Week 8

Schizophrenia is mental disorder the affects millions of people around the world. Over 2 million people are diagnosed with this disorder in the United States alone. It is characterized by a breakdown in the thinking and decision making process. It is generally diagnosed in adolescents and if left untreated can cause sever social and communication problems. This disorder was largely misunderstood for many years but with education and modern medicine there have been many positive steps in helping those with this mental disorder. Understanding how this disorder affects the brain has lead to many forms of medication and treatment that can help with making the symptoms manageable. However, there are other concerns and potential issues that this disorder could bring about.

The term Schizophrenia means “split mind”. This term has been somewhat misleading. It can lead some to think that people with Schizophrenia have multiple personalities or split personalities and that is not the case. Schizophrenia was even sometimes misdiagnosed as Split Personality Disorder. Split mind is simply describing the separation of function between personality, thinking, memory, and perception. Even though there are descriptions of what appears to be Schizophrenia dating back to the 1700s, it was actually described as a dementia-like disorder. It wasn’t until the early 1900s that it was realized this disorder was completely different from dementia. Prior to modern treatment techniques people with Schizophrenia were often subjected to treatments that by today’s standards would be considered inhumane. If a family was unable to care for their loved one with this disorder they would most likely be institutionalized and subjected to treatments like electroshock or lobotomized in order to help manage there erratic behavior. Without proper treatment when these individuals were released or deinstitutionalized they would often become homeless. Their thought process was so distorted they often...