Matrix

Schizophrenia and Psychosis

Table of Contents

Major DSM IV-TR categories of schizophrenia

             Schizophrenia is a condition associated with mental disorder. The disorder is characterized by abnormal expression of reality and also in perception. The symptoms are manifested as bizarre delusions disorganized speech and thinking, auditory hallucinations and paranoia.  Such a patient suffers significant occupational dysfunction and social dysfunction. Schizophrenia is subdivided into five sub classes under the  DSM-IV-TR. Currently DS-IKV-TR  defines  schizophrenia  in terms of  constellation  of  behavioral  and  cognitive symptoms. These symptoms may last for a period six to more months leading to significant daily life activity impairment. First, there is the disorganized type also known as hebephrenic.  This type is thought to be  an  extreme  expression  of  the disorganized  syndrome which is one of  the three-factor model of  symptoms  in  schizophrenia (Liddle, 1987, p 145-51). This category is also categorized with delusions and hallucinations that significantly distort reality. There is also poverty of speech, blunting of emotion and lack of spontaneous movement. The second type is the paranoid type.  It is the most common type of schizophrenia.  One is relatively stable with occurrences of delusion and paranoia.  There are perceptual disturbances and auditory variety characterized by hearing voices.  There is also perceptual disturbance   that affects speech and volition leading to catatonic symptoms. The third category is the catatonia type. It   syndromes of motor logical and psychological disturbance.   This category is associated  with  psychiatric  conditions  such  as  bipolar disorder,  depression,  post –traumatic  stress  disorder and  schizophrenia- catatonic  type.


It is also associated with drug abuse or overdose and mental disorders.  Patients  with medical  conditions  such as  focal  neurological  lesions  including  strokes ,  autoimmune  disorders  and  metabolic  disturbance  usually suffer from  catatonia (Deuschle, 2001, p  41-42).  The symptoms can occur due to reaction of some prescribed medication.There is the undifferentiated  type in  which  psychotic  symptoms are presented  but  there is  no presentation of  paranoia,  disorganized  psychomotor and nether the catatonic  type. This is the fourth category under DSM code 295.9/ICD CODE F20.3. Lastly there is the residual type where the positive symptoms are present at low intensity.  This first category his under DSM code 265.6/ICD code F20.5. ICD-10 has two additional subtypes, the Post-schizophrenic depression and the simple schizophrenia.  The Post-schizophrenic depression is a depressive episode that arises as an aftermath of schizophrenic illness. The symptoms are however of a very low level. The simple Schizophrenia is a progressive and insidious development of prominent negative symptoms.  It occurs to those patients with no any background history of psychotic episodes.


Psychosis

This is a state of being profoundly out of touch with reality. A patient suffers from psychosis experience delusions our hallucinations (Hansel & Damour, 2005, p 393). This conditions common in many mental disorders associated with schizophrenia (Hansel & Damour, 2005, p 398). In  simple  terms it means  the abnormal  condition of the mind which  involves  loss of  contact  with reality. Patients exhibit personality changes and change of thought.  Psychosis depends on severity that may be accompanied by bizarre behaviors and unusual behaviors.  The psychotic may also suffer from impairment in carrying out daily life activities and social interactions.Symptoms of psychosis can be caused by distress that affect the central nervous system causes by internal physiologic illness and external poisons. Therefore, psychosis is an extreme state of consciousness usually beyond normal experiences.  Such people usually have distressing experiences  There are many indicative variety of psychosis that affects people differently. Some of the psychosis disorders are unrelated to medical condition for example people experience hallucinations related to paranormal experiences or religious experiences (Tien, 1991, p 127-92).


 

Lifespan development

The most common  DSM-1V-TR  childhood  disorders are caused  by learning disorders,  mental  retarded ness, attention  deficit ,  pervasive development disorders and  disruptive  behavior disorders. Schizoaffective disorder is a description of  mental  disorder that  recurrently occurs with  episodes  of  depressed  mood that concurrently occurs  with  distortion of  perception(WHO, ICD-10, 2007). This condition affects emotion and cognition. The most typical characteristics are bizarre delusion, paranoia, hallucinations or disorganized thinking   and speech thus affecting occupational and social dysfunction. An individual may have either  hypomanic , manic  or mixed  episode  leading to the division  of  Schizoaffective disorder into bipolar  or depressive  types.The condition  has  very low  percentage  of  less  than  one to being  a lifetime prevalence  condition (Kaplan & Saddock,  2007, p.501-502).  Treatment is based on observable condition and experiences undergone by a patient.  Research  has  shown  that  people with schizoaffective  disorder  have favorable e prognosis than  those  suffering  from schizophrenia  .  It is only worse for those patients suffering from (Kaplan & Saddock, 2007, 502). Genetics, neurobiology, psychological, early environment and social process are the contributing factors to Schizophrenia. Schizophrenia occurs equally in females and males.  But typicality it appears early ages of men (20-28) than females (26-32) (Castle, Wessely & Der, 1991, p 790-4).  The prevalence of schizophrenia is rare in middle aged, the old and children.  It is estimated that only 1% is the proportion of individuals expected to experience the disease at any point of their life.  However, recent studies have indicated that the prevalence is 0.55 % (Goldner, Hsu, Waraich, and Somers 2002, p 833-43).Stimulant psychosis appears more to people who abuse drugs and alcohol. Psychotic recurrence occurs after medical prescription. Theories have come up to explain the occurrence of the condition.  First, there is the association  of  psychotic symptoms   with  ones  perception  from internally generated  experiences  and  thought  for intake  symptoms  like  hearing  voices arise from  internally generated speech  that is  mislabeled by a  psychotic  patients  as  voices  coming  from  outside sources. Patients with bipolar disorder have been known to have increased activity on the left hemisphere of the brain compared to the right hemisphere.  Persons with schizophrenia have increased activity on the right hemisphere (Lohr, & Caligiuri, 1997, p 191-8). Those  active on the right hemisphere  in  normal  people  have  high  levels  of  reported  cases  of  mystical  experiences  and paranormal  beliefs.


 Reference

Liddle P (1987) the symptoms of chronic schizophrenia. A re-examination of the positive-negative dichotomy. British Journal of Psychiatry, p, 145-51.

Deuschle M, Lederbogen F (2001). Benzodiazepine withdrawal-induced catatonia. Pharmacopsychiatry, p 41–2.

Tien, A (1991) Distribution of hallucinations in the population. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol, Springer’s Berlin Publisher Vol 6, p 287–92.

WHO, ICD-10, (2007), international statistics classification of diseases and related health problems. Retrieved from

http://apps.who.int/classifications/apps/icd/icd10online/

On June 2, 2010

Kaplan, H & Saddock A (2007). Synopsis of Psychiatry. New York: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, p 501-502

Castle D, Wessely S, Der G, & Murray M (1991) the incidence of operationally defined schizophrenia in Camberwell, 1965-84″. The British Journal of Psychiatry, p 790–4.

Goldner M, Hsu L, Waraich P, & Somers M (2002) Prevalence and incidence studies of schizophrenic disorders: a systematic review of the literature”. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry,Pubmed publishers’ p, 833–43

Lohr, B; Caligiuri P (1997) Lateralized hemispheric dysfunction in the major psychotic disorders: historical perspectives and findings from a study of motor asymmetry in older patients. Schizophrophrenia Research medical publishers, p191–8.





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