Schizophrenia Essay examples -- Psychology Psychiatry Disorders Essays

Schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a metal illness which is characterized by a disruption in cognition and emotion that affects the most fundamental human attributes, such as thought, perception, language, and the sense of self. There are a large number of symptoms of schizophrenia which can include hearing internal voices, hallucinations, and delusions. No single symptom can diagnose a person as schizophrenic, but rather the collection of multiple symptoms which persist for a prolonged period of time. Symptoms of schizophrenia are divided into two categories, positive and negative. These categories define how the symptoms are defined and treated. Positive symptoms include delusions, hallucinations, disorganized behavior, disorganized speech and thinking, difficulty to be goal oriented, the schizophrenic is unpredictable, silly, or exhibits behaviors that are bizarre to onlookers. Other positive symptoms include catatonic behaviors, which would be a decrease in reaction to the current environment. Positive symptoms, which do not occur very often, are unusual motor behavior, derealization, depersonalization and somatic preoccupations. Negative symptoms of schizophrenia include affective flattening, which is a reduction in the range and intensity of emotional expressions, Alogia categorized by a lessening of speech fluency and productivity, and Avolition, which is the reduction, or difficulty to initiate and persist in goal directed behavior. Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness, and although there is no known cure there are several drugs that can be administered to those suffering from the illness to reduce the severity of the symptoms, or to hopefully get rid of all of the s... ...perdal. (2003). Retrieved February 19, 2005, from http://www.drugresourcecenter.com/risperdal/risperdal.htm Jannsen.com, . Risperdal. (2005, January 12). Retrieved February 17, 2005, from http://www.risperdal.com/html/ris/consumer/pd_risperidone.xml?article =safety.jspf Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General. Retrieved February 19, 2005, from http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/mentalhealth/chapter4/sec4.html #table4_7 NAMI-NYS. Retrieved February 19, 2005, from http://www.naminys.org/abmed_ris.htm National Institute of Neorlogical disorders and Stroke, . NINDS Tardive Dyskinesia Information Page. (2005, February 09). Retrieved February 19, 2005, from http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/tardive/tardive.htm PSY web Mental Health. Retrieved February 19, 2005, from http://www.psyweb.com/Drughtm/risper.html