Schizophrenia: Categorizing Mental Illness

Dr. Emile Krapelin, a German physician, was one of the first to separate mental disorders into different categories. “Dementia praecox” was the term Krapelin used for those patients who had some of the same symptoms that we now use to describe schizophrenia. Many people had described the basic concept of “madness” for hundreds, even thousands of years, however, Krapelin was the first to distinguish Schizophrenia as a distinguished mental disorder in the year 1887. He also was the first to distinguish between mental disorders such as Schizophrenia and depression. “Dementia praecox” was believed to be a “disease of the brain” meaning literally “early dementia.”

The disorder continued to mystify and Sigmund Freud believe it was a result of unconscious conflicts from ones childhood (Burton, 2012). Tertiary syphilis was often thought to be the cause of the psychotic symptoms of the disorder as they both share many of the same symptoms, but this was found to have infectious agents which gave thought to there being more than one factor in the reasoning behind the diagnosing aspect. The first to differentiate Schizophrenia from other issues was Emil Kraepelin. In 1887 he termed the disorder “dementia praecox” or dementia of the young, as he believed this was an illness of the brain like dementia but instead of

First off I would like to tell you what exactly schizophrenia is. Schizophrenia is a brain disease, with concrete and specific symptoms due to physical and biochemical changes in the brain. This illness strikes young people in their prime age usually between 16 and 25. Schizophrenia is almost always treatable with medication. Contrary to what most think schizophrenia is not a "split personality", or caused by childhood trauma, bad parenting, or poverty, and not the result of any action or personal failure by the individual.(3)

Schizophrenia is a disabling and chronic mental illness that typically begins in late adolescence or early adulthood, and for most sufferers, the disorder continues throughout their lifetime (Australian Psychological Society, 2014). There are five different subtypes of schizophrenia, namely paranoid, disorganised, catatonic, residual, and schizoaffective disorder.

Schizophrenia is a unique disease in its pathophysiology. For their early lives, patients appear healthy. However, symptoms begin to appear during adolescence or early adulthood and may be triggered by changes in the brain during puberty. The first signs of the illness include anxiety, depression, changes in friends, sleep problems, irritability, dropping grades, and having trouble concentrating (Picchioni and Murray, 2007; National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)). Delusions and hallucinations typically begin between the ages of 16 and 30 (NIMH).

Schizophrenia is a long-term psychological disorder characterized by a breakdown in the relation between thought, emotion, and behavior. The disease corrupts the biological functions in the brain pathways, thus causing phenotypic symptoms to occur. Diminished and or immobile facial expression, flat or inappropriate,

Mental health illnesses have been around since interrelated relationships have been present in society. The treatment of this illness has evolved immensely throughout history. Early on, those who were mentally ill were demonized and thought to be an all mighty evil, which had the ability to be passed on to others. Due to this ideology, many people shunned, and banished those who were thought to be mentally handicapped. In order to protect society from these “beasts” many people imprisoned mentally ill individuals and were stripped of the ability to live their lives. Fortunately, as society progressed and different ways of treating the mentally ill were established through scientific advancements. Along with these advances, treatment for

Blealer coined the term "Schizophrenia", which means split mindedness, in reference to the theoretical schism between thought, emotion, and behavior. Unfortunately, this term historically has caused confusion with split personality (also called multiple personality), a completely different disorder from schizophrenia. Blealer?s definition of schizophrenia differed from Kraeplin?s dementia praecox in-two major ways: first, Blealer did not feel that deterioration was a necessary symptom of the disorder; Second, Bleuler divided the symptoms into fundamental (primary) and accessory (secondary) symptoms. The most important fundamental syndrome was a thought disorder characterized by associational disturbances, particularly looseness. The other fundamental symptoms were affective disturbances, autism, and ambivalence. Accessory disorders included hallucinations and delusions. Both Kraepelin and Bleuler assumed that there was an underlying biological basis for this disorder.

Schizophrenia affects the ability of a person to perceive reality. It can disrupt a person’s thinking, behavior, and emotions. If someone in a family has had schizophrenia, the likely hood of it being passed down is high, and it usually develops around the late teens, but has been known to affect young children and older adults. Having this disorder can be devastating when the symptoms interfere with everyday life, such as relationships, work, and even self-care. There are several types of symptoms, positive symptoms and negative symptoms. Positive symptoms are when symptoms that shouldn’t be present suddenly arise, like for example hallucinations, delusions, altered speech,

It typically emerges on between the late teens and mid 30’s, it's pretty rare to see it in adolescent. For males the peak age is early to mid 20’s and for females it's late 20’s. For some people it may erupt, for most people it manifests slow and gradually. Most common symptom that they experience is depression. Adolescent years also has a big factor in this, something as a child can trigger it like for example, use of drugs in teen years, abuse, or lower educational achievement. Individuals with schizophrenia require formal or informal daily living supports. If a child has schizophrenia it is very hard to diagnose. In children, delusions and hallucinations maybe less elaborate than in adults. Visual hallucinations are more common and should be distinguished with fantasy play. Childhood cases tend to resemble oor outcome adult cases. Children who receive late diagnosis are more likely to have experienced emotional behavioral disturbances and psychopathology. Intellectual and language delays. Late cases usually end up having very psychotic

Schizophrenia has quite a recent history. However, written records show that signs of schizophrenic people have been around for thousands of years, with the earliest coming from old pharaonic Egypt. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, European psychiatrists were studying mental disorders that have unknown causes. German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin coined the term “dementia praecox” (“early dementia”) for mental disorders that start early in life (including what is now known today as schizophrenia). Kraepelin thought that disorders of this type were a form of dementia, but they actually are not. He also made the distinction between dementia praecox

     Schizophrenia, like many physiological disorders, takes complete control of the brain and causes some undesirable effects in someone’s life. Reality becomes distorted and certain aspects of your personality begin to change (if they haven’t already). The first signs may occur as early as 17 years of age in males, and mid-twenties to early thirties in females.

Schizophrenia is a disorder that is characterized by a broken thought process and poor emotional responses. Typical symptoms of this disorder include delusions, paranoia, hallucinations, social dysfunctions,

The word Schizophrenia is derived from two Greek words, ‘Schizo’ and ‘phren’, ‘schizo’ meaning ‘to tear or spilt’ and ‘phren’ meaning ‘the intellect or mind’ (Walker et al. 2004). The combination of these words accurately represents the characteristic behavior of an individual diagnosed with schizophrenia, as psychotic disorders are often associated with ‘losing one’s mind’.

In some people's cases, Schizophrenia appears suddenly and without warning. But for most it comes slowly, with subtle warning signs and a gradual decline in functioning long before the first severe episode. “In the early phases of Schizophrenia people often seem eccentric, unmotivated, emotionless, and reclusive (Helpguide.org).” They may isolate themselves and not want to participate in daily activities such as playing with their children, going outside, or getting off the couch. They abandon their hobbies and they do not do well in their jobs. “The most common early warning signs of Schizophrenia include: social withdrawal, hostility or suspiciousness, deterioration of personal hygiene, having a flat and expressionless gaze, the inability to cry or express joy, inappropriate laughter or crying, depression, oversleeping or insomnia, odd or irrational statements, forgetfulness or the inability to concentrate, extreme reaction to criticism, and or strange use of words or way of speaking (Helpguide.org).” There are five types of symptoms of Schizophrenia. Positive is a symptom that involves having hallucinations or delusions. Negative is when one shows no emotion or flat behavior. Avolation is when a person shows little interest in whatever they are doing. Cognitive behavior is when you have disorganized speech or memory loss. Catatonic behavior is considered poor functioning such as your voluntary muscles