Essay --

According to NAMI (), schizophrenia is a long term mental illness that interferes with a person’s ability to think clearly, make decisions, and relate to others, impairing a person from functioning to their full potential when left untreated. For these persons affected, it is many times difficult to distinguish what is real from what is not. â€Å"Unfortunately, no single simple course of treatment exists.† Research has linked schizophrenia to a multitude of possible causes† (NAMI). As stated by NIHM, the prevalence of schizophrenia is about 1 in every 100 people in the general population. Ten percent of the people who have first degree family members with the disorder, such as a brother, sister, or parent, also have schizophrenia. A longitudinal incidence study was conducted in the Netherlands to further study prevalence over 10 years of the general population. According to (ANNUAL INCIDENCE GALILEO), the incidence rate of schizophrenia was 12/100,000 per year. The study found that incidence rates were higher in men than in women. The results also showed that there was a peak in incidence rates between the ages of 15 and 25 with a decrease by 40% after 25 per ten years. The results also indicated that the incidence rate was higher in urban area, but found no association between incidence rates and living in deprived areas. â€Å"Although presumed to be relatively infrequent in presentation, the existence of late onset schizophrenia is now recognized by the Int ernational Consensus on Late Onset and Very Late Onset Schizophrenia Group. LOS patients tend to experience more positive and fewer negative symptoms.† (LATE ONSET SCHIZOPHRENIA). The etiology of schizophrenia would the diathesis-stress model, involving both hereditary and environment... ...esn’t move or respond to others. â€Å"Catatonia is rare today, but it was more common when treatment was not available† (NIHM). â€Å"Negative symptoms refer to the absence of normal behaviors found in functional humans† (HELP GUIDE). Stated by the NIHM, negative symptoms may be harder to recognize and can be mistaken for depression. Some examples could be the flat affect, where a person’s face does not move and talk in a monotonous voice, lack of pleasure, lack of ability to start and sustain activities, and little verbal communication. One category of negative symptoms includes cognitive symptoms. Cognitive symptoms can include poor executive functioning, trouble focusing, and problems with working memory. Other than symptoms, there are also types of schizophrenia, three to be exact. There is paranoid schizophrenia, disorganized schizophrenia, and catatonic schizophrenia.