schizophrenia essay
June 10 – unit 4 – Schizophrenia
‘In an important and influential criticism of the diagnosis of mental illness, Rosenhan (1973) showed that healthy ‘pseudopatients’could gain admission to psychiatric hospitals by pretending to have auditory hallucinations. Although systems of classification and diagnosis have changed considerably since the 1970’s, many people still have concerns about their accuracy and approriatness.’
Discuss issues surrounding the classification and diagnosis of schizophrenia. (9 + 16)
Schizophrenia has become a label for a severe mental illness often involving a loss of contact with reality. In addition, it is a highly complex disorder covering a wide variety of symptoms and types e.g. catatonic, paranoid and disorganised, meaning that classification and diagnosis is often difficult. Nevertheless, the risk is around 19%and there are no cultural or gender differences, although onset may occur later in females due to oestrogen which may slow down brain degeneration, nevertheless this hormone is said to decrease with age.
In terms of symptoms which are used in diagnosis and classification, there are the positive symptoms which reflect an excess or distortion of normal functions, - hallucinations, delusions, experiences of control and disorganised thinking. Furthermore, there are also negative symptoms which in fact reflect a loss or reduction in normal functions e.g. alogia (the loss of fluent speech) avolition (the loss of motivation) and accecore flattening (a reduction in the range of emotional intensity).
According to the DSM-IV-TR there are 5 distinct points which must be met for diagnosis to be made. Firstly, the patient must have been experiencing at least 2 symptoms for 1 month (N.B. if delusions bizarre one is enough), occupational/social dysfunction , continuous disturbance over 6 months with one month of symptoms, no other sign of mental illness and no other known organic cause e.g. drug abuse or brain tumour.
However,
‘In an important and influential criticism of the diagnosis of mental illness, Rosenhan (1973) showed that healthy ‘pseudopatients’could gain admission to psychiatric hospitals by pretending to have auditory hallucinations. Although systems of classification and diagnosis have changed considerably since the 1970’s, many people still have concerns about their accuracy and approriatness.’
Discuss issues surrounding the classification and diagnosis of schizophrenia. (9 + 16)
Schizophrenia has become a label for a severe mental illness often involving a loss of contact with reality. In addition, it is a highly complex disorder covering a wide variety of symptoms and types e.g. catatonic, paranoid and disorganised, meaning that classification and diagnosis is often difficult. Nevertheless, the risk is around 19%and there are no cultural or gender differences, although onset may occur later in females due to oestrogen which may slow down brain degeneration, nevertheless this hormone is said to decrease with age.
In terms of symptoms which are used in diagnosis and classification, there are the positive symptoms which reflect an excess or distortion of normal functions, - hallucinations, delusions, experiences of control and disorganised thinking. Furthermore, there are also negative symptoms which in fact reflect a loss or reduction in normal functions e.g. alogia (the loss of fluent speech) avolition (the loss of motivation) and accecore flattening (a reduction in the range of emotional intensity).
According to the DSM-IV-TR there are 5 distinct points which must be met for diagnosis to be made. Firstly, the patient must have been experiencing at least 2 symptoms for 1 month (N.B. if delusions bizarre one is enough), occupational/social dysfunction , continuous disturbance over 6 months with one month of symptoms, no other sign of mental illness and no other known organic cause e.g. drug abuse or brain tumour.
However,