Schizophrenia:A Brain Disorder

Schizophrenia: A

Brain Disorder

Sharon Akers

Comm. 220 Research Writing

Instructor Roger Blanton

November 28, 2008

Schizophrenia is a crippling brain disorder that can affect anyone at any time

regardless of age, and no matter what form of schizophrenia a person might

have the disorder can be very mind controlling and devastating.

Approximately 1% of people will suffer from some form of schizophrenia in their

lifetime, and the disorder effects men, and women equally, but usually it appears in men

earlier (National Institute of Mental Health[NIMH], 2004). As the age of onset is usually

in the late teens or early twenties, an unacceptably high proportion of young people with

Schizophrenia remain undiagnosed for years while their erratic behavior, mood swings

and periods of withdrawal are attributed to growing pains, experimentation with alcohol

and/or drugs, relationship difficulties or other life stage events, rather than being

understood as symptoms of a potentially crippling mental illness Andersson,

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English: New York 1 political reporter and Inside ...

English: A schizophrenic patient at the Glore Psyc...

Craig. "Schizophrenia. (Disease/Disorder overview). Early intervention is

linked to improved long-term outcomes, making prompt diagnosis and treatment

essential. Mental disorders are common in the United States and internationally. An

estimated 26.2 percent of Americans ages 18 and older - about one in four adults -

suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year (National Institute of Mental

Health[NIMH], 2004). There are many misconceptions about the disorder, such as that all

people who have this disorder are violent; this statistic is not true. The fact is that the

Schizophrenic people who develop the disorder may have an acute psychotic episode the

first time, but most people are not violent. The second misconception is that the

schizophrenic person has many personalities, the reality of this is that the person here's

voices, not that they have many personalities. There...