According to Hogarty, schizophrenia is the most bizarre and, in many ways, the most puzzling of all psychological disorders. It is also one of the most challenging disorders to treat effectively. Despite many theories and thousands of research studies, schizophrenia remains one of the least understood disorders.
Schizophrenic symptoms include severe disturbances in thinking, speech, perception, emotion, and behaviour. Schizophrenia is one of a family of psychotic disorders which involve a certain amount of loss of contact with reality and bizarre behaviours and experiences.
The term 'Schizophrenia' was introduced by Swiss psychiatrist Eugene Bleuler in 1911. It literally means 'split mind'. This has led people to confuse it with Dissociative Identity Disorder (Multiple Personality Disorder). However, when Bleuler came up with the term 'Schizophrenia', multiple personalities were not on his mind. What he intended to suggest was that certain psychological functions such as emotions, thoughts, or languages; which are usually integrated with one another; were somehow split apart or disconnected in patients with the disorder.
Schizophrenic symptoms include severe disturbances in thinking, speech, perception, emotion, and behaviour. Schizophrenia is one of a family of psychotic disorders which involve a certain amount of loss of contact with reality and bizarre behaviours and experiences.
The term 'Schizophrenia' was introduced by Swiss psychiatrist Eugene Bleuler in 1911. It literally means 'split mind'. This has led people to confuse it with Dissociative Identity Disorder (Multiple Personality Disorder). However, when Bleuler came up with the term 'Schizophrenia', multiple personalities were not on his mind. What he intended to suggest was that certain psychological functions such as emotions, thoughts, or languages; which are usually integrated with one another; were somehow split apart or disconnected in patients with the disorder.
Characteristics of Schizophrenia
Diagnosis of schizophrenia is based on evidence that such a person misinterprets reality and exhibits disordered attention, thought or perception. In addition, this individual will withdraw from social interactions, communicate in strange or inappropriate ways, neglect personal grooming, and behave in a disorganised fashion.
Schizophrenic thoughts tend to be delusional at times, which consist of false beliefs sustained in the face of evidence that normally could be sufficient to destroy them. An individual with schizophrenia may tend to believe that his brain is being turned to glass by ray guns operated by his enemies from outer space (a delusion of persecution or that Jesus Christ is one of his special agents or a delusion of grandeur). During the period of recovery, a patient with schizophrenia described several aspects of thought disorders.
The most wearing aspects of this disorder are the fierce battles going on inside their heads with unresolvable conflicts. Their minds can divide on a subject, and the two parts can subdivide over and over again until they feel as if their minds are in pieces. At other times, they may feel like they are trapped inside their heads, banging against its walls in a desperate attempt to escape.
Schizophrenic thoughts tend to be delusional at times, which consist of false beliefs sustained in the face of evidence that normally could be sufficient to destroy them. An individual with schizophrenia may tend to believe that his brain is being turned to glass by ray guns operated by his enemies from outer space (a delusion of persecution or that Jesus Christ is one of his special agents or a delusion of grandeur). During the period of recovery, a patient with schizophrenia described several aspects of thought disorders.
The most wearing aspects of this disorder are the fierce battles going on inside their heads with unresolvable conflicts. Their minds can divide on a subject, and the two parts can subdivide over and over again until they feel as if their minds are in pieces. At other times, they may feel like they are trapped inside their heads, banging against its walls in a desperate attempt to escape.
As individuals progress into schizophrenic condition, their perception becomes disorganised and their discarded thoughts tend to become more pronounced. Unwanted thoughts constantly tend to intrude their consciousness. Some patients experience hallucinations; false perceptions with a compelling sense of reality. Auditory hallucinations, which are typically voices speaking to such patients, are the most common, but visual and tactical hallucinations may occur, too. The following is an individual's description of his hallucinations:
As of recent, my mind has played tricks on me, creating people inside my head who come out at times to haunt and torment me. They surround me in rooms, hide behind trees and under the snow outside. They taunt me and scream at me while devising plans to break my spirit. The voices tend to come and go, but the people never leave and are always real.
The language of schizophrenic people is often disorganised and may contain strange words. A patient's language, at times, may contain word assassinations based on rhymes or other associations, rather than meaning. Consider the following conversation between a psychologist and a hospitalised schizophrenic patient:
After two weeks, the psychologist said to the patient, "As you say, you are wired precisely wrong. But why won't you let me see the diagram?" The patient answered, "Never ever will you find the lever; the external lever which will sever me forever with my real, seal, deal, heel. It is not in my shoe, not even in the sole. It walks away." (Rosenhan &Seligman).
Schizophrenia can affect emotions in a number of ways. Many individuals with schizophrenia have Blunted Affect. Manifesting less sadness, joy, and anger than most people do. Others have a Flat Affect, showing almost no emotions at all. Their voices are monotonous, their faces impassive. Inappropriate Affect can occur, too, as in the following case:
The psychologist noted that the previous patient smiled when he felt uncomfortable, and more so when he was in pain. He cried during television comedies and seemed to be angry when justice was served. He got frightened when complimented by someone, and roared in laughter upon reading of a young child being burnt in a fire.
