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Schizophrenia:
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Definition
of Schizophrenia: This
is a term used for a group of psychotic disorders whose chief characteristics
include gross distortions of reality; withdrawal from dealing with other
people (social interaction); and disorganization of perception, thought,
and emotion.
In
other words, the schizophrenic has disturbances in thinking, mood and
behavior.
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Meaning of Schizophrenia
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The word schizophrenia
means "split mind" and was initially given to this group of disorders
because it was thought that these mental disorders were caused by a
conflict between the mind and the emotions.
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Thinking today is that
there may be several kinds of schizophrenias with many different causes.
There
may be biological causes of schizophrenia, and
there may be environmental causes of schizophrenia.
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General
Symptoms of Schizophrenia
·
General symptoms
regardless of the type of schizophrenia, the basic experience is one of
disorganization in perception, thought, and emotion.
There
are specific symptoms which may develop over a period of time and which vary in
seriousness from person to person.
·
General symptoms of
Schizophrenia include the following:
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- o Disorganization
- o Language and Communication Disturbance
- o Sense of self
- o Perception
o Disorganization in an area of previous
functioning.
The person has been
able to work, carry on social relations, and take care of himself in
general.
He becomes unable to
get organized to do any of these.
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Specific symptoms of
Schizophrenia may vary for each individual and include the following:
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o 1- Disturbances of thought, speech, activity
This
reflects the confusion in the person's thought processes.
Words
may be in the wrong order, and thoughts may be composed of sentence
fragments.
2-Inappropriate
emotional responses:
The person can appear
emotionally cold; happy news does not bring forth joy in the schizophrenic
person.
Sometimes the schizophrenic makes inappropriate responses. For example, the person is told of the death of a loved one and laughs.
3-Withdrawal
The individual
physically and/or psychologically may pull back from interaction
with other people and/or from his environment.
Withdrawal is a coping mechanism and is an individual's way of coping with the stress he sees in his world.
Those who cope by
regressing revert to an earlier type of behavior in order to deal with the
situation at hand. The earlier behavior is characteristic of an
earlier level of development.
For example, an adult
might resort to behavior typical of his teenage years.
5-Delusion
A
delusion may be defined as a fixed false belief.
Types of delusions
include:
• Paranoid delusions - delusions in which the individual believes
someone is out to get him (although this is not true).
• Delusions of
poverty - a person is convinced that he is penniless and responsible for the
downfall of his familty (although this is not true).
• Somatic
delusions - an individual focuses on his body and is convinced that he is the
victim of a frightening disease.
• Grandiose
delusions - a person with delusions of grandeur may believe he is a sports
hero, a famous political leader, or somone all-powerful like God.
6-Hallucinations
The schizophrenic person may hear, taste, see, smell,feel things that are not there.
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