PSY 410 Abnormal Psychology of Treatment for Schizophrenia

Refer to the Course Project Overview in Course Home. Early in the course, you have selected a specific disorder. Research it using your textbook and Argosy University online library resources. A minimum of 5 sources in addition to your textbook should be used. At least three of those sources should be peer-reviewed journal articles. The remaining 2 sources may be books, journal articles, or reputable web sites (like those from professional organizations or governmental agencies, not Wikipedia or similar sites).

Review the rubric, as it provides detailed instructions on how best to succeed on this assignment. In the rubric, you will find that you need to address the following in a paper:

Description of the selected disorder (Identify the DSM diagnostic category for the disorder and distinguish between diagnostic and commonly used terminology)

Answer

Schizophrenia

Abnormal psychology is the methodical study of difficult instincts, perceptions, and behaviors related with mental disorders. Abnormal psychology is a dissection of psychology that scrutinizes people who are allegedly "abnormal" or "atypical" as contrasted to the individuals of a given society (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2015). Schizophrenia is among the many psychotic disorders narrated in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM). Schizophrenia is an impaired, persistent, and acute mental sickness that influences more than 21 million people worldwide (Tandon et al., 2013). This essay gives a complete overview of the chosen disorder that is Schizophrenia considering its causative factors, diagnostic criteria followed by the treatments.

The symptoms that are experienced by the people throughout schizophrenia can differ determined by the subtype of the disorder. There are five diagnostic categories of schizophrenia as recognized by the DSM and they are Paranoid, Disorganized, Catatonic, undifferentiated and residual schizophrenia. Schizophrenia has certain causative factors, which can be Environmental, genetic and the brain (Frith, 2014). The first six months are very crucial in a child’s birth if then the baby encounters with any viral infections or unable to get the proper nutrition then the chances of acquiring schizophrenia gets high. The risk is even more if the mother is under certain drugs like methamphetamines or LSD or uses marijuana. This kind of environment is harmful for the child.

On the other hand, the genetic factor as genes are the blueprints of the body and so any change in them can raise the risk factors for this disease. Individuals who have an adjacent relative with schizophrenia are more prone to succeed the disorder than those who have no relatives with the disorder. A monozygotic or identical twin of an individual with schizophrenia will have the outrageous probability of 40 to 65% possibility of advancing with the disorder. Individuals with second-degree relatives with the illness also have high chances of acquiring schizophrenia more frequently than the usual population (Franke, 2016). Lastly, there are probability that the illness is related with some disparity of the compound, interrelated chemical structures of the brain, possibly including the neurotransmitters like dopamine and glutamate.

Schizophrenia is the typical form of psychotic disorder. Schizophrenia inclines to include deformities among all five of the highlighted symptoms those are hallucinations, delusions, disorganized thinking  and speech, grossly disorganized or abnormal motor behavior accompanied by catatonia, and negative symptoms, and is known to be the most common psychosis. Similarly, in DSM-5 neurodevelopment disorders, schizophrenia is considered as a neuropsychiatric illness with complicated genetics and a clinical track that inclines to start during an obvious stage of development. In contrast to the neurodevelopment illness incline to start during childhood, manifestations of schizophrenia inclines to develop accurately throughout late adolescence and early adulthood. According to DSM-5 criteria among these major five symptoms, two or more symptoms should exist for a notable period during one-month interval or may be less is proper treatment is given (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).

In most cases, treatment for schizophrenia centers on the application of antipsychotic medications, and case management, followed by brief to no psychotherapy. In schizophrenia, antipsychotic medications are manifest successful in treating severe psychosis and lowering the risk of future psychotic occurrence. The two main stages of treatment in schizophrenia are a severe stage, when high doses might be obligatory in order to treat psychotic features, followed by a stage of maintenance, which is normally long lasting. A majority of schizophrenia patients undergo enhancement when medicate with antipsychotic drugs. However, some patients respond less to medications, and few may not need those (Nathan & Gorman, 2015).

On the other hand, there are psychotherapies that are also used in the treatment process and they are personal psychotherapy, cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), Cognitive enhancement therapy (CET), Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), Supportive psychotherapy and some social skills training (Jones et al.,2012).  However, no single method can address all the issues and needs of the patients. Psychotherapy is suggested extensively and so used vastly in curing schizophrenia. In various incidents of schizophrenia, hospitalization may also be required. Based on the situation this can be voluntary or involuntary. Schizophrenia may guide to other medical problems that needs treatment (Meyer et al., 2012).

To conclude this essay it can be said that in DSM schizophrenia holds an important position among the many psychotic disorders. However, the five major diagnostic categories of schizophrenia are Paranoid, Disorganized, Catatonic, undifferentiated and residual. Environment plays an important role in causing this disorder where both the pre natal and postnatal environment plays a crucial role. Along with that the genes and neurotransmitters also contributes as a risk factor in Schizophrenia. The common symptoms of schizophrenia are hallucinations, delusions, disorganized speech, grossly disorganized or abnormal motor behavior accompanied by catatonia, and negative symptoms. Treatment comprises both medication and psychotherapies but in extreme cases hospitalization is recommended.

References

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-5®). American Psychiatric Pub.

Franke, B., Stein, J. L., Ripke, S., Anttila, V., Hibar, D. P., Van Hulzen, K. J., ... & McIntosh, A. M. (2016). Genetic influences on schizophrenia and subcortical brain volumes: large-scale proof-of-concept and roadmap for future studies. Nature neuroscience, 19(3), 420.

Frith, C. D. (2014). The cognitive neuropsychology of schizophrenia. Psychology Press.

Jones, C., Hacker, D., Cormac, I., Meaden, A., & Irving, C. B. (2012). Cognitive behavioural therapy versus other psychosocial treatments for schizophrenia. The Cochrane Library.

Meyer, P. S., Johnson, D. P., Parks, A., Iwanski, C., & Penn, D. L. (2012). Positive living: A pilot study of group positive psychotherapy for people with schizophrenia. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 7(3), 239-248.

Nathan, P. E., & Gorman, J. M. (Eds.). (2015). A guide to treatments that work. Oxford University Press.

Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2015). Abnormal psychology. Boston: McGraw-Hill.

Tandon, R., Gaebel, W., Barch, D. M., Bustillo, J., Gur, R. E., Heckers, S., ... & Van Os, J. (2013). Definition and description of schizophrenia in the DSM-5. Schizophrenia research, 150(1), 3-10.