Schizophrenia: The Continued Pursuit

When non-verbally reading most individuals have a voice in their head which says the words as they read. Most people are experiencing a subconscious voice right now while reading this essay. However, this voice is neither alarming nor unsettling in fact it may even be in one’s own voice. Readers are accustomed to the subconscious voice and do not even notice its presence. Now that you are aware of the voice, imagine if it never went away. Imagine if the voice told you people were out to get you and you needed to fight back. Imagine if the voice was one you did not recognize and could not control. Unfortunately, there are a plethora of individuals who suffer from like circumstances resulting from Schizophrenia Disorder. Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder characterized by some, but not necessarily all, of the following features: emotional blunting, intellectual deterioration, social isolation, disorganized speech and behavior, delusions, and hallucinations (dictionary.com). Psychologists and scientists have dedicated much time and resources to understanding schizophrenia and what causes this perplexing and unique disorder.
Schizophrenia is an extremely debilitating mental disorder that can significantly affect a person’s ability to live a productive and normal life. There are five different types of Schizophrenia each with its own set of symptoms and characteristics. The first, and most common, type of Schizophrenia is the Paranoid Subtype. When people think of Schizophrenia they most often visualize this category. A Paranoid Schizophrenic will have symptoms consisting of auditory hallucinations or delusions often pertaining to conspiracy or persecution. An additional category of Schizophrenia is the Disorganized Subtype dominantly characterized by a disorganization of the thought process. With this subtype basic and daily routines can be seriously impaired or lost completely. There is also the Catatonic Subtype, which is characterized by abnormal body function and disturbances in movement. There is either a dramatic decrease in activity resulting in a catatonic stupor, or a dramatic increase in activity known as catatonic excitement. Patients may exhibit an immobility or resistance to any attempt to change how they appear (Bengston, 1). The next type of Schizophrenia is the Undifferentiated Subtype. The Undifferentiated Subtype is a unique subtype in that patients with this form of schizophrenia do not have consistent enough symptoms to be placed in one of the other four categories. Another form of Schizophrenia is the Residual Subtype. In this case patients no longer show prominent symptoms of Schizophrenia (Bengston, 2). The diversity of the presentation of the disease is not just limited to the subtype, but also the severity and specific symptoms. Some people affected by Schizophrenia can mange their symptoms and lead relatively normal lives and maintain healthy relationships. Others have the disorder so severely they are required to be institutionalized and kept under constant watch and care.
So what causes this mental disorder? Schizophrenia affects 1 in 100 people (Lezenweger, 1) therefore, much combined effort has been put forth into finding the causes behind this illness. There is no one cause of Schizophrenia but rather a combination of factors. “Because of the considerable heterogeneity in its manifestations and in its likely determinants, the illness remains a frustrating enigma at many levels of inquiry, including genetics, neuroimaging, and neurocognition” (Lezenwger, 1). Scientists and psychologists have crafted different models representing the combination of causes of Schizophrenia, which most commonly entail genetics, the environment a person is exposed to, brain abnormalities, and chemical defects. Experts often turn to the
Bio-psycho-social model, first developed by George Engle,