Schizophrenia Essay, Research Paper

During the 1950s, mentally disordered people who were harmful to society and

themselves could be treated with medications and were able to return safely to their

communities. Unfortunately in the 1980s, the cost of health care increased more than any other cost in our national economy. Strategic planning has been made to reduce costs, as a result,

?The political decision made to deinstitutionalize chronic mental patients started with the appearance of phenothiazine medications. Dramatically reducing the instability influenced by psychosis, these medications were of great significance to many individuals with serious mental disorders. At both the state and federal levels,

legislators looked at the high cost of long-term psychiatric hospitalization. Social

scientists guaranteed them that community-based care would be in the best interests of

all concerned: the mentally ill and the general, tax-paying public.? (Barry 13)

It was believed that a social breakdown syndrome would develop in chronically mentally ill persons who were institutionalized. The characteristics of this syndrome were

submission to authority, withdrawal, lack of initiative, and excessive dependence on the

institution.

Even though deinstitutionalization seemed like the logic thing to do, the actual

execution of the concept has been greatly undermined by the lack of good community

alternatives. The largest majority of individuals using community mental health treatment services are the homeless. Nearly half of the homeless are chronically mental ill. These

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individuals are usually separated from their families and are all alone on the dangerous street. These homeless schizophrenics stay away from social structures such as community health treatment centers. Since they start a new life of independence they often stop taking their medications, become psychotic and out of place, and begin to live on the street. Since the schizophrenics are deinstitutionalized they are thrown into a whole new world of independence that they are not familiar with. Since their brain functions are different than the usual human being they cannot cope with the problems of life. The schizophrenics drive themselves crazy wanting to kill themselves and others in order to escape from this unfortunate world that they live in

Schizophrenia is the most common psychoses in the United States affecting

around one percent of the United States population. It is characterized by a deep

withdrawal from interpersonal relationships and a retreat into a world of fantasy. This

plunge from reality to fantasy results in a loss of contact from reality that can vary from mild to severe. They is more than one acceptable definition for psychosis. The psychoses are different from other groups of psychiatric disorders in their degree of severity,

withdrawal, alteration in affect, impairment of intellect, and regression.

The severity of psychoses is considered major disorders and involves confusion

in all portions of a person?s life. Psychosis is seen in a wide range of organic disorders

and schizophrenia. These disorders are severe, intense, and disruptive. A person with

a psychotic disorder suffers greatly, as do those in his or her immediate environment.

Individuals who suffer from withdrawal are said to be autistic. That is, the person vastly

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withdraws from reality into a private world of his or her own. The psychotic individual is

more withdrawn than a person with a neurotic disorder or any other mental disorder.

The affect, mood, or emotional tone in a person with a psychotic disorder is immensely

different from that of normal affect. In the mood disorders, one observes the

exaggeration of sadness and cheerfulness in the form of depression and mania. In the

schizophrenic disorders, affect may be exaggerated, flat, or inappropriate.

In psychotic disorders, the intellect is involved in the actual psychotic process,

resulting in derangement of language, thought, and judgment. Schizophrenia is considered a formal thought disorder. Their thinking and understanding of reality are usually severely impaired. The most severe and longest regressions are seen in the psychoses, regression. There is a falling back to earlier behavioral levels, sometimes even as far as childhood. In schizophrenia this may include returning to primitive forms of behavior, such as curling up into a fetal position, eating with one?s hands, and so forth. Symptoms of schizophrenia usually occur during adolescence or early adulthood, except for paranoid schizophrenia, which usually occurs later in one?s life. The process of schizophrenia is often slow, with the exception of catatonia, which may have an abrupt onset. As an adolescent, a person who later develops schizophrenia is often antisocial with others, lonely, and depressed. Plans for the future may appear to others as vague or unrealistic.

It is possible that there may be a pre-schizophrenic phase a year or two before

the disorder is diagnosed. This phase may include neurotic symptoms such as acute or

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chronic anxiety, phobias, obsessions, and compulsions or may reveal dissociative

features. As anxiety mounts, indications of a thought disorder may appear. An

adolescent may complain of difficulty with concentration and with the ability to complete

school work or job-related work. Over time there is severe deterioration of work along

with the deterioration of the ability to cope with the environment. Complains such as

mind wandering and needing to devote more time to maintaining one?s thoughts are

heard. Finally, the ability to keep out unwanted intrusions into one?s thoughts becomes

impossible. As a result, the person finds that his or her mind becomes so confused and

thoughts so distracted, that the ability to have ordinary conversations with others is lost.

The person may initially feel that something strange or wrong is going on.

He or she misinterprets things going on in the environment and may give mystical or

symbolic meanings to ordinary events. The schizophrenic may think that certain colors

hold special powers or a thunderstorm is a message from God. The person often

mistakes other people?s actions or words as signs of hostility or evidence of harmful

intent. As the disease progresses, the person suffers from strong feelings of rejection,

lack of self-respect, loneliness, and feelings of worthlessness. Emotional and physical

withdrawals increase feelings of isolation, as does an inability to trust or associate with

others. The withdrawal may become severe, and withdrawal from reality may be

noticeable from hallucinations, delusions, and odd mannerisms. Some schizophrenics

think others are controlling their thoughts or that their thoughts are being broadcast to the world. Others think that people are out to harm them or are spreading rumors about them. In some schizophrenic individuals, voices are usually heard in the