Psychological Disorders: Schizophrenia, Personality Disorders, and Eating Disorders

Depression

Many individuals with depression do not seek help, and their depression self-terminates over time. However, those who allow time to heal may experience recurring depression. Each generation tends to experience more depression than the previous one. This could be attributed to society becoming increasingly complex and fast-paced.

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia involves personality losing identity, fragmented condition in which words are split from meaning, actions from motives, perceptions from reality. It can lead to an inability to function in many aspects of life.

Symptoms

There are two categories of symptoms:

Positive Symptoms

Involve adding something to a normal person, such as:

• Hallucinations: Experiencing things that aren't really there.
• Disorganized thinking: Fragmented and bizarre delusions, or unrealistic ideas about the world.
• Delusions of grandeur: Thinking one is more important than they are (e.g., believing the government is targeting you).
• Lack of selective attention: Inability to focus on specific things.
• Disturbed perceptions: experiencing hallucinations, often auditory (voices in the head).
• Inappropriate Emotions and action

Negative Symptoms

Involve taking away something that normal people have, such as:

• Flat affect: Showing no emotion.

Inappropriate Motor Behavior

Compulsive actions without a clear purpose

Catatonia

Associated with catatonic schizophrenia, where a person can become frozen in position. Waxy flexibility is a feature where the person can be moved into a pose and remain in that position. Individuals experiencing catatonia require care to avoid physical pain or discomfort.

Onset

Schizophrenia typically emerges in late adolescence or early adulthood (late teens to early twenties).

Contributing Factors

• Low socioeconomic status: Poverty can be a stress factor.
• Biopsychosocial approach: A combination of social and biological factors.

Types of Schizophrenia

Chronic or Process Schizophrenia

Slow developing, insidious onset with doubtful recovery. Often associated with withdrawal symptoms (negative symptoms). More common in men.

Acute or Reactive Schizophrenia

Fast developing, sudden onset with more likely recovery. Easier to treat.

Theories of Schizophrenia

• Genetic predisposition: Runs in families.
• Structural brain abnormalities: Irregularities in brain structure.
• Neurotransmitters: Abnormal levels of neurotransmitters.
• Prenatal problems at birth: Issues during pregnancy or birth, such as the mother's sickness, malnutrition, or oxygen deprivation.
• Abnormalities in brain development: Excessive pruning of synapses during adolescence.

Auditory Hallucinations

Experiencing voices or sounds in the head that are not real. The specific cause is unknown, but neurotransmitter imbalances may be a factor.

Early Warning Signs

• Mother with severe, long-lasting schizophrenia.
• Birth complications (lack of oxygen, low birth weight).
• Separation from parents.
• Short attention span.
• Poor muscle coordination.
• Disruptive or withdrawal behavior.
• Emotional unpredictability.
• Poor peer relations and solo play.

Types of Schizophrenia

• Paranoid Schizophrenia: Delusions or hallucinations, often with themes of persecution or grandiosity. People with paranoid schizophrenia may be overly suspicious and distrustful.
• Disorganized Schizophrenia: Disorganized speech or behavior, or flat or inappropriate emotion. A person with disoriented dysprenia will experience something called word salad.
• Catatonic Schizophrenia: Immobility or excessive, purposeless movement. Extreme negativism and/or parrot-like repeating of another's speech or movements.
• Undifferentiated Schizophrenia: Many schizophrenic symptoms, but not enough to categorize into one of the other specific ones.
• Residual Schizophrenia: Withdrawal after hallucinations and delusions have disappeared.

Personality Disorders

Paranoid Personality Disorder

Extreme paranoia, distrust of others, assuming people are lying or trying to harm them.

Avoidant Personality Disorder

Extreme fear of social interaction and rejection, leading to avoidance of social connections.

Histrionic Personality Disorder

Extreme emotional reactions in situations, overreacting emotionally to everything in a grandiose manner.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Belief that everyone should admire and worship them. Lack of reciprocation in relationships; assuming others will react the same way they do. An example is not understanding that others know health care is complicated.

Borderline Personality Disorder

Unstable relationships with extreme shifts in emotions (love then hate). Fear of abandonment leads to reactions of "You're leaving me." Also associated with dangerous lifestyle activities.

Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD)

Lack of concern for others, cruel and impulsive behavior. Evident in childhood (e.g., cruelty to animals). Central nervous system acts differently, lack of physiological reaction to upsetting content. The frontal lobe has less mass, leading to impulsive behavior. While biology contributes, the environment also plays a role.

Physiological Contributions to APD

People with APD have a different central nervous system response compared to others, often showing less emotional reaction to distressing stimuli. Their frontal lobe may also have less mass.

Environmental Factors and APD

Environmental factors such as abuse can interact with genetic predispositions to increase the likelihood of violent behavior. However, not all individuals with APD become violent, some may become successful in business or politics.

Eating Disorders

Bulimia Nervosa

Binge eating followed by attempts to rid themselves of the food through vomiting, excessive exercise, or laxatives. This is very unhealthy and can cause lasting damage to the body. Immediate help is needed for those suffering from bulimia nervosa.

Binge Eating Disorder

Eating large amounts of food without purging, often in response to emotions. This can lead to obesity and related health issues like hypertension and diabetes.

Anorexia Nervosa

Self-starvation, often accompanied by body dysmorphia (an unrealistic perception of one's body). People with anorexia often have a distorted view of their weight and body shape. It is more dangerous than bulimia, with lasting organ damage. There can be organ damage and this is one of the eating disorders in which people can and do die.