Analyzing Psychological Disorders
Final Assignment
Week 9
I would like to start off by thanking you for your time and consideration and giving me the opportunity to meet with you. I would love the opportunity to work with you in your clinic and continue to gain knowledge and learn. Again, I appreciate the opportunity to present to you my knowledge on this particular disorder, schizophrenia as well as the chance to review the two case studies that you have allowed me to review. I am sure I can provide the information you are looking for in a professional manner.
To begin, there are many different types of psychological disorders and they are all somewhat the same but also very ...view middle of the document...
Delusions refer to a person’s actions (speech, movements, and emotions) being controlled by outside powers. These delusions range from persecution or grandeur, meaning they are overly admired by others. (Pinel, 2011) Persecution delusions consist of strong beliefs that someone is out to get them, to harm them. Disorganized thinking and speech can be described as a person who is unable to stay on topic during a casual conversation, at times rambling, and it can go as far as affecting their ability to concentrate on small tasks, and simple processes, making them unpredictable. Inappropriate affect simply means that the emotions of the emotions of the individual do not match the situation. For example, laughing at a funeral service, when you should be crying, or sitting in silence. A negative affect in poverty of speech means a person’s content in speech is meaningless; they either say nothing, or they say too much with no significant meaning. Blunted and flat affect refer to showing less emotion which is blunted affect and the other condition is when someone shows almost no emotion at all is called the flat affect. (Comer, 2011) To have the loss of volition is to lose all motivation, have no energy or interest in anything, which is another negative symptom. The final negative symptom is social withdrawal which is pretty self-explanatory, meaning someone who removes themselves from all social situations and past social groups. Symptoms are known to begin in adolescent years and early adulthood, but they do not necessarily have to be present at the same time. Someone who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia will not show signs of all of these symptoms over time or at the same time. Schizophrenia does not have one known cause however there are theories that propose different ideas of a cause. There is also the potential for some people to have a genetic predisposition to become schizophrenic. For instance recent studies in fraternal and identical twins along with children adopted at early ages and that were raised into families with and without schizophrenia backgrounds are at a higher risk for gaining the disorder. Identical twins have a rate of about 60% versus 15% in fraternal twins of having affective disorders. (Pinel, 2011) Depression and stress have also been linked to the disorder, showing that stressful situations generate episodes in people who are already struggling with depression.
As for cures in regards to schizophrenia there are none, but treatment options are growing and range from medication to therapy possibilities. Treatments can help a person manage with this disorder by reducing the symptoms of the disorder. The first anti-schizophrenic drug was called chlorpromazine which was introduced in the 1950’s by a French surgeon (Pinel, 2011). Chlorpromazine helps to calm the person with the disorder and they become able to function more typically and in some cases patients diagnosed with schizophrenia were eventually released from...
