Xeco

PSY 401

Mental Disorder: Schizophrenia

To first begin, I chose this disorder because my girlfriend has a mother who happens to have the condition. I wanted to research it in order to understand more about the disorder and to perhaps alleviate some stereotypes I have heard.

The one truth about Schizophrenia is that it is a very complex disorder and even experts are not sure the cause of it. The one belief among experts is that they all believe that genetics plays a part in its development; this is still simply a theory. Some researchers believe that environmental events play a role in triggering schizophrenic episodes. In addition, it appears that family and social support appears to improve the illness.

Schizophrenia is a condition that affects about 1% of the world population. It is just as common among men as it is in women. However, researchers have noticed that among men it is more common to start at the earlier stages in life and in women it is also known to be milder. Though it is rare, childhood-onset hasn’t been known to appear until the age of 5 and in most cases after childhood development. It is hard to detect childhood-onset because commonly it is mistaken for other disorders such as autism or the like.

Schizophrenia has been known to have a variety of symptoms and usually the disorder develops over months or years. Many of the most common symptoms begin with a feeling of being tense or trouble sleeping or concentrating. You may become isolated or feel withdrawn and have a problem making or keeping friends. As the illness continues psychotic symptoms begin to develop. These symptoms include appearance or mood that shows no emotion, bizarre movements that show less of a reaction to the environment, false belief or thoughts that are not based in reality and hearing, seeing, or feeling things that are not there. In addition, person with the disorder have problems with thinking like not being able to pay attention or thoughts jumping between...