Schizophrenia

Term Paper # 107667

Medical and Health
Psychology > Disorders
Psychology > Therapies

Schizophrenia

This paper explores the illness of schizophrenia and its treatments.

2,020 words () | 3 sources | MLA | 2008 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper presents an overview of the mental illness of schizophrenia. The paper discusses the three phases of schizophrenia in adults, the symptoms, schizophrenia in children and the causes of this severe illness. The paper also looks at the diagnosis and current treatment methods for schizophrenia, which include psychosocial treatment, rehabilitation, cognitive behavioral psychotherapy and individual psychotherapy. The paper particularly focuses on the contributions of Harry Stack Sullivan who was one of the earliest contributors to the psychotherapy of schizophrenia. The paper discusses how Sullivan argued that such individuals were not incurable, and that cultural forces were largely responsible for their condition. The paper concludes with an account of a patient who transcribed his feelings about his illness that he later discovered was schizophrenia.

From the Paper:

"Schizophrenia is a chronic and disabling brain disease which is found all over the world. It is a serious psychiatric illness that causes strange feelings and unusual behavior. The term schizophrenia comes from two Greek words that mean "split mind." It was observed around 1908, by a Swiss doctor named Eugen Bleuler, to describe the splitting apart of mental functions that he regarded as the central characteristic of schizophrenia. Although this illness affects men and women with equal frequency, the disorder often appears earlier in men, usually in the late teens or early twenties, in comparison to women, who are affected in the twenties to early thirties."

Sample of Sources Used:

Alanen, Yrjo O. Schizophrenia Its Origins and Need-Adapted Treatment. Trans. Sirkka-Liisa Leinonen. London: Karnac Books, 1997.
Warner, Richard. Recovery from Schizophrenia: Psychiatry and Political Economy. New York: Brunner-Routledge, 2004.
Weiner, Irving B. Psychodiagnosis in Schizophrenia. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1997.