Essay on Schizophrenia
Answers
Schizophrenia is a mental illness in which an individual is unable to differentiate between fantasy and reality. This essay shall discuss the various theoretical causes of schizophrenia including; biological explanations such as genetics and chemicals in the brain, Freud`s psychodynamic explanations of the illness, and the family relationships that can worsen, or perhaps even cause schizophrenia.
Schizophrenia is quite a serious illness that affects about one per cent of the general population at some point in their lives, and may exhibit itself through a variety of symptoms. Around eighty per cent of people with the illness display ‘positive’ symptoms such as: delusions, hallucinations and disordered thinking; while the remaining twenty per cent suffer ‘negative’ symptoms such as: catatonic behaviour, loss of drive, and flattening of affect.
There has been a lot of research undertaken in to how our biology may cause us to develop schizophrenia, and it is now quite widely accepted that an individual’s genetic makeup may cause them to development schizophrenia, as the illness does have the tendency to run in families. Studies have shown that the more closely one is related to someone who already has the illness, the greater the risk of them also becoming ill. Non-identical (dizygotic) twins, who share fifty per cent of their DNA, have a seventeen per cent risk factor if their co-twin already has the illness; whereas identical (monozygotic) twins, who share one hundred per cent of their DNA, have a much larger risk factor of forty eight per cent.
The twin studies indicate that genetics do play a key role in the development of schizophrenia. However, as identical twins share one hundred per cent of their DNA, a twin should be at one hundred per cent risk, (they should ‘have’ the illness) if their twin has it. This suggests that there must be other participating causes that perhaps interact with our biology to bring on the illness. Furthermore, if genes were the sole cause of schizophrenia, it would not explain why the greater majority, (of around two thirds) of those with schizophrenia have no close relatives with the disorder.
☺✌
Explanation:
Each year, almost 44 million Americans experience a mental disorder. In fact, mental illnesses are among the most common conditions affecting health today. The good news is that most people who have mental illnesses, even serious ones, can lead productive lives with proper treatment. Mental illnesses are some of the most misunderstand afflictions in today’s society. Too many people think of mental illness as a “weakness.” Nothing could be further from the truth. These are true illnesses and brain diseases. Mental illnesses are illnesses that affect the way a person thinks, acts, and feels. Like most illnesses, they have included biological, psychological, and environmental roots. The more severe mental illnesses are primarily diseases of the brain that cause distorted thinking, feelings, or behavior.