Mental Disease

Thesis

Schizophrenia is a complicated disease that causes for careful study, treatment, and research.

Schizophrenia is a mental disease that impacts every area of an infected persons’ life. It interferes with the normal cognitive abilities. The term actually means “split mind”, which was introduced in 1911 (Butcher, 2012). There are many different types of Schizophrenia and all of them do not have common symptoms/characteristics. This disease can have signs and symptoms that either appear early on or later in life. Understanding the disease is always evolving.

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that makes it difficult to have normal emotional responses, think clearly, tell the difference between what is real and isn’t, and act normally in situations (Schizophrenia, 2012). Some practitioners use the medical model to categorize Schizophrenia as a disease. To meet the diagnostic criteria for Schizophrenia a patient must meet two or more of the following symptoms for at least 1-6 months (Diagnostic Criteria for Schizophrenia, 2012). Symptoms of Schizophrenia are but not limited to hallucinations, disorganized speech, delusions, loss of emotion, and/or catatonic behavior (DSM-IV Criteria for Schizophrenia, 2012). Schizophrenia can heavily impact a person’s personal and social life.

Schizophrenia is as prevalent as epilepsy (Butcher, 2012). There is not a simple answer as to what causes Schizophrenia. The disease is of the familial type; meaning it tends to run in families (Butcher, 2012). Some believe that genetics plays a role in being a cause of Schizophrenia. Genetic risks may make a person more vulnerable to environmental risks (Butcher, 2012). Stress or certain events, and environments can be attributed to cause Schizophrenic episodes. In a survey conducted environmental stressors were found to be the greatest casual factor of a schizophrenic episode (Philips).

Schizophrenia has many symptoms that can be identical to other mental disorders. A proper...