristics in people, or “pathological deficits” (Comer, 2015, p.474). Among the typical characteristics of schizophrenia are poor speech, weakened affect, lack of volition, and retraction from society. These deficits certainly influence the life of a person. The poor speech, or alogia, is usually characterized by little speech content. The people experiencing this disorder do not speak and think much. Some people may speak more, but their utterances lack sense. A lot of individuals with schizophrenia observe a blunted or weakened effect. It means that they are less sad, angry or happy compared to other people in their reactions to the reality. Some of them are unemotional. They are characterized with little eye contact and monotonous voices. As for the loss of volition, it is also observed among the people with schizophrenia. It is often called avolition, or apathy. The people with this symptom feel exhausted, uninterested, and having no aim. As a rule, it is typical of the people who have had schizophrenia for a long time. As a result, they are drained and purposeless. The feelings of people with schizophrenia are contradictory and uncertain. Another negative symptom is social withdrawal. The individuals with schizophrenia often prefer to retract from the society. They are obsessed with their fantasies and ideas; thus they do not need anyone. This withdrawal takes them even further from reality, as their ideas are disorganized and absurd. Such retraction may result in the loss of major social skills, which in its turn can make the treatment more complicated.Schizophrenia in Young Men and Women Research Paper
Psychomotor Symptoms
Apart from positive and negative, people with schizophrenia may observe psychomotor symptoms. The examples of those symptoms may be slow or strange movements, repeated grimaces, and unusual gestures. They pretend to have a certain magical or ritual purpose. The ultimate form of the psychomotor symptoms of schizophrenia is known as catatonia. The individuals in a catatonic stupor do not react to the surrounding. They may not move and be silent for long periods of time. People who experience catatonic rigidity can stay in a fixed, upright position for hours. Moreover, they turn down the attempts to move them. Besides, other people with schizophrenia may take clumsy and strange poses and hold that way for long periods of time. Another type of catatonia, the catatonic excitement, is characterized by excited and uncontrolled movements of arms and legs (Comer, 2015).
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