A Summary Of The Effects Of Schizophrenia On The Human Mind
The effects of Schizophrenia on The Human Mind
A Literature Review by Dominique Kiefer
13 February 2014
Jandreau
Abstract
Schizophrenia is described as a long-term disease/disorder of the human mind that causes a separation between emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. This division of thought in turn, causes confusion and a faulty perception of reality. Symptoms of the disorder include: disordered thinking, auditory/ visual hallucinations, and illogical thinking. Before an individual begins to show that they have schizophrenia, brain scans show that before the first episode occurs, the brain begins to show a significant loss in brain tissue. The second episode is when the brain loses the most tissue, but afterward, …show more content…
there is a leveling-out of loss of tissue over time.
These periods in time can give scientists an idea of when to begin treatments before the most tissue is lost in the second episode. Treatments include the use of anti-psychotic drugs, in which affectively subdue the symptoms and irrational outbreaks in an individual, but it jeopardizes the physical health of the patient’s body. Surely, modern researchers have a further trek left into understanding the complexity of schizophrenia.
I. Introduction Schizophrenia is foremost described as a neurological brain disease. a professional would diagnose this disease or disorder as “a long-term mental disorder of a type involving a breakdown in the relation between thought, emotion, and behavior, leading to faulty perception, inappropriate actions and feelings, withdrawal from reality and personal relationships into fantasy and delusion, and a sense of mental fragmentation”[1]. The word schizophrenia is derived from the Greek word “skhizein” meaning “to split”, and the word “phrēn” meaning “mind”. Together, the disorder is described as a sort of split in the mind. “Putting these two terms together to arrive at schizophrenia was intended to describe the breakdown between thoughts, feelings, and actions that is characteristic of the disorder. The idea of …show more content…
“split mind,” however, is often wrongly taken to mean a split personality” [2]. Which is caused by what a great deal of research has indicated differences in “that [of] the temporal lobe structures in schizophrenic patients are smaller. Some studies have found the hippocampus and amygdala to be reduced in volume. Also, components of the limbic system, which is involved in the control of mood and emotion, and regions of the Superior Temporal Gyrus (STG), which is a large contributor in language function, have been notably smaller”[3]. Schizophrenia can be divided into five main types: “the paranoid, characterized by delusions of persecution or grandeur combined with unrealistic, illogical thinking and frequent auditory hallucinations; the disorganized (hebephrenic), characterized by disordered speech and behavior and shallow or inappropriate emotional responses; the catatonic, characterized by motor inflexibility or stupor along with mutism, echolalia, or other speech abnormalities; the simple or undifferentiated type, which conforms to basic definitions of schizophrenia but does not exhibit particular behaviors in the aforementioned types; and the residual type, which is a chronic stage indicating advancement toward later-stage schizophrenia”[4].
II. Effects on the Brain Although schizophrenia can be diagnosed as a disorder, one cannot ignore the conflicting areas that classify schizophrenia as a disease. This could be concluded otherwise without this statement, considering that any one individual may assume that there are obvious alterations of some kind that take an effect on the brain itself. In a study that was analyzed by Jude Gustafson, Gustafson stated, “scans showed that people at their first episode had less brain tissue than healthy individuals” [5]. Evidence from this statement suggests that before any outward signs of schizophrenia occur, the individual is being affect by internal causes of illness in their brain. “There are several studies [administered by Dr. Nancy Andreasen], that show people with schizophrenia have smaller-than-average cranial size” [6]. Thusly, the work of Dr. Andreasen make it adherently evident that the brain and cranial portion of the patient partake a crucial role in the progression of schizophrenia developing in an individual. “Since cranial development is completed within the first few years of life, there may be some aspect of earliest development…that on average, affected people with schizophrenia” [6]. These aspects can come from variables such as complications during pregnancy, and/or exposure to viruses that affect brain tissue in brain development on fetuses or other individuals during the beginning years of brain development. “Andreasen’s team learned from the brain scans that those affected with schizophrenia suffered the most brain tissue loss in the two years after the first episode” [5]. Andreasen’s team of researchers concluded that (upon observing after the largest amount of tissue loss, had begun to plateau) that although not more could be concluded about tissue loss, the time span between episodes can potentially give headway towards the prevention of further tissue loss after the first episode, and possibly the earlier start of treatment before a second episode can occur. With this, it was also concluded that loss of brain tissue also increases with each increased amount of anti-psychotic medication is administered. Although this was a highly significant finding, this pushed the researchers to question whether or not their forms of treatment through anti-psychotic drugs were as affective as perceived prior to the study.
