Causes, Effects and Treatment of Schizophrenia (Term Paper Sample)

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Causes, Effects and Treatment of Schizophrenia
This paper seeks to delve into what schizophrenia is, its causes, its effects and the effective methods of treating it. This paper argues that as much as Schizophrenia is a lifelong disorder with severe effects, whose exact solution is yet to be cracked if discovered earlier and appropriate treatment prescribed and followed it can be controlled.
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that is typified by the breakdown of a patient`s thinking and thus leading to terrible emotional responses. Schizophrenia patients are most likely to face many difficulties at school, work, and in maintaining relationships. The worst thing with the disease is that it can cause the patient to be frightened, thus leading to an informal withdrawal. Schizophrenia is a lifetime disorder, whose solution is yet to be found. However, the disorder can be contained via the patient taking appropriate medication. Schizophrenia is psychosis. This refers to a type of mental illness that makes individuals unable to differentiate what is imagined from what is real. Many a time, people with Schizophrenia lose touch with reality. They see the world as a jumble of confusing ideas and images. For this reason, people with Schizophrenia are strange and disturbing. Schizophrenia varies in severity from one individual to another. For instance, some people may develop psychotic episodes that can fully resolve while others develop many episodes throughout their lives. Psychotic episode is a sudden change in personality as well as behavior that arises when a person lose touch with reality.
Schizophrenia is a term that is less than a hundred years old. However, Doctor Emile Kraepelin identified the disorder in the year 1887 as a discrete mental illness (Emil Kraepelin). The disease itself has been believed to have accompanied mankind throughout its history. There are written documents that identified Schizophrenia, and they can be traced to Egypt way back in the second millennium before Christ. Depression and thought disturbances that are in Schizophrenia are fully described into details in a book which is known as the Book of Hearts. The heart as well as the mind appears to have been synonymous in the ancient Egypt (Brennand, 221-225). The physical illness was regarded as serious signs that affected the heart and the uterus and originated from the blood vessels, or might have been a poison or demons. According to a recent study carried out in the ancient Greek literature, it was revealed that although the people were aware of the psychotic disorders, no condition would meet the present diagnostic criteria for Schizophrenia in the Greek society (The History of Schizophrenia).
At one point, all the people who were said to be abnormal, due to mental illness or physical deformities were adversely treated equally. Some of the early theories attributed psychological disorders to be caused by possession of evil spirits; the suggested remedy was to exorcise these evil spirits. Exorcising was conducted through various means; for instance, the patient was exposed to a particular style of music. Consequently, holes were drilled in the patient’s skull as a way of releasing the evil spirits. The term Schizophrenia originates from the Greek roots schizo that means split while phrene means mind. These words were used to describe the fragmented thoughts of individuals who were believed to have this disorder (Green, 119-136). The definition has continued to differ; this is as a result of the scientists attempts to accurately isolate different types of mental disorders. Kraepelin subdivided Schizophrenia into different categories; these categories were based on both symptoms and prognoses. As time passed on, those personnel working in this field have continued to classify the types of Schizophrenia. Five types of Schizophrenia have already been identified. The first one was disorganized and followed by differentiated, then residual, paranoid and finally catatonic.
The main causes of Schizophrenia are not yet fully understood. This is because; there has been no known single cause of the disorder. many of diseases, such as heart disease, might result from interplay of genetics as well as behavioral factors. This might be the same case for Schizophrenia (Brennand, 221-225). Scientists have identified that Schizophrenia runs in families. Individuals who have a close relative suffering from Schizophrenia are most likely to develop the disease than the people who do not have either of their relatives suffering from the disease. Therefore, a child whose parent has Schizophrenia is apt to have the disorder. Other factors, such as prenatal difficulties such as intrauterine starvation or to some extent viral infections have been identified as the main catalysts towards the development of Schizophrenia.
Nevertheless, it has not yet been understood how the genetic predisposition can be transmitted from one person to another (Green, 119-136). Additionally, it can get more than one gene to convey the disorder. According to scientists, the interactions between the environment and the genes should be available for Schizophrenia to develop. Numerous environmental factors might be involved. These factors include; malnutrition before birth and exposure to the virus that causes Schizophrenia. The knowledge of brain chemistry and its connection towards Schizophrenia are rapidly expanding. Neurotransmitters are substances, which allow communication between nerve cells; it is thought to be a significant contributor in the development of Schizophrenia.
The primary treatment of schizophrenia is simply a medication. Unfortunately, complying with a medication regimen is regarded as one of the biggest problem associated with the treatment of Schizophrenia. This is because, people living with this illness may turn off their medication during periods in their lifetime, the effects of this lack of treatment are visible to patients and their families as well. For a successful treatment of Schizophrenia, the patient should be dedicated in taking the medication as well as attending support therapies. However, the medication controls the psychosis that is associated with the disorder,