Essay On Psychoanalysis And Lifespan Development

Schizophrenia, Psychosis, and Lifespan Development
There are five common stages of development; birth, infancy, adolescence, adulthood, and old age. Development occurs throughout these stages. If during on of those stages a break in development occurs an individual is likely to develop a mental disorder such as psychosis and/or schizophrenia (Hansell & Damour, 2008).
There have been many theories on the causes of mental disorders. Some of the earliest include possession by demons or the devil, or physical factors such as pressure on the brain. Today research explores four main factors; genetic, biochemical, psychodynamic, and social. If a child has a parent, grandparent or sibling with schizophrenia than that child is more likely to inherit the disease. Another cause linked to schizophrenia is abnormal brain function. Underactive frontal lobes can cause sensory perception complications increasing the likeliness of a schizophrenia diagnosis.
If a mother contract an illness like the flu the child is also more likely to develop schizophrenia. Another case of schizophrenia includes an excessive amount of dopamine in the system. Stress and drug use are also lined to causes of psychosis and schizophrenia (Hansell & Damour, 2008).
Psychosis has been described as a loss of contact with reality including symptoms of disorganized thought and speech, hallucinations, and delusions. Some of the causes include drug use, withdraws, brain diseases, and strokes. Psychosis can be temporary occurring when an individuals has used alcohol or drugs. Psychosis can also be concurrent or co-occurring with another disorder such as mood disorders, personality disorders, and schizophrenia. Psychosis is the leading symptom occurring in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia (Hansell & Damour, 2008).
The onset of schizophrenia is gradual and starts in the early adulthood stage. Warning signs can be recognized by friends and loved one’s of the individual. These signs include isolation, inappropriate laughter, and lack of motivation. These early signs are considered a pre-onset stage. During this stage a person may seem unmotivated and without goals. He or she may isolate themselves from friends, families, activities, and hobbies (Hansell & Damour, 2008). The DSM-IV-TR currently defines Schizophrenia as a constellation of severe cognitive and behavioral symptoms that can last for 6 months or more and resulting in significant life impairment. The symptoms of Schizophrenia fall into two categories type I positive or type II negative. The positive symptoms are pathological excesses, hallucinations, delusions, disorganized speech, thought, or behavior. The negative symptoms are emotional flatness, pathological deflects, loss of motivation and diminished cognitive skills (Hansell & Damour, 2008).
Schizophrenia is subcategorized into subtypes.
The paranoid schizophrenia subtype includes the presence of auditory hallucinations or prominent delusional thoughts about persecution or conspiracy. Individuals with this diagnosis are higher functioning and usually do not experience onset until later stages of life. The disorganized subtype has disruption in the thought process. This disruptions so severe it interrupts daily activities. Sufferers will exhibits erratic and inappropriate emotions. The catatonic schizophrenia experiences disturbances in movement sometimes including lack of movement all together. In undifferentiated schizophrenia an individual will experience several symptoms from the above types, but the symptoms don’t exactly fit the criteria for the other kinds of schizophrenia. The residual subtype occurs when signs or symptoms of schizophrenia no longer prominent. Some hallucination, delusions, and other symptoms may be present but they are not recognized as being acute (Hansell & Damour,
2008). Just as the symptoms of schizophrenia vary, so do the ramifications. Different kinds of impairment affect each patient’s life to varying degrees. Some people require care in institutions, while others are gainfully employed and can maintain an active family life. However, the majority of patients are at neither of these extremes. People having a higher level of functioning before the start of their illness typically have a better outcome. In general, better outcomes are associated with brief episodes of symptoms worsening followed by a return to normal functioning. Women have a better prognosis for higher functioning than men, as do patients with no apparent structural abnormalities of the brain. In contrast, a poorer prognosis is indicated by a gradual or insidious onset, beginning in childhood or adolescence; structural brain abnormalities, as seen on imaging studies; and failure to return to prior levels of functioning after acute episodes (Hansell & Damour, 2008).