III. Treatments As a patient progresses in their struggle with this disease/disorder, the options of treatment for such a condition become inevitably apparent.
Researchers and patients alike are now learning that this discrepancy is not one that has just one singular solution, but is quite complex and scientists have much yet to learn about each variable that comes into play with this disease. “The disease most likely comprises a variety of related mental disorders, with an underlying biology and symptoms that can differ from person to person” [7], states reporter Benedict Carey whom is researching the evolution of medicine and treatment for the schizophrenic. This appears to have a way of making sense to an individual, considering that a lot of the time schizophrenia is often paired with other diseases and disorders. The fact that the disease is contributed by rarities in an individual’s genetic code, it hadn’t come as a surprise to researchers that genes were a part in the risk of disease. What had baffled them, was solely that the disease comes along with paired genes of rarer disease along with it. This discovery was almost frightening to researchers due to the fact that most schizophrenic patients will more than likey end up with also another disease to come with the disorder. It becomes disheartening because any number of patients will end up with not only one, but two disorders/diseases that are so little known, and are so difficultly
treatable. Individuals with schizophrenia is often treated with anti-psychotic drugs that suppress the mind and body from showing symptoms of the disease. Although, these drugs can be affected, they can increase loss of brain tissue in patients, and reduce an individual’s energy and strive to get any sort of productive activity completed in a day. This becomes a problem due to the fact that these drugs make normally productive individuals into less productive ones. In some cases, a person will stop taking the drugs because of the level of difficulty it makes one to get any amount of tasks done. “A large government-financed investigation published in 2005, tracked some 1,500 people with schizophrenia who received the standard treatment: regular doses of powerful antipsychotic drugs like Risperdal, Zyprexa or perphenazine” [7]. These medications effectively douse the fires of delusional thinking in many patients, research shows, and calm their restless energy and wilder urges. But they do nothing for the listlessness or withdrawal common to schizophrenia. They’re also paired with serious side effects, from movement disorders to rapid weight gain and metabolic changes that are risk factors for diabetes. Conclusively, these anti-psychotic drugs become a gift and a curse for the average patient. There is a barbaric complexity that comes with treating such a disease/disorder, but advances in medicine just haven’t improved the treatment of schizophrenia, thusly, it remains the same, and the fight against it goes on. Schizophrenia cannot be cured, it can only be subdued by treatment, and the blank mask that becomes apparent with partake in anti-psychotic drugs.
IV. Conclusions There is a vast amount of unknown knowledge on schizophrenia, and modern medical practices have immense amounts of evolvements in treatment of the disease. The only thing that society can do is welcome this hurdle towards the human body as a rarity, and society must accept it even though it is beyond “the norm” amongst individuals. Each case of schizophrenia is extremely different from the one before it, and treatments are so vague that it is almost cruel to try and subdue such a complex disease. There is no one simple solution to such a complex and mysterious disease. Medications and anti-psychotic drugs become a blanket that hides the disease and keeps it quiet but what lies beneath, is the most intrinsic mystery to the human brain, and could eventually give immense headway towards further understanding of the human mind.
References
[1] "Schizophrenia - Google Search." Google.com. N.D. Google. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.
[2] Taylor, Vanessa. Schizophrenic.com. N.p.: n.p., 2014. Print.
[3] Cazaban, Adina. "The Effects of Schizophrenia on the Brain." The Effects of Schizophrenia on the Brain. Serendip, 26 Apr. 2003. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.
[4] "Schizophrenia." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster Incorporated, 2014. Web. 21 Mar. 2014.
[5] Gustafson, Jude. "How Schizophrenia Affects the Brain." Iowa Now. University of Iowa, 9 Oct. 2013. Web. 21 Mar. 2014.
[6] Andreasen, Nancy, Dr. How Schizophrenia Affects the Brain. University of Iowa. University of Iowa, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.
[7] Carey, Benedict. "From the Elusiveness of Schizophrenia, New Clues to Treatment." The New York Times. The New York Times Company, 13 June 2008. Web. 22 Mar. 2014.
[8] "Schizophrenia." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2014.
