Preview

Delusions In Alogia

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1427 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Delusions In Alogia
Lethargy is being without enthusiasm or energy. Alogia is when a person produces little to no speech.When the negative symptoms are all combined they produce something called the flat effect. No matter how emotional an experience is a person will respond in an emotionally "flat" way. They will show no emotions or facial expressions and their speech will be extremely monotone.
To be diagnosed with schizophrenia, a person must show signs of at least two of these symptoms for a month or longer. One of the symptoms a person has must be a positive symptom like hallucinations, delusions, or jumbled speech and thought. In a study done by Andreasen and Flaum, eighty-one percent of the people with schizophrenia had delusions. Fifty-eight percent had hallucinations, and only twenty-two percent had disorganized thoughts. For negative characteristics, eighty-five percent experienced apathy. Sixty percent of the people experienced the flat affect, and only thirty percent had alogia.
Culture can vary schizophrenia greatly. Delusions, for example, can have completely different themes depending on where the person lives. In Nigeria and Ghana, many delusions were based on being an angel or a prophet because this is a major part of their culture. Over time, the major theme for that
…show more content…
Genetic factors, paternal age, immune system, abnormal brain structures and chemistry, and psychological factors can all be causes of schizophrenia. Paternal age is a factor because as the male ages, his chances of having genetic mutations in his offspring increase. Dolores Malaspina did a study in 2001 and found that man between the age of forty-five and forty-nine has twice as much of a chance to have children with schizophrenia than a man that is twenty-five or younger. A man that is over fifty triples his chance of having children with schizophrenia. Overall, about a quarter of the cases of schizophrenia studied by Malaspina were accredited to paternal age. There is a theory that an influenza virus during prenatal development or soon after birth. Some scientists are not exactly sure why this is, but this theory is still being studied. Brain structure plays a big part in schizophrenia. Though scientists are not exactly sure why, swollen ventricles, or fluid-filled cavities in the brain, are associated with schizophrenia. Most patients also have a loss in the gray matter of their brain which increases their symptoms and lowers their thinking skills. A very contradictory theory is that dopamine in the brain increases a person's schizophrenic symptoms. There is both evidence for and against this theory. Family lifestyles can induce schizophrenia. A child growing up under harsh or guilt-inducing parenting can suffer from …show more content…
That is about one out of every one hundred Americans or 2.5 million Americans. Sadly, there is no cure for this complex mental disorder, but there are treatments and medications that can help relieve a person of some of their sufferings. Some people are even able to live a normal life with the right treatments. Treatments include things like individual or family therapy and social skills training. Medications that can help schizophrenic patients are antipsychotics like chlorpromazine and asenapine. The more doctors and psychiatrists study this intricate disorder and all its causes and influences, the more likely people are to be able to live a more normal life with this terrible mental disorder in the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The Faces Interactive website lets us take a look at what it really means to be diagnosed with schizophrenia, instead of the many misinterpreted beliefs that are associated with this disorder. Under the Diagnostic Overview tab, it is explained that this disorder has positive and negative symptoms. As mentioned in under the tab, the two most common positive symptoms include Delusions and Hallucinations. Often times, we might confuse the two, but they each hold very different definitions. Faces Interactive defines Delusions as, “… a firmly held believe that is not grounded in reality” (McGrawHill Higher Education, 2007, Diagnostic Overview). There are many forms of delusions including delusions of persecution, delusions of reference, and delusions of grandeur. Faces Interactive gives applicable examples that differentiate between the three, “Valerie has expressed a range of delusions including delusions of persecution – that people were plotting to hurt she and her family, delusions of…

    • 1112 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Schizophrenia is a psychological disorder which is sometimes referred to as split minds. Sufferers can be known to show symptoms of delusions, hallucinations as well as catatonic behaviour.…

    • 429 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The term ‘schizophrenia' covers a group of serious psychotic disorders characterised by a loss of contact with reality. It comes from two Greek words: schiz meaning ‘split' and phren meaning ‘mind'. DSM IV (1994) estimate that the occurrence rate of schizophrenia ranges from 0.2%-2.0% worldwide. There are two main explanations of schizophrenia: the biological explanations and the psychological explanations. In this essay I will critically consider the biological explanations. These include genetics, neurochemistry, brain structure and evolution.…

    • 1913 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Schizophrenia is a complex brain disorder. Like many other illnesses, schizophrenia is believed to result from a combination of environmental and genetic factors. All the tools of modern science are being used to search for the causes of this disorder.…

    • 1660 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    There are many symptoms associated with Schizophrenia. There are two different types of symptoms that are associated…

    • 1888 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder that manifests in a variety of ways, including disorganized thoughts, hallucinations, delusions, and social withdrawal. The schizophrenia paradox is described by the fact that there is a lower reproductive rate of those with schizophrenia (about 50% lower compared to a healthy population) than prevalent in the population. In every culture, schizophrenia is prevalent in about 1% of the population, a greater percentage than can be accounted for by mutation. Studies have indicated that schizophrenia occurs more through genetic inheritance than environmental influence. Adopted children with biological relatives with schizophrenia have…

