Neuropsychological and Psychological Disorders

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Table of Contents

Schizophrenia
Genetic and environmental components to schizophrenia
Major affective disorders
Depressive disorders
Manic or bipolar disorders
Treatment
References

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a severe brain disorder affecting people with a history of brain disorders. People with schizophrenia are easily noted with disjointed speaking, disorganized thinking, and tendencies of causing harm. These people can sit for a long time without any movement and make no sense while they are talking. It is not only the schizophrenia patients are affected, but the whole family or society is affected. Most of the victims experience poor education performance and broken family relationships and therefore they need close friends for help. Close scrutiny into the environmental and genetic factors shows that they interact to produce schizophrenia disorder and other developmental syndromes (Cantor, 1988)

Genetic and environmental components to schizophrenia

Schizophrenia disorder has well-established genetic and environmental components. Relatives of a schizophrenia patient have a greater risk of schizophrenia because of the genetic relationships. The risk of schizophrenia varies with the degree of consanguinity and the closer the relationship, the higher the risk. Repeatedly, twins with a 100% genetic relationship show a higher risk of schizophrenia approximately 50% while siblings sharing approximately 50% of their genes indicate schizophrenia risk of 9% (Carlson, 2012)

Studies and observations of schizophrenia occurrence indicate that schizophrenia risk in the patient’s family is not conclusive evidence of genetic factors producing the schizophrenia disorder. Genetic orders do not act in isolation but environmental factors also contribute to the development of the disorder (Carlson, 2012). Studies conducted on twin adoption and behavioral changes gave convincing facts of the relationship between the two components and schizophrenia. For example, an adopted offspring with parental history of schizophrenia will eventually develop the disorder at an elevated rate. The rates are approximately the same as that of first-degree relatives (Pletson, 2006). Therefore, the heritage of schizophrenia disorder differs and a clear genetic contribution cannot be established without taking into consideration the environmental factors.

Major affective disorders

Major affective disorder refers to the strange feelings, emotions, and moods experienced by a schizophrenia patient. Affective disorders impair the actual feelings of the patient. There are two major affective disorders, namely; depressive and manic disorders (Nelson, 1997).

Depressive disorders

Depressive disorder refers to persistent sad feelings, emotions, and depression for over two weeks. The disorder has the capability of changing the patient’s functioning level. A patient with depressive disorder has diminished self-esteem, feelings of worthlessness, and is very reactive to anything. Sleeping problems emerge where the patient feels too tired and very poor at performing a simple task. At the chronic levels, thoughts of committing suicide emerge or fantasizing to ease the pain to escape the world.

Manic or bipolar disorders

Mania disorder is the opposite of depressive disorder which is caused by the brain’s chemical imbalance. Mania is usually characterized by a euphoric, irritable, and expansive state of mind. The state of the disorder may last for two weeks. Inflated self-esteem, easy distraction, talkative nature, and reckless behavior are the main symptoms during the period of the mania disorder. Therefore, mania depression is characterized by ‘highs’ while depressive disorder is characterized by ‘lows’.

Treatment

Fortunately, schizophrenia is treatable and the patients are advised to visit a doctor, mental health expert, or a depression counselor for proper medication and diagnosis. The patient can fully recover after sometimes but it is also recommended that he or should always visit a doctor on a regular basis for clinical checks up (Nelson, 1997).

References

Cantor, S. (1988). Childhood schizophrenia. New York: Guilford Press.

Carlson, N. R. (2012). Physiology of behavior + new mypsychlab with etext. S.l.: Prentice Hall.

Nelson, H. E. (1997). Cognitive behavioural therapy with schizophrenia: A practice manual. Cheltenham, U.K: S. Thornes.

Pletson, J. E. (2006). Psychology and schizophrenia. New York: Nova Science Publishers.

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