[9] "Schizophrenia." NIMH RSS. National Institutes of Mental Health, n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2014.
[10]
A Literature Review by Dominique Kiefer
13 February 2014
Jandreau
Abstract
Schizophrenia is described as a long-term disease/disorder of the human mind that causes a separation between emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. This division of thought in turn, causes confusion and a faulty perception of reality. Symptoms of the disorder include: disordered thinking, auditory/ visual hallucinations, and illogical thinking. Before an individual begins to show that they have schizophrenia, brain scans show that before the first episode occurs, the brain begins to show a significant loss in brain tissue. The second episode is when the brain loses the most tissue, but afterward, …show more content…
there is a leveling-out of loss of tissue over time.
These periods in time can give scientists an idea of when to begin treatments before the most tissue is lost in the second episode. Treatments include the use of anti-psychotic drugs, in which affectively subdue the symptoms and irrational outbreaks in an individual, but it jeopardizes the physical health of the patient’s body. Surely, modern researchers have a further trek left into understanding the complexity of schizophrenia.
I. Introduction Schizophrenia is foremost described as a neurological brain disease. a professional would diagnose this disease or disorder as “a long-term mental disorder of a type involving a breakdown in the relation between thought, emotion, and behavior, leading to faulty perception, inappropriate actions and feelings, withdrawal from reality and personal relationships into fantasy and delusion, and a sense of mental fragmentation”[1]. The word schizophrenia is derived from the Greek word “skhizein” meaning “to split”, and the word “phrēn” meaning “mind”. Together, the disorder is described as a sort of split in the mind. “Putting these two terms together to arrive at schizophrenia was intended to describe the breakdown between thoughts, feelings, and actions that is characteristic of the disorder. The idea of …show more content…
“split mind,” however, is often wrongly taken to mean a split personality” [2]. Which is caused by what a great deal of research has indicated differences in “that [of] the temporal lobe structures in schizophrenic patients are smaller. Some studies have found the hippocampus and amygdala to be reduced in volume. Also, components of the limbic system, which is involved in the control of mood and emotion, and regions of the Superior Temporal Gyrus (STG), which is a large contributor in language function, have been notably smaller”[3]. Schizophrenia can be divided into five main types: “the paranoid, characterized by delusions of persecution or grandeur combined with unrealistic, illogical thinking and frequent auditory hallucinations; the disorganized (hebephrenic), characterized by disordered speech and behavior and shallow or inappropriate emotional responses; the catatonic, characterized by motor inflexibility or stupor along with mutism, echolalia, or other speech abnormalities; the simple or undifferentiated type, which conforms to basic definitions of schizophrenia but does not exhibit particular behaviors in the aforementioned types; and the residual type, which is a chronic stage indicating advancement toward later-stage schizophrenia”[4].
II. Effects on the Brain Although schizophrenia can be diagnosed as a disorder, one cannot ignore the conflicting areas that classify schizophrenia as a disease. This could be concluded otherwise without this statement, considering that any one individual may assume that there are obvious alterations of some kind that take an effect on the brain itself. In a study that was analyzed by Jude Gustafson, Gustafson stated, “scans showed that people at their first episode had less brain tissue than healthy individuals” [5]. Evidence from this statement suggests that before any outward signs of schizophrenia occur, the individual is being affect by internal causes of illness in their brain. “There are several studies [administered by Dr. Nancy Andreasen], that show people with schizophrenia have smaller-than-average cranial size” [6]. Thusly, the work of Dr. Andreasen make it adherently evident that the brain and cranial portion of the patient partake a crucial role in the progression of schizophrenia developing in an individual. “Since cranial development is completed within the first few years of life, there may be some aspect of earliest development…that on average, affected people with schizophrenia” [6]. These aspects can come from variables such as complications during pregnancy, and/or exposure to viruses that affect brain tissue in brain development on fetuses or other individuals during the beginning years of brain development. “Andreasen’s team learned from the brain scans that those affected with schizophrenia suffered the most brain tissue loss in the two years after the first episode” [5]. Andreasen’s team of researchers concluded that (upon observing after the largest amount of tissue loss, had begun to plateau) that although not more could be concluded about tissue loss, the time span between episodes can potentially give headway towards the prevention of further tissue loss after the first episode, and possibly the earlier start of treatment before a second episode can occur. With this, it was also concluded that loss of brain tissue also increases with each increased amount of anti-psychotic medication is administered. Although this was a highly significant finding, this pushed the researchers to question whether or not their forms of treatment through anti-psychotic drugs were as affective as perceived prior to the study.
