What Have I Done

 

R. L Laing once said, “Schizophrenia cannot be understood without understanding despair.” Scientist
are still struggling to find more precise definition of Schizophrenia. Unfortunately most people understand schizophrenia from criminal shows on TV. They understand that only criminals can only have the disease, but few understand what lifelong struggles people have with schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia is one of the largest mental disorders. The effects of Schizophrenia can become very severe depending on the patient. With schizophrenia the patient will have trouble realizing what reality they live in.  Depending on how bad the Schizophrenia is, hospitalization will be needed.  Many doctors also treat patients with schizophrenia with tranquilizers and drugs to ease the depression.

The question still stands what are the causes of Schizophrenia? Just like autism, scientists still cannot rap their arms around the causes of Schizophrenia. They are not giving up on this illness, but are using genes, critical moments in brain development, and environmental factors, to help them get a better understanding. Scientist have also wonder if Schizophrenia could be related to chemical or physical reaction in the brain. Neurotransmitters have been determined by scientist that they could be involved with the devolvement of schizophrenia.  Scientist have also found that this disorder could be involved with the imbalance of interrelatedchemical systems of the brain. When researching on the brain, scientists have found abnormalities in the brain structure that have an effect on the decreased size of certain brain regions.

Many scientists are realizing the dangers of this illness, and trying to help out these patients to have a better life. There has been afive- year $1.1 million grant from the U.S National Institute of Mental Health to help scientist look over the brain of a schizophrenia patient and of an individual who doesn’t have schizophrenia, to help scientists understand the difference of the two brains. Researchers have focused on the brain’s temporal lobe, which includes the structures of the hippocampus, subicullum, and entorhinal cortex. The reason they focus on these parts of the brain is because they involve the learning and memory part. According to Hembly, a professor of physiology and pharmacology, “The temporal lobe is one of the primary brain regions known to be functionally altered in schizophrenia. Changes in gene and proteins in this region have ‘a profound and significant influence on the brain function.’

Researchers have been finding many treatments to help schizophrenia patient’s deal with the hardships caused from this disease. One way to go with treatment for schizophrenia is Psychotherapy. Many doctors tell their patients that psychotherapy is not the best choice for someone who is dealing with this disease, but there are still positives if you want to go this route. For example, psychotherapy can help you achieve and goal whether it’s daily or monthly. They can also help you with your social skills, and putting yourself out there in your community. Another way to help schizophrenia patients is family or group therapy. What is so great about going this route is that patients can talk to people who are going through the same thing. It also helps get back to reality, and help them get back on track with personal or emotional things. Lastly, you can go in the route of medication. The hardest part of medication is making sure the patients keeps taking it daily. A lot of patients don’t go this route, because they are scared of the side effects towards the medication. One medication that really works on patients is antipsychotic medication. The medicine helps make their biochemical imbalances normal.

Scientist are not giving up on getting a better grasp of schizophrenia. Researchers today are still finding new causes and treatments for this illness. Even though many people believe schizophrenia as a medical disease on a criminal show, there is more to understand of schizophrenia. To understand R.L Laing, do not judge others unless you truly know what they are going through.

How are researchers finding new causes for schizophrenia?

How do people deal with schizophrenia?

How do family members deal with patients that have schizophrenia?

 

 

 

2 thoughts on “What Have I Done

  1. I learned that schizophrenia still does not have a proper definition, yet it is still one of the largest mental disorders. People with schizophrenia are often confused on where they are and what reality they are living in. Most doctors treat them with drugs and tranquilizers to relieve the depression symptoms. In some cases, patients have had to be hospitalized. Psychotherapy is another treatment being used to help patients achieve goals and gain a social life in everyday society. The website, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001925/, shows all of the symptoms and hardships that come with this disease. This was a very interesting blog. Terrific job!

  2. Yes you are correct. schizophrenia is a hard nut to crack for scientists everywhere. I thought they just gave up a year ago on it’s research, but now I see the fight to stop schizophrenia is still being fought on the battle field. Very simular cases to this are any form of cancer. To help you, I found a web site to help you campare the two diseases: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/24/health/policy/24cancer.html?pagewanted=all

    -I hope this helps! <(0.0<)

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