The Agent Responsible For Synchronicity

In an attempt to gain a position as a psychologist, I will be discussing schizophrenia and the disorder’s casual factors, associated symptoms, the areas of the brain it affects, and the neural basis of the disorder. I will continue on to discuss appropriate drug therapies. In addition I will also be reviewing two separate case studies, each on a different disorder. I will be examining each problem from the perspective of a bio psychologist. I will define the patient’s diagnosis at length I will relate each case to the nature-nurture theory, and talk about any helpful drug interventions or solutions for each disorder. When talking about drug intervention, it is also important to discuss the positive and

Schizophrenia is a severe, disabling and chronic disorder that affects people. Schizophrenia is diagnosed as a psychotic disorder. This is because a person suffering from schizophrenia cannot tell their own thoughts, perceptions, ideas, and imaginations from the reality. There is continuing debate and research as to whether schizophrenia is one condition or a combination of more than one syndrome that have related features. People suffering from schizophrenia may seem perfectly fine until the time they talk actually talk about they are thinking. People with schizophrenia rely on others for help since they cannot care for themselves of hold a job. There is no cure for schizophrenia, but there is treatment that relieves some of the symptoms. People having the disorder will cope with the symptoms all their lives. There have been cases of people suffering from schizophrenia leading meaningful and rewarding lives. There are five types of schizophrenia namely paranoid, disorganized, residual, undifferentiated, and catatonic schizophrenia. This paper will discuss paranoid schizophrenia.

PSYCHOTIC DISORDERS Psychotic disorders are a collection of disorders in which psychosis predominates the symptom complex. Psychosis is defined as a gross impairment in reality testing. Specific psychotic symptoms include delusions, hallucinations, ideas of reference, and disorders of thought Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition (DSM-IV)

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.

It was believed a seizure in the brain caused by the electric current would stimulate the release of neurotransmitters, and would allow the brain to reorganize to function correctly (Nasar). Neurotransmitters are chemical substances that transmit signals that facilitate cell to cell communication throughout the nervous system, and play a key component in the biological paradigm for treatment of schizophrenia. At this early stage of understanding schizophrenia’s pathology, it was believed these chemicals were imbalanced and shocking the brain would force a rebalance of these vital chemicals. Once rebalanced, it was hypothesized the patient would no longer suffer from schizophrenia (Tharyan, 2005). The insight into treating neurotransmitter imbalances in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia began the treatment path to present day antipsychotic pharmaceutical drug therapy. While the actual effects of electroshock therapy on patients with schizophrenia are unclear, it is still used today to treat schizophrenic patients who are resistant to pharmaceutical drug therapy. Electroshock therapy was the utilization of insulin coma therapy and electroshock therapy to treat schizophrenia were successful partly due to the required hospital admittance and doctor administered methodology. In both treatments the patients were required to be admitted into a hospital and were not responsible for administering the treatment themselves. While both treatment methods were viewed as inhumane and

Currently there are no cures for schizophrenia, but the symptoms are helped by taking antipsychotic medication. The symptoms experienced by those with schizophrenia are grouped in to three categories: negative symptoms, positive symptoms, and cognitive symptoms (Regier 1993, p.92). The positive symptoms include, hallucinations, delusions, unusual or dysfunctional ways of thinking, agitated body movements. Negative symptoms include, flat affect, reduced pleasure in everyday life, difficulty sustaining tasks, and reduced speech. Cognitive symptoms include, disruption in executive functioning and working memory, as well as reduced ability to concentrate. The etiology of schizophrenia is still debated by psychologists and neuroscientists, but factors such as neuroanatomy, and environmental influences are believed to play a key role. A genetic predisposition to schizophrenia has been established by researchers, but it remains unclear what causes the phenotype to be expressed. The most agreed upon cause of schizophrenia refers to the diathesis-stress model, which explains schizophrenia as a response to an individual’s allostatic load becoming too much for the brain to cope with. Another popular explanation amongst neuroscientists is the dopamine