III. Treatments As a patient progresses in their struggle with this disease/disorder, the options of treatment for such a condition become inevitably apparent.
Researchers and patients alike are now learning that this discrepancy is not one that has just one singular solution, but is quite complex and scientists have much yet to learn about each variable that comes into play with this disease. “The disease most likely comprises a variety of related mental disorders, with an underlying biology and symptoms that can differ from person to person” [7], states reporter Benedict Carey whom is researching the evolution of medicine and treatment for the schizophrenic. This appears to have a way of making sense to an individual, considering that a lot of the time schizophrenia is often paired with other diseases and disorders. The fact that the disease is contributed by rarities in an individual’s genetic code, it hadn’t come as a surprise to researchers that genes were a part in the risk of disease. What had baffled them, was solely that the disease comes along with paired genes of rarer disease along with it. This discovery was almost frightening to researchers due to the fact that most schizophrenic patients will more than likey end up with also another disease to come with the disorder. It becomes disheartening because any number of patients will end up with not only one, but two disorders/diseases that are so little known, and are so difficultly
treatable. Individuals with schizophrenia is often treated with anti-psychotic drugs that suppress the mind and body from showing symptoms of the disease. Although, these drugs can be affected, they can increase loss of brain tissue in patients, and reduce an individual’s energy and strive to get any sort of productive activity completed in a day. This becomes a problem due to the fact that these drugs make normally productive individuals into less productive ones. In some cases, a person will stop taking the drugs because of the level of difficulty it makes one to get any amount of tasks done. “A large government-financed investigation published in 2005, tracked some 1,500 people with schizophrenia who received the standard treatment: regular doses of powerful antipsychotic drugs like Risperdal, Zyprexa or perphenazine” [7]. These medications effectively douse the fires of delusional thinking in many patients, research shows, and calm their restless energy and wilder urges. But they do nothing for the listlessness or withdrawal common to schizophrenia. They’re also paired with serious side effects, from movement disorders to rapid weight gain and metabolic changes that are risk factors for diabetes. Conclusively, these anti-psychotic drugs become a gift and a curse for the average patient. There is a barbaric complexity that comes with treating such a disease/disorder, but advances in medicine just haven’t improved the treatment of schizophrenia, thusly, it remains the same, and the fight against it goes on. Schizophrenia cannot be cured, it can only be subdued by treatment, and the blank mask that becomes apparent with partake in anti-psychotic drugs.
IV. Conclusions There is a vast amount of unknown knowledge on schizophrenia, and modern medical practices have immense amounts of evolvements in treatment of the disease. The only thing that society can do is welcome this hurdle towards the human body as a rarity, and society must accept it even though it is beyond “the norm” amongst individuals. Each case of schizophrenia is extremely different from the one before it, and treatments are so vague that it is almost cruel to try and subdue such a complex disease. There is no one simple solution to such a complex and mysterious disease. Medications and anti-psychotic drugs become a blanket that hides the disease and keeps it quiet but what lies beneath, is the most intrinsic mystery to the human brain, and could eventually give immense headway towards further understanding of the human mind.
References
[1] "Schizophrenia - Google Search." Google.com. N.D. Google. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.
[2] Taylor, Vanessa. Schizophrenic.com. N.p.: n.p., 2014. Print.
[3] Cazaban, Adina. "The Effects of Schizophrenia on the Brain." The Effects of Schizophrenia on the Brain. Serendip, 26 Apr. 2003. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.
[4] "Schizophrenia." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster Incorporated, 2014. Web. 21 Mar. 2014.
[5] Gustafson, Jude. "How Schizophrenia Affects the Brain." Iowa Now. University of Iowa, 9 Oct. 2013. Web. 21 Mar. 2014.
[6] Andreasen, Nancy, Dr. How Schizophrenia Affects the Brain. University of Iowa. University of Iowa, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.
[7] Carey, Benedict. "From the Elusiveness of Schizophrenia, New Clues to Treatment." The New York Times. The New York Times Company, 13 June 2008. Web. 22 Mar. 2014.
[8] "Schizophrenia." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2014.
[9] "Schizophrenia." NIMH RSS. National Institutes of Mental Health, n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2014.
[10]