Schizophrenia (Essay Sample)

Schizophrenia
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Introduction
Schizophrenia is a serious mental disorder that is characterized by fragmented thought processes and lack of typical or normal emotional responses (Berrios, Luque & Villagran, 2010). People who suffer from the disorder experience considerable occupational or social dysfunction. The aim of this paper is to discuss the main causes of schizophrenia. It will discuss the major genetic and environmental factors that scientists and physicians have found to be related to the development of the disorder. The paper will start with the historical development of the disease and its etiology before looking at the environmental and genetic factors that lead to the disease. After looking at the main symptoms of the disease and its treatment, the paper will analyze several articles to evaluate the input of various scholars related to the disease. The paper will operate from a premise that schizophrenia mental disorder; a combination of mood, thought and anxiety disorders is caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors, and can be treatment using both medical therapy and psychotherapy.
History of Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia was initially identified as a discrete illness of the brain by Dr Emille Kraepelin in the summative years of the 19th century. However, the illness has been there in the history of mankind. There is evidence that traces the disease back to the second millennium before Christ. The book of hearts describes thought disturbances, dementia and depression, which are typical symptoms of schizophrenia (Berrios, Luque & Villagran, 2010). A study into ancient Roman and Greek literature carried out recently indicates that there is no condition that existed in the ancient world that meets the contemporary diagnostic criteria for this disease though the people were aware of existence of psychotic disorders. Ancient theories postulated that mental disorders were mainly caused by evil spirits that possessed human beings. Therefore, the treatment was exorcism meant to drive away the evil spirits. There were several methods of exorcism. They include drilling holes into the skull of the patient exposure to certain types of music and innocuous treatments. German medic by the name of Emile Kraepelin was the first person to categorise mental disorders into different classes. He used the terminology “Dementia Praecox” to describe people with symptoms that modern psychiatry associate with schizophrenia. In 1887, schizophrenia was categorised as a distinct mental disorder by the German physician. According, to Kraepelin, dementia praecox was a disease of the brain. He used the term praecox to distinguish it from other forms of dementia. Other forms of dementia include Alzheimer’s disease, which occurs in later stages of life. However, his study involved young adults, hence the need to make the distinction. The term Schizophrenia was coined in 1911 by a Swiss psychiatrist called Eugene Bleuler (Baier, 2010). He was also the first physician to describe the symptoms of the disease as negative or positive. He used the term schizophrenia because he felt that the use of the word dementia was quite misleading. Dementia leads to mental deterioration. However, what Kraepelin was describing using the term dementia did not lead to mental deterioration. The term schizophrenia was derived from two Greek words. These are Schizo which means split and phrene which means the mind. Therefore schizophrenia is a mental condition that is characterised by fragmented thinking (Berrios, Luque & Villagran, 2010). This does not indicate split personality. It implied uncoordinated thinking patterns. However, since the time Bleuler coined this term, the definition of the disease has continued to change. This is because scientists and psychologists have continuously tried to delineate different types of mental diseases (Berrios, Luque & Villagran, 2010). Kraepelin and Bleuler made several subdivisions of the disease based of prognoses and symptoms. However, as time went by different scientists and psychologists created five categories of schizophrenia. They are: disorganised, catatonic, paranoid, undifferentiated and residua. These categories however, did not help in predicting the outcome of this disease. The five times have not been diagnosed reliably. Therefore, modern researchers and scientists have resorted to other systems to classify disorders that can be said to be schizophrenic. They base their classification simultaneous occurrence of syndromes and mental disorders, preponderance of the negative versus positive symptoms, and how the disorder progresses in terms of severity and symptoms. Scientists believe that differentiating different types of schizophrenia on the basis of clinical symptoms can a play a role in helping to determine the causes of the disorder and its aetiology. Over the last two decades, research has shown that schizophrenia is a biological disease of the brain. Modern brain imaging systems have the ability to show tissue distraction waves that exist in a brain that suffers from schizophrenia (Berrios, Luque R, Villagran, 2010).
