Create a new account

It's simple, and free.

The Concept of Schizophrenia

The phenomenon of schizophrenia has been the subject of extensive research and theoretical discussion. Through time, besides some notions of a purely biologic cause of this phenomenon, two main approaches in trying to explain the origin of schizophrenia have dominated the debate. One approach explains schizophrenia as a genetically determined disease of the brain. The other approach concentrates rather on the environment as a cause of the ailment. Recently, a sizable part of the scientific community has considered a combination of both approaches, instead of concentrating on a single determining cause of schizophrenia. The purpose of this paper is to define and to describe the phenomenon of schizophrenia and then to discuss the two main approaches to its etiology and see to what extent they can indeed be combined. There will also be a discussion of those theories objecting altogether to the concept of schizophrenia as a mental illness.

According to the definition given by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1978, schizophrenic psychoses are "'A group of psychoses in which there is a fundamental disturbance of personality, a characteristic distortion of thinking, often a sense of being controlled by alien forces, delusions which may be bizarre, disturbed perception, abnormal affect out of keeping with the teal situation, and autism. Nevertheless, clear consciousness and intellectual capacity are usually maintained' " (Hughes, 1981, p. 10).

The Greek etymology of the term literally means "splitting of the mind," and lay people often misuse the word to describe someone with a "split" or multiple personality. But schizophrenia refers instead to incongruity between different mental functions: "The schizophrenic may, for instance, talk of sad or terrifying events while laughing or showing no emotion whatsoever (Waldinger, 1986, p.82).

Apparently, the burden of schizophrenia is global. The World Health Organization, us...

Page 1 of 8 Next >

More on The Concept of Schizophrenia...

Loading...
APA     MLA     Chicago
The Concept of Schizophrenia. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 09:38, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1692641.html