Chapter # 2 Mental Disorder Research
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a severe psychotic disorder diagnosed by a variety of symptoms. The main
one is a significant impairment of judgment and mental function. The onset of the disease is
usually between the ages of fifteen and forty-five and the symptoms may vary in intensity
over many years. The onset of the disease is usually more significant in males than it is in females.
Children are not usually affected by this disease but in rare cases where it does appear it
involves poorly developed language development. Schizophrenia is a severe disturbance in the
brains functioning, also referred to as the broken brain.
The term "Schizophrenia" was introduced in 1911 by a Swiss psychiatrist, Eugen Bleuler. It comes
from the Greek word schizo meaning split and phrenia meaning mind. It is considered to be a split
from reality not meaning split as in two personalities.
English: An American Lady butterfly against a clou...
English: A schizophrenic patient at the Glore Psyc...
House decorated with bizarre writings. The inhabit...In the 1950's many psychiatrists believed that
schizophrenia resulted from a form of trauma at an early age usually by the parents. There were
many of these myths that aren't true. There is still no simple test for the diagnosis of schizophrenia,
but there is a list of symptoms that may mean the person has it which are: inability to sleep, day and
night mixed up, social withdrawal, deterioration of relationships, unusual reactions to things,
hostility, flat expressionless gaze among many other symptoms to help diagnose someone.
A person that has Schizophrenia usually has chemical changes in the brain, changes of the
structure of the brain, and genetic factors. Viral infections and head injuries may also play a
role in becoming Schizophrenic. The nerve cells in the brain have branches that transmit and receive
messages from other nerve cells. The branches release a chemical called neurotransmitters which...