    • 1119 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that affects the persons emotions and distorts how a person perceives the world. The person suffering has confused thoughts and has difficulty telling reality from delusion.…

    • 823 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Delusions - The patient has false beliefs of persecution, guilt of grandeur. He/she may feel things are being controlled from outside. It is not uncommon for people with schizophrenia to describe plots against them. They may think they have extraordinary powers and gifts…

    • 1357 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    The symptoms associated with schizophrenia are delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, disorganized or catatonic behavior and negative symptoms like flat affect, lack of facial expressions, and inattention to basic self-care needs (National Institutes of Health and National Institute of Mental Health, 2005). There are other criteria that must be met before a diagnosis can be rendered however these are more commonly associated with the diagnosis. Schizophrenia usually starts between the ages of 16 and 30, equally affects men and women, and occurs at similar rates across all ethnic groups (National Institute of Mental Health, 2009). Worldwide prevalence estimates range between 0.5% and 1%. In the United States, 1.1% of the population is affected (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,…

    • 1715 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder in which a persons personal, social, and occupational functioning in normal life deteriorates to unusual perceptions, odd thoughts, disturbed emotions, and motor abnormalities. A person struggling with schizophrenia will lose contact with reality and begin to lose the ability to function at home, school, or work. Individuals may also suffer from hallucinations and or delusions. There are three main categories of symptoms for schizophrenia: positive symptoms, negative symptoms, and psychomotor symptoms. Positive symptoms consist of multiple additions to a persons behavior such as: delusions, disorganized thinking and speech, heightened perceptions and hallucinations, and inappropriate affect” (Comer 387).…

    • 424 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Schizophrenia Outline

    • 2544 Words
    • 11 Pages

    “Schizophrenia is characterized by a constellation of distinctive and predictable symptoms. The symptoms that are most commonly associated with the disease are called positive symptoms, which denote the presence of grossly abnormal behavior. These include thought disorder, delusions, and hallucinations. Thought disorder is the diminished ability to think clearly and logically. Often it is manifested by disconnected and nonsensical language that renders the person with schizophrenia incapable of participating in conversation, contributing to his alienation from his family, friends, and society. Delusions are common among individuals with schizophrenia. An affected person may believe that he is being conspired against. Hallucinations can be heard, seen, or even felt; most often they take the form of voices heard only by the afflicted person,” (http://www.schizophrenia.com). While these symptoms are obvious, consistent, and usually expected from those affected by schizophrenia, there are also “quieter indications” known as “negative symptoms,” that may contribute to the gravity of the illness. The quieter symptoms are responsible for the absence of “normal” behavior. In other words, people might have a dull or flattened reaction to things, people, and situations; they often show lack of emotions and other physical expressions. They might also act and feel indifferent, becoming more and more socially…

    • 2544 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    It is difficult to acquire accurate statistics on schizophrenia due to the nature of the illness, however it is estimated that about 7 per thousand of the adult population, mostly in the age group 15-35 years are effected by the illness. This has been calculated to be 24 million people worldwide.…

    • 1808 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Scizophrenia

    • 1314 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Schizophrenia is a severe, chronic, and disabling brain disorder that has affected many people throughout our history. About 1% of people are at risk of developing schizophrenia. 1% may not seem like much but the actual amount is 2.2 million people in America. There are many symptoms of schizophrenia including: Positive symptoms, hallucinations, delusions, thought disorders, movement disorders, disorganized speech and behavior, negative symptoms which are usually diagnosed as depression , and cognitive symptoms (NIMH Schizophrenia) I will explain each of these later in the paper.…

    • 1314 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    There are several types of symptoms for Schizophrenia. Some of the most known are the positive symptoms, which are hallucinations, delusions and inappropriate behavior. There are also negative symptoms, which are lack of emotions and behaviors otherwise known as blunted emotions. Finally there is a third group of symptoms called disorganized. This group includes disorganized speech, behavior and thinking. For example: “A person with schizophrenia, when asked if he wants a cup of coffee, might reply that there are no cows in New York” (Ambramovitz, 2002, p.14). “Schizophrenia and the symptoms that characterize it are understandable exaggerations of normal function and not exotic symptoms superimposed on the personality” (Strauss, 1969, p.585).…

    • 2932 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    schizophrenia

    • 862 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that makes it difficult to tell the difference between real and unreal experiences, to think logically, to have normal emotional responses, and to behave normally in social situations. Schizophrenia is one of the most disturbing mental illnesses, marked by delusions and hallucinations. It is a psychotic disorder or group of disorders marked by disturbances in thinking, emotional responsiveness, and behavior. Schizophrenia is the most chronic and disabling of the severe mental disorders, connected to abnormalities of brain structure and function, disorganized behavior, delusions, and hallucinations.…

    • 862 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays