Schizophrenia

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Schizophrenia
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Schizophrenia is a chronic, severe, disabling
brain disease that interferes with a persons
ability to think clearly, to distinguish reality
from fantasy, to manage emotion, to make
decisions, and to relate to others.
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• Not split-personality disorder
• Greek roots describe the fragmented thinking.
• - schizo means split
• - prene means mind
• Schizophrenia can be traced back to old Pharaonic
  Egypt (2nd millennium before Christ).
• It was thought to be caused by evil spirits who
  possessed the bodies of schizophrenics.
• Treatment was exorcism.
• - Innocent methods playing religious music
• - Dangerous methods trephination

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• 1887 Dr. Emile Krapelin first identified the
  disorder as a discrete mental illness called
  dementia praecox.
• Dementia praecox is Latin and means out of ones
  mind for ones time.
• 1911 - The word schizophrenia was coined by a
  Swiss psychiatrist named Eugen Bleuler.

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• Positive Symptoms
• Positive extra, beyond what normal people
  experience
• Hallucinations
• Hearing voices that are not really there (most
  common)
• Seeing people or objects that are not really
  there
• Smelling scents that do not really exist
• Thinking he/she is being touched
• Delusions
• Delusions of persecution believe people are
  trying to harm him/her
• Delusions of reference believe TV characters or
  books are specifically talking to him/her
• Delusions of influence believe he/she are being
  controlled by external forces like aliens or
  demons
• Thought disorders
• Movement disorders

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Negative Symptoms

• Negative lacking from what normal people
  experience
• Lack of interest
• Lack of pleasure
• Flat effect

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Cognitive Symptoms

• 3. Cognitive
• Poor ability to understand information and use it
  to make decisions
• Trouble focusing or paying attention
• Problems with working memory (the ability to
  use information immediately after learning

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• Types
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• Paranoid Schizophrenia
• 1 type of schizophrenia (40)
• Characterized by delusions and hallucinations
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• 2. Disorganized Schizophrenia
• Characterized by very confused speech, social
  silliness, and neglect of cleanliness
•  
• 3. Catatonic Schizophrenia
• Becoming rare
• Characterized by very disturbed motor behavior
•  

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Onset and Prevalence

• Affects 1 in every 100 people
• Men typically develop schizophrenia ages
  16-25.
• Women typically develop it ages 25-30.

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Possible Causes

• Genes
• Cannabis Use
• Age of Father
• Being born during winter months
• Sickness of mother while pregnant
• Infection in womb
• Stress during childhood or earlier development
• Elevated levels of neurotransmitters

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Auditory hallucin-ations
Paranoia hallucin-ations
Visual hallucin-ations
Disorgan-ized thoughts
Memory learning problems
Emotion-al issues
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• More Brain
• Increased blood flow to some areas
• Decreased blood flow to other areas
• Extra grey matter lost
• Enlarged Ventricles
• Reduction in brain tissue

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• Treatments
• Americans spend nearly 63 billion a year treating
  schizophrenia
• Antipsychotics neuroleptic medications
• 1. Typical antipsychotics (affect dopamine)
• 2. Atypical antipsychotics (affect dopamine
  serotonin)
• Shock Treatments
• 1. Insulin
• 2. Electroconvulsive

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• Outlook for Schizophrenics
• There are more untreated schizophrenics on the
  streets than receiving care in hospitals.
• 5 of schizophrenics live their lives in
  hospitals.
• 6 are homeless or live in shelters.
• 6 live in jails or prisons.
• 10 live in nursing homes.
• 20 live in supervised homes.
• 25 live with a family member.
• 28 live independently.
• Schizophrenics have a 50x higher risk of
  attempting suicide than the public.
• 40 attempt suicide at least once in their lives.
• 10-13 actually kill themselves.
• Suicide is the 1 premature cause of death among
  schizophrenics.

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• Future Treatments
• Drugs to lower levels of the STEP enzyme
• Drugs to reduce glutamate (a neurotransmitter
  that excites dopamine release)
• Drugs that affect the NMDA receptor (deals with
  glutamate)
• Drugs that affect the mGluR receptors (also deal
  with glutamate)
• Drugs that play a role in the receptors for
• - Serotonin
• - Nicotine
• - GABA
• Drugs to slow the loss of gray matter during
  pruning