Have Questions about Schizophrenia?

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Classic Symptoms

People with schizophrenia suffer from many symptoms; these are classified as positive and negative. Some positive symptoms include delusions and hallucinations, which involve adding irrational behaviors caused by hearing or seeing things that are not real. While negative symptoms schizophrenia patients are usually based on the loss of feelings, emotions and thrive to accomplish anything. Depending on the severity of the patient’s illness, many symptoms are shown at the same time.

Positive Symptoms

Delusions are one of the most common positive symptoms. Delusions can cause schizophrenic people to believe incredible stories and make them lose touch with reality. According to Hockenbury, and Hockenbury (2000) in the book Psychology, “schizophrenic delusions are usually bizarre and far-fetched. The person believes that secret agents are poisoning his food, or that the next-door neighbors are actually aliens.” These symptoms affect people’s relationships and significantly decrease their social skills. One specific type of delusion is called delusion of grandeur; this irrational belief causes people to think that they are really important or somebody who is famous. (Hockenbury et al., 2000, p. 584) This effect usually makes people stop taking their medications and causes them to lose control of their illness and relapse. Another positive symptom is the presence of hallucinations; these are sensory perceptions in the absence of external stimulation. There can be auditory hallucinations, which are the most common, tactile hallucinations, and visual hallucinations (Greene, Nevid, & Rathus, 2014, p. 412). Many schizophrenic patients start hearing voices inside their heads that may induce them to do things that in regular circumstances would not do. Some of them may experience something called command hallucination, in which voices instruct them to harm others or commit a crime (Greene et al, 2014, p. 413). Even though it is normal for most people to start some sorts of conversation with themselves, or do things with the assessment of them speaking out loud, to schizophrenics it is different. They may have a silent self-talk caused by their auditory hallucinations (Greene et al, 2014, p. 413). In contrast with all these symptoms, negative symptoms remove several individual’s emotions and affect his or her state of mind. 

Negative Symptoms

Negative symptoms affect daily functions and include a loss of motivation, loss of pleasure in normally pleasant activities, social withdrawal or isolation (Greene et al, 2014, p. 408). One behavior that can significantly change people’s behavior is called catatonic behavior. People in a catatonic state may exhibit off gestures and bizarre facial expressions or become unresponsive (Greene et al., 2014, 415). All these changes in personality are presented in most people suffering from schizophrenia, but there are several other physical expressions that are easily identified as well. Also schizophrenics may suffer a loss of emotional expressions, which is called flat affect. Schizophrenics who present signs of flat affect usually suffer from an absence of emotional expression in the face and voice. They may not experience a normal range of emotional response to people and events or they may speak in one tone of voice (Greene et al., 2014, 414). People with schizophrenia may also show signs of confusion about themselves. They sometimes even lose sense of what is really part of their personality and what is not. Schizophrenics may fail to recognize themselves as unique individuals and be unclear about how much of what they experience is part of themselves (Greene et al., 2014, 414). They tend to show significant impairment in interpersonal relationships. They withdraw from social interactions and become absorbed in private thoughts and fantasies (Greene et al., 2014, 415). One of the most complicated effects of schizophrenia is called inappropriate affect. This causes schizophrenics to lose the ability to react appropriately to different circumstances. For example, a person with schizophrenia may cry over food being dropped on the floor, while laughing hysterically at the death of some relative or friend (Lefton & Linda, 2003, p. 550).  