Schizophrenia has cognitive, emotional and behavioural facets that can widely vary from case to case. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders differentiates among four major subtypes of schizophrenia.
Undifferentiated Schizophrenia is a category assigned to individuals who exhibit some symptoms and thought disorders of the above categories.
In addition to these categories, many health workers and researchers divide schizophrenia reactions into two main categories on the basis of two classes of symptoms. One type is characterised by a predisposition of positive symptoms, which are bizarre behaviours like delusions, hallucinations, and disordered speech and thinking. These symptoms are called positive in the account of them representing the pathological extremes of normal processes. The second type features are negative symptoms, which is the absence of normal reactions such as the lack of emotional expression, loss of motivation, and an absence of speech.
The distinction between positive and negative symptoms seem to be an important one. Researchers have found differences in brain functions in both schizophrenics with positive symptoms and primarily negative symptoms. These subtypes show differences in life history and prognosis, too. The negative feelings are likely to be associated with a long history of poor functioning prior to diagnosis, and a poor outcome following treatment.
Schizophrenia affects around 1 percent of the world's population and 1.2 percent of Americans have schizophrenia. Some who are not hospitalised barely function on their own.
As of recent, my mind has played tricks on me, creating people inside my head who come out at times to haunt and torment me. They surround me in rooms, hide behind trees and under the snow outside. They taunt me and scream at me while devising plans to break my spirit. The voices tend to come and go, but the people never leave and are always real.
The language of schizophrenic people is often disorganised and may contain strange words. A patient's language, at times, may contain word assassinations based on rhymes or other associations, rather than meaning. Consider the following conversation between a psychologist and a hospitalised schizophrenic patient:
After two weeks, the psychologist said to the patient, "As you say, you are wired precisely wrong. But why won't you let me see the diagram?" The patient answered, "Never ever will you find the lever; the external lever which will sever me forever with my real, seal, deal, heel. It is not in my shoe, not even in the sole. It walks away." (Rosenhan &Seligman).
Schizophrenia can affect emotions in a number of ways. Many individuals with schizophrenia have Blunted Affect. Manifesting less sadness, joy, and anger than most people do. Others have a Flat Affect, showing almost no emotions at all. Their voices are monotonous, their faces impassive. Inappropriate Affect can occur, too, as in the following case:
The psychologist noted that the previous patient smiled when he felt uncomfortable, and more so when he was in pain. He cried during television comedies and seemed to be angry when justice was served. He got frightened when complimented by someone, and roared in laughter upon reading of a young child being burnt in a fire.
Subtypes of Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia has cognitive, emotional and behavioural facets that can widely vary from case to case. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders differentiates among four major subtypes of schizophrenia.
- Paranoid Schizophrenia, whose most prominent features are delusions of persecution, making them believe that others want to harm them, and delusions of grandeur, which makes them believe that they are of enormous importance. Suspicion, anger or anxiety may company their delusions, and hallucinations are also possible.
- Disorganised Schizophrenia, whose central features happen to be confusion and incoherence, together with severe deterioration of adaptive behaviours such as social skills, personal hygiene, and self-care. Their thought disorganisation, at times, is so extreme that it makes it hard to communicate with them. At times, their behaviour appears to be silly and childish, with emotional responses that are highly inappropriate. Individuals with disorganised schizophrenia are usually unable to function on their own.
- Catatonic Schizophrenia is characterized by striking motor disturbances which range from muscle rigidity to random or recitative movements. Individuals with repetitive schizophrenia, at times, alternate between stuporous states, in which they seem to be oblivious to reality, and agitated excited, during which they can be dangerous to others. During this stuporous state, they may exhibit waxy flexibility, in which their limbs can be moulded by another into grotesque positions, which can be maintained for hours.
Undifferentiated Schizophrenia is a category assigned to individuals who exhibit some symptoms and thought disorders of the above categories.
In addition to these categories, many health workers and researchers divide schizophrenia reactions into two main categories on the basis of two classes of symptoms. One type is characterised by a predisposition of positive symptoms, which are bizarre behaviours like delusions, hallucinations, and disordered speech and thinking. These symptoms are called positive in the account of them representing the pathological extremes of normal processes. The second type features are negative symptoms, which is the absence of normal reactions such as the lack of emotional expression, loss of motivation, and an absence of speech.
The distinction between positive and negative symptoms seem to be an important one. Researchers have found differences in brain functions in both schizophrenics with positive symptoms and primarily negative symptoms. These subtypes show differences in life history and prognosis, too. The negative feelings are likely to be associated with a long history of poor functioning prior to diagnosis, and a poor outcome following treatment.
Schizophrenia affects around 1 percent of the world's population and 1.2 percent of Americans have schizophrenia. Some who are not hospitalised barely function on their own.
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