Zanax, but hopes to graduate off that drug as he did the antipsychotic med- ications a couple months ago.
The American College Dictionary defines schizophrenia simply as : �A mental disorder characterized by splitting of the personality, dissociation, and emotional deteriation� (1085).
We should shun the myth that schizophrenia is a state of multiple personality. It is not. Because the schizophrenic brain is physically and behaviorally different from a normal brain, we can call it a physical disease. The phenomenon of it is manifested two ways; �positive� symptoms (which manifest primarily as disordered thoughts) , hallucinations and delusions. These phenomena can involve any of the senses.
The second way it is classified is through �negative� symptoms, which include anhedonia, broken speech, and social detachment. Also, a deficiency of perseverance, initiation and motivation. In 1961,the Joint Commission On Mental Illness explained their plight, saying that �the socially visible characteristic of the psychotic person is that he becomes a stranger among his own people� (21). It is a shame that by and large, psychiatry ignores the Psychosocial needs of its patients.
Causes
There is no specific gene documented for schizophrenia. Twin studies have long been touted as authorative and conclusive to identify and predict a genetic occurrence of disease, but the frame of reference in many of these studies is misleading. In fact, Peter Breggin, M.D. shares that, � �identical twin studies support an environmental theory of schizophrenia rather than a genetic one (96).
In an effort to be more precise in their findings, a study was done by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) on adopted children in Denmark who had �developed� schizophrenia. Their birth families were examined for the trait. Dr. Breggin reviewed that report and with eruption recounts - �When I located the original 1975 summery report on the Danish study by Kety and his colleagues in the book �Genetic Research in Psychiatry�, I was shocked by what I found. There was no increase in so-called schizophrenia, among the closest biological relatives, including the mothers, fathers, full brothers and full sisters. Thus, the studies tended to disprove the genetic origin of the presumed illness�(97).
Brain injury and childhood trauma are also believed to cause some forms of schizophrenia.
The Behavior
Schizophrenia symptoms vary from person to person and can include any or all, involving any number of sensory receptors producing disordered thoughts, hallucinations and delusions. The schizoid personality runs the gambit from paranoia to grandeur in his delusions and fights like he�s in a tormenting Hell against the intrusive thoughts and voices he hears. The hallucinations keep them defocused from reality. The person is beside their self, so to speak, hopelessly beyond control of their own mental processes. Issues of functionality have commonly placed these souls frequently in state hospitals
where the neuroleptic called thorazine keeps them spellbound. Those fortunate enough to have escaped that fate are roaming aimlessly on the city streets of the world, and represent 1% of the world population.
Treatment/Side Effects
Management of the symptoms has long been administered through the use of neuroleptics like Thorazine. Unfortunately, this medicine was worse than the ailment in many cases. Professionals have been using neuroleptics for many years.
One side effect is �Tardive Dyskensia�, a drug induced brain disease that makes it impossible to stay physically still. The high level of L-dopa
causes this.The newest wave of antipsychotics hopefuls is clozapine, risperidone and olanzapine. They provide better control over the symptoms, and much milder drug side effects It is documented by The Medical Science Bulletin that �The drug shows a potent affinity for the dopamine receptor (D2 subtype) In adverse cases, the person may experience sleeplessness, nervousness, agitation constipation, dry mouth and psychomotor slowing (3).