To treat these psychoses, anti-psychotic medication is prescribed. Anti-psychotic medication works by binding to a specific receptor in the brain, known as dopamine receptor D2 (Kapur, 2000). By blocking this receptor, symptoms of psychosis are controlled. As symptoms of stimulant psychosis are very similar to the positive symptoms of schizophrenia, anti-psychotic medication is the preferred medication to treat affected individuals. Two types of anti-psychotic medications have been developed, typical and atypical. Typical anti-psychotics have a high-potency and high affinity to D2 receptors, however this can cause extrapyramidal effects and Parkinsonism (Golan & Tashjian, 2012). Atypical anti-psychotics have a lower-potency and low affinity to D2 receptors and less side-effects. Therefore, anti-psychotic medication must block an appropriate amount of D2 receptors as a deficiency of dopamine can cause extrapyramidal effects and even worsen the negative symptoms whereas an excess results in psychosis. A cross-sectional neuroimaging study reveals that the link between D2 receptors and extrapyramidal side effects occurs only after 78% of D2 receptor occupancy (Kapur,

For the past fifty years treatment of schizophrenia has been marked by its basis on the dopamine hypothesis for schizophrenia. However, this model for the disease and its subsequent treatment have left many patients without relief or help in dealing with this disease which has lead to a search for a better model. The dopamine model lacks the recognition of a whole range of symptoms associated with the disease and therefore can not be an accurate basis for treatment. More recently, there has been a shift to the glutamate hypothesis which has been shown to more accurately characterize the wide range of symptoms experienced by patients living with this disorder as well as the possibility in improvements for drug treatments.

Psychosis is a state of being profoundly out of touch with reality. Psychotic individuals may experience hallucinations and/ or delusions (p.393). Psychosis can occur in many mental disorders, and is most

This paper defines schizophrenia from a biological and psychological perspective and also provides treatment to help combat symptoms of schizophrenia. This paper has three important contributions. First, by defining and expanding on schizophrenia from a biological perspective, I can identify the nature related predispositions. After expanding from a biological approach, secondly, I will analyze schizophrenia from a psychological aspect by determining if there is any environment or nurturing externals that can result to schizophrenia. Lastly, I will provide treatment details and also reveal early signs to schizophrenia. This paper is important because schizophrenia is an epic mental disease and it is crucially important to bring awareness to the public of how we can limit the illness. It is unclear whether schizophrenia have only a biological background or psychological background, but what was discovered is that both contribute to schizophrenia. Positive and negative treatment can be combatted undergoing pharmaceutical and psychotherapy,

Over the last few decades Schizophrenia has become embedded in mainstream vernacular as any behavior or emotional response that is out of touch with reality. However even with its popularity heightened through movies and headline news stories, schizophrenia is still one of the most enigmatic and least understood disorders of the brain. With current research focused on the role of neurobiology and functioning on a cellular level, investigative analysis has merited new innovations towards its source, however a single organic cause for the disorder still eludes scientists. Although the foundation of the affliction is still unknown, its effects are well documented and over the next few pages will show the changes in the brain as the disease

Psychosis is a state of severe mental impairment, which causes the person not to view the real or unreal correctly. (Lecture) People with psychosis often have problems with delusions and hallucinations.

Well basically George I deal with the subject of Syncretism, bringing together all the fields of knowledge and wisdom and showing the interrelatedness of all things. Syncretism is the opposite of division and disunity and covers all the big topics like; Theology, Astrotheology, Natural Science, Astrology, Reclaiming Dominion, Breaking the fictions of Religion, Science and Law, and the Holy Science, an ancient science based on the workings of the solar system, which is the science of, ‘as above so below’. These sciences enable one to develop wisdom and enlightenment far beyond what this world currently has to offer.

Psychosis in this study is defined as grossly impaired reality testing. Psychosis can be present in several mental illnesses including, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder and even depression (Arciniegas, 2015). Both the APA (American Psychiatric Association DSM-5, 2013) and the WHO (World Health Organization, 1992) define psychosis specifically by requiring the presence of hallucinations without insight into their pathologic nature, delusions, or both hallucinations without insight and

Psychosis is a symptom included in many psychological diseases. In the premature stages of psychoses, it is problematic to diagnose the patient with a specific type of psychosis.