Schizophrenia Research Paper Topics

Before going into much detail it is important to understand the general concept of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a disease of the brain that leads to disorganized thinking, delusions and hallucinations. Although the illness primarily affects cognition it can also affect emotion, and behavior. There are many misconceptions about this mental illness such as the idea of split or multiple personalities which will be discussed further later on, (Smith,1993). In Canada it affects 