Diagnosis and Treatment of Schizophrenia
Jason Riccio
BEH 225
Axia College/ University of Phoenix
Nancy Stough
October 11, 2009
Diagnosis and Treatment of Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a psychological disorder, which affects a person’s brain by distorting the way he or she acts, thinks, expresses emotions, perceives reality or interacts with others. Schizophrenia is subcategorized as a psychotic disorder or psychosis because those who suffer from this illness have a difficult time being able to differentiate between what is real and what is imagined (webmd.com, 2009). People who suffer from schizophrenia have difficulty functioning in society, at work, at school, and in relationships. Those suffering from schizophrenia tend to be withdrawn or frightened and also have to battle this disorder for life. There is yet to be a cure found for schizophrenia however, treatments have been developed to allow people to live with schizophrenia and even control symptoms for lengths of time (webmd.com, 2009).
Schizophrenia causes individuals to lose touch with reality and the world becomes a distortion of sounds, images, and thoughts difficult to comprehend and causes strange behavior or even shocking behaviors known as episodes (webmd.com, 2009). Schizophrenia varies in severity from person to person and depending on the severity some may only deal with one episode in a lifetime while others deal with various episodes with less frequency between episodes and then some people are able to lead normal lives by suppressing the symptoms of schizophrenia with proper treatments and medication.
The symptoms associated with schizophrenia are categorized into three subcategories: positive or obvious symptoms, disorganized symptoms, and negative or less-obvious symptoms.
Positive symptoms are delusions in which a person suffering from schizophrenia tends to believe things that are strange and not based on reality such a believing he or she is God or the devil (webmd.com,...