Social Consequences

Schizophrenics suffer from social impairment that makes them struggle in life. In severe cases they would not be able to survive on their own. In aspects such as self-care, schizophrenics are not able to maintain their personal hygiene, and they are unable to feed themselves (Janca, Kastrup, Katsching et al, 1996). With occupational performances, schizophrenics are unable to find a paying job, go to school and get good grades or even do regular household chores. Also, schizophrenics have difficulties maintaining strong relationships with other family members such as spouses, parents, children, or other relatives (Janca et al, 1996). Finally, functioning in society can be very difficult. Schizophrenics have difficulty showing appropriate behavior or are unable to communicate properly with others or in social activities (Janca et al, 1996). Social stigma is another common problem among people with schizophrenia. As it is explained by Barbato in “Schizophrenia and Public Health,” social stigma is related to the mistreatment of ill people with exaggeration. As he says “ Various adverse consequences may arise from the stigmatization process: use of pejorative language, barriers to housing or employment or restricted access to social services.” This can explain the burden that some schizophrenics have to deal with once they are diagnosed with the disease and many times families are torn apart with the news. Another negative aspect that schizophrenics have to deal with is the medical care. Usually the person suffering from schizophrenia needs to have someone taking care of him or her at all times. This represents many more changes in the family’s lifestyle. The economic burden is mostly the main concern when it comes to people with lower income; also there is the loss of productivity of a family unit. The family’s emotional reaction, sometimes other family members may have feelings of fear, loss of hope, and guilt. The stress related to coping with the irrational behavior of the schizophrenic family member is another important aspect of this disease. It often breaks a regular cycle that the family had established before the illness. Most of them have routine lives that are disrupted abruptly and many cannot cope with the stress (Barbato, n.d., p. 14). 

Possible Causes

Even though it is unknown the real cause of schizophrenia, there has been enough research to narrow down the possible reasons. One possibility is genetic predisposition; another possibility is psychological trauma during childhood and finally there is other possibility that involves some environmental factors. Even though there is not enough research to demonstrate which one is the most precise explanation, the mix of those three options present a strong hypothesis of how schizophrenia is acquired. Even though there has not been a lot of research, there is a theory that links flu viruses in pregnancy to the development of schizophrenia in newborns. As Lefton (2003) explains in his book “The development of schizophrenia does not occur through any simple mechanism–both biology and environment are involved”(556).

Genetic Predisposition

It is almost certain that the closer the genetic relationship between schizophrenic patients and their family members, the greater the likelihood that their relatives will also have schizophrenia. The first-degree relatives are most at risk. Research showed that monozygotic twins have 48 percent of probabilities of having the illness, while offspring of dual mating of schizophrenic parents have 46 percent. For spouses of patients the percentage is really low, showing a 2 percent probability. Uncles/Aunts, nephews/nieces, grandchildren, and half siblings have around 2-6 percent risk of becoming schizophrenic (Greene et al, 2014, p. 417).   There is a clear sign that overactivity of the neurotransmitter; dopamine is involved in the cause of schizophrenia (Greene et al, 2014, p. 419).

Environmental Factors

There is another approach called social learning, where people learn to imitate schizophrenic behaviors from their parents and other key figures in their environment (Smith, 1998, p.580; Watt, Grubb et al, 1982). The behavioral approach claims that if a child is part of a family where the parents fight a lot or one of them is an alcoholic there is a greater chance of becoming schizophrenic (Lefton et al, 2003, p. 555). Mainly a hostile relationship between family members and lack of appropriate communication may be crucial to the development of schizophrenia (Lefton et al, 2003, p. 555). In any way a hostile environment can have several negative consequences on a child’s personality. If there is a genetic predisposition, it is likely that the child could develop schizophrenia. 

References

Barbato, A. (n.d.). Schizophrenia and Public Health. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/en/

Greene, B., Nevid, J., & Rathus, S. (2014). Abnormal Psychology in a Changing World. Pearson Education, Inc. 

Hockenbury, D., Hockenbury, S. (2000). Psychology. New York, NY: Worth Publishers. 

Janca, A., Kastrup, M. Katsching, H., Lopez Ibor jr. J.J., Mezzich, J. E., Santirius, N. (1996). Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemology. The world Health Organization. 

Lefton, L., Linda, B. (2003). Psychology. Boston, MA: Pearson Education.

Smith, B. (1998). Psychology: Science & Understanding. United States: The Mcgraw-hill Companies.

Watt, N. F., Grubb, T.W., & Erlenmeyer-Kimling, L. (1982). Journal of Experimental Psychology, 3, 1-4.