Mental Illness Paper

Mental Illness Paper

Barb Parker

HCA/240

June, 10, 2012

Lorie Larson

Schizophrenia has no clear meaning because of its relationship with other mental illnesses and brain disorders (Pinel, 2009). People with schizophrenia experience loss of contact with reality. Their ability to comprehend and respond to their environment is disturbing to the extent that they cannot perform normal daily functions, such as work, school, or personal hygiene. This essay will give a history of schizophrenia, including the past and present diagnostic criteria. The signs and symptoms of this mental illness, as well as treatments and their effectiveness are expressed and their potential benefits and problems.

In 1845 Ernest von Freuchtersleben, an Austrian physician, published the book entitled The Principles of Medical Psychology, where he coined the word psychosis to define mania and insanity (Burns, 1954). In 1893, to clarify the diagnostic criteria for diagnosing psychosis Emile Kraeplin, a German physician, named the disorder dementia praecox, a disease of the brain, which included catatonia, hebephrenia (delusions), and paranoia (Snowden, 2008). He believed that two symptoms were common to precox dementia; irrational, disorganized thoughts and a weakening of motivation (Snowden, 2008). Eugene Bleuler, a Swiss psychiatrist, disagreed with Kraeplin’s explanation of this disease and began using the term schizophrenia in 1911. (Snowden, 2008). The term schizophrenia is from Greek origin, schiz- meaning split, and phren- meaning mind (Schizophrenia, 2010). Bleuler believed the problem was a disconnection between emotion, thoughts, and behavior, and did not believe the disease ended in a state of dementia (Snowden, 2008). The diagnostic criteria that Bleuler introduced were known as the four ‘A’s, describing the symptoms as:

* Flattened Affect

* Ambivalence

* Autism

* Impaired Association of ideas (Snowden, 2008).

Even though this criterion was accepted by the...