Diseases Of The Brain Like Schizophrenia example essay topic

There are many psychological disorders and diseases that affect todays families. One particular disease is schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is quite common in mental hospitals; however, until recently, the disease was a mystery to the medical society. Although it is a cruel disease, there are rays of hope, such as, research, treatment, and the organizations of families and friends. Along with being a mystery to the medical community, schizophrenia is also a mystery to society in general. Few people are familiar with the disease in detail.

Researchers are now working toward making everyone aware of the disease. What exactly is schizophrenia? Few people can answer that question in detail. Most would simply answer that it was a disease when a person had two personalities. Schizophrenia is a brain disease that tends to run in families. Family members have a 10 percent chance of getting the disease.

According to researchers, schizophrenia is a combination of more than one disease. There is no way in which schizophrenia can be reliably measured. There is, however, a proposed list of symptoms, which point strongly toward schizophrenia as the diagnosis. Some of the symptoms are: auditory hallucinations where ones thoughts are spoken aloud, auditory hallucinations in which two voices are arguing, hallucinations of touch, withdrawal of thoughts, insertion of thoughts, insertion of feelings by others, insertion of irresistible impulses, feeling that ones actions are controlled by others, delusions of perception, and auditory hallucinations with voices commenting on ones actions. According to studies, at least 75 percent of schizophrenic patients have one or more of these symptoms. However, diagnosis can only take place when the following standards have been met: illness symptoms lasting for at least six months, deterioration in everyday function, disease began before the age of 45, symptoms do not suggest mental disorders or retardation, and symptoms do not suggest the presence of a manic-depressive illness, delusions, or hallucinations.

According to Cutting (1995), the lack of common sense in schizophrenic patients results from three interrelated problems. Firstly, they do not hold the same constant set of beliefs about the world, which we normally take for granted by people. Secondly, they are unable to understand how other people feel or think about a particular matter due to their trouble in separating reality from fantasy. This makes schizophrenic patients appear to be irrational. Thirdly, their judgment about the likelihood of events is impaired as their mental processes are weakened. Cutting proves that schizophrenic patients are multi-faced.

Nevertheless, their social cognitive schemata are not all affected and this is the most persistent impairment (Cutting, 1995). Schemata are the stored memory of earlier experiences that allows for fast unconscious processing of a lot of information. They usually reduce the demands on the limited capacity system of conscious information processing. Several factors can cause schizophrenia. First, it can run in the family.

In addition, the disease is caused by a problem with the limbic system and its connections. Thirdly, some cases begin with the disease very early in life, perhaps even before birth. However, the symptoms of schizophrenia may not appear until later in life. The fact that schizophrenia runs in the family has been proven beyond doubt.

Many theories have been explored as to just how this is transmitted to family members. It is believed that viruses, dietary factors, or even common childhood experiences could pass the disease from generation to generation. The theory that schizophrenia is transmitted by genes has not yet been proved. Diseases of the brain, like schizophrenia, which affect the limbic system, are more likely to produce schizophrenic-like symptoms. The strongest bit of evidence connecting the limbic system to schizophrenia results from studies of the electrical activity of the brain. !