Schizophrenia (Essay Sample)

SCHIZOPHRENIA
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Schizophrenia is a very rare and dreaded mental illness that has plagued mankind for countless years. Researchers have explained that of all psychiatric conditions, schizophrenia, with a lifespan pervasiveness of 1% globally, is the most complicated to understand and treat. It is associated with constant hallucinations, delusions, thought disorders, apathy and self-withdrawal. People suffering from schizophrenia are unable to differentiate between real and unreal experiences, think logically, have normal emotional reactions and even behave in a normal manner in social situations. Most people with schizophrenia live with the condition for the rest of their lives, requiring frequent and long periods of hospitalization.
In the early years, schizophrenia was looked down upon. People didn’t know it was a disease and as such was associated with demon possession. Most cases were overlooked, terming them as nervous breakdowns or split personalities. Robert Louis Stevenson in his fictional novel, "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" popularizes the concept of multiple personality, a factor that is totally unrelated to the schizophrenia. This can be backed up by evidence that clearly explains development of multiple personality being witnessed early in life and often as a result of child hood trauma whereas schizophrenia develops in early adulthood or late adolescence.
Over the years countless studies have been carried out by scientists worldwide to investigate the cause of the illness and establish a cure. In fact, schizophrenia has been the most investigated psychiatric disorder, with scientists spending the most time, money, energy on research towards this illness than on all other psychiatric disorders combined. The unfortunate truth is that despite all the countless studies, our ignorance concerning its causes and treatment is still abysmal. The onset of the illness is usually in the early 20’s and even with medication and therapy; it usually persists throughout the entire adult life. The best we can ascertain is that several theories have been developed over the years each one seeking to resolve the issues underlying schizophrenia. Little satisfaction can be achieved in the fact that psychiatry, in its bid to understand schizophrenia, is still more backward than oncology is on its vigorous research in cancer. Evidence suggests that the main obstacle in understanding schizophrenia is the fact that most researchers have failed to know the significant questions to ask and how to achieve the correct answers to these questions.
In the U.S for example, approximately 2.2 million of its citizens suffer from schizophrenia. In terms of ratio, this means that 8 out of every 1000 people suffer from the illness, with almost 900,000 people having schizophrenia ending up not being treated. This staggering large number of untreated people suffering from schizophrenia is not a new thing to our ears.
History of Schizophrenia
In the olden ages, Greek mythology associated schizophrenia as madness and even went on to the extent of associating it to a punishment from God. Greek physician Hippocrates (460-377 BC) decided to put schizophrenia into scientific speculation. He argued that this ‘madness’ may be as a result of an imbalance in bodily humors which through consuming the right diet and blood lettings, could be reversed. Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322BC) and physician Galen (129-216 BC) went further to expound on Hippocrates humeral theory, both playing an important role in establishing schizophrenia as Europe’s dominant medical role.
"Only from the brain springs our pleasures, our feelings, our happiness, laughter and jokes, our pain, our sorrows and tears. This same organ makes us mad and confused, inspires us with fear and anxiety" – Hippocrates, The Holy Disease.
It is until the late 18th century that beliefs in modern psychiatry started to surface, resulting to people viewing schizophrenia as a disease. In 1887, Dr. Emile Krapelin, a German physician, became the first person to identify the disease as a discrete mental illness, terming it as "dementia paradox" to explain the symptoms in patients that we now term as schizophrenia.
Schizophrenia not only affects the people suffering from it but also their close relatives and friends. A person having schizophrenia will always have mixed reactions to everyday normal situations. This unfortunately takes a toll on the people who are closest to him as they have to continuously deal with a wide range of difficult emotions, including fear, guilt, anger, hopelessness and frustration. Many of them, worried about the stigma that is related o mental illness, are confused and embarrassed by the strange behaviors that they cannot understand. They opt to try and hide their loved ones illness from others. This supports the evidenced large number of untreated individuals suffering from schizophrenia. Unfortunately, this isolation and denial only compounds the problem.
It is argued from a highly biological basis of studies that schizophrenia is inherited. These studies have therefore revealed the existence of a gene that plays a major role in its onset. Hereditability however only applies to a very small percentage of those suffering from schizophrenia, as a majority of those suffering from it do not possess any family history to the disease. We cannot however condemn the studies undertaken in relation to schizophrenia. Positive steps have been achieved over a number of years including the development of newer antipsychotics. These antipsychotic drugs have been able to provide the people suffering from schizophrenia with at least some measure of relief and ability to live their lives. However, most of these medications come with a wide range of side effects which may disable the individual.
Publication about Schizophrenia
Of all the factors associated with development of schizophrenia in patients, imperative evidence suggests that genetics play a major role. According to Annabel Bligh (2014) in her publication, "The genetics behind schizophrenia are more complex than we thought”, a recent study to understand the genetics of schizophrenia was carried out with scientists sampling blood from almost 7000 Swedes and Bulgarians. The blood samples were obtained from patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and their parents. The samples were thoroughly examined and compared on the basis of those who had a history of the disease. Findings from this study were very fruitful as they not only isolated patterns relevant to the biology that underlies the disease but they were also able to locate genetic mutation sites primarily responsible for its advent. However, as Bligh further expounds, the conclusion from the study stated that the disease possessed a very complex genetic basis. This invalidated the assumption that specific genes are responsible for the disease, and posed a major drawback in discovery of the schizophrenia gene despite the concerted efforts. On the contrary, the research established that a number of genetic mutations are implicated in the development of schizophrenia.
In developing a treatment and prevention strategy for schizophrenia, it is important to identify the cause(s) of the disorder. As research in understanding the disease is progressing over the years, improved understanding of the disease has been evidenced. For example, scientists have been able to identify possible genetic and environmental causes that they believe result to development of schizophrenia in patients.
Models explaining the causes of schizophrenia
Scientists have developed various models suggesting biological and environmental causal factors of schizophrenia. These models however vary in range, a factor attributed to the variety of ways in which schizophrenia manifests itself (Peralta & Cuesta, 2000). Onley and Faber (1995) suggested that NDMA receptor hypo function could provide reliable insight, both physiological and biological; to the symptoms of schizophrenia (cited in Keshavan et al., 2008). Their theory had a good number of similarities to the genetic causes of schizophrenia scientists had previously documented. However, compelling evidence to support the validity of their model lacked (ibid.)
Crow (1995) came up with another model in which he suggested "a desynchrony of hemispheric development due to genes involved in evolution of language”. His model played an important role in explaining a number of aspects related to schizophrenia. Another model was yet suggested, claiming that stress may be the trigger to schizophrenia (Concoran et al., 2003). This model however failed to answer the question of why a number of people are prone to the disease whereas others are not. As a result of these models, along with many others, it was suggested that a clear model to explain schizophrenia would remain being an overwhelming drawback, reason being; the assumption that schizophrenia is a single disease may be false (Keshavan et al., 2008). This proposal maintains its validation from the fact that a wide range of manifestations can be witnessed in persons diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Another proposal put on the table was that "as long as the question of heterogeneity fails to be understood and answered at clinical levels, heterogeneity would be difficult to resolve at further pathological and etiological levels (Peralta & Causeta, 2000, p.253). In a nutshell, it suggested that until we are able to see the symptoms of schizophrenia earlier enough and more clearly, it will be much harder to ascertain the proper cause model explaining the cause of schizophrenia.
In the recent years, newer and more informed models have been created, with the examples off the stress-diathesis model and bio-psychosocial model. The bio-psych...