Epigenetic Etiology
Schizophrenia is a product of both nature and nurture. It is caused by both genetic and environmental factors. When genetic vulnerabilities and environmental factors combine, they can result in schizophrenia. According to research, heritability of schizophrenia risks stand at 80 percent. Adoption studies indicate that children born by a parent with schizophrenia stand a high chance of being schizophrenic even if the two live apart. Molecular studies of the disease aimed at identifying the specific genes that increase the risk of the disease listed neuregulin and dysbindin as the genes that show promising results early enough. Another research indicated that duplications and rare deletions of minute DNA sequences within the genetic makeup can increase the risk for schizophrenia (Bora, Yucel & Pantelis, 2009). A study carried out in 2009 managed to create mice matching symptoms of schizophrenia by deleting one set of genes, especially the neuregulin synaptic receptor. The results showed that during further brain development, there was a breakdown of glutamate receptors. This research therefore supported the glutamate theory of schizophrenia.
There are several environmental factors that cause schizophrenia. One of them is hypoxia. Since the 1970s, there have been several hypotheses that argue that hypoxia, or low supply of oxygen before birth or immediately after birth is a strong risk factor for schizophrenia development. Hypoxia is an environmental factor that has been found to influence susceptibility to schizophrenia. Infections are other environmental factors that increase susceptibility to schizophrenia. One of the infections that are found to be a high risk factor in development of schizophrenia is influenza (Bora, Yucel & Pantelis, 2009). A study carried out in 1988 indicated a people exposed to Asian flu when they were second trimester fetuses had an increased risk of developing schizophrenia. Other infections that carry a high risk include measles polio, rubella and herpes simplex.
Another environmental factor that is strongly linked to development of schizophrenia is substance abuse. Though it has been hard for researchers to establish a clear causal connection between schizophrenia and use of drugs, there is strong evidence that some drugs can cause schizophrenia. For example amphetamines can trigger excessive secretion of dopamine. Excessive dopamine functions have been found to be responsible for a wide variety of schizophrenia symptoms (Bora, Yucel, & Pantelis, 2009). Studies also suggest that cannabis is a significant causal factor and can also increase the risk of getting schizophrenia. Scientists have also found life experiences to be strong causal factors. The risk of getting schizophrenia increases with the increase in the number of negative social factors such as social exclusion, social economic disadvantage and childhood molestation. Also, of migraines caused by psychosocial adversity, family dysfunction, personal abuse or discrimination has been found to be a significant risk factor for schizophrenia. There is enough evidence that shows that increase in adverse experiences alters dopamine neurotransmission which can cause schizophrenia (Bora, Yucel & Pantelis, 2009). There is also consistent evidence that shows that negative attitude towards a person can increase their vulnerability to schizophrenia. Hostility, patronizing and condescending attitudes and authoritarian approach towards a person can create schizophrenic relapses. This means that relationships with other people can also be risk factors that can cause schizophrenia.
Symptoms and Treatment of Schizophrenia
There are five main symptomatic characteristics of schizophrenia. These are delusions, hallucinations, disorganized behavior, disorganized speech and the negative symptoms. Delusions occur in more than 90 percent of cases of schizophrenia (Matthews & Bach, 2010). The most common type of delusion that affects people with schizophrenia is delusions of persecution. This is a belief that there are some people out to get the victim and persecute them. There are also delusions of control, where a schizophrenic person believes that their actions and thoughts are being controlled by external and alien forces. Hallucinations are sounds or sensations that exist in the mind of a person. According to research, hallucination occurs when people misinterpret their own inner talk as an outside talk. In most cases, these voices are critical, abusive or vulgar. They become worse when the victim is alone. The other symptom is disorganized speech. This also referred to as fragmented thinking. Schizophrenic people cannot concentrate or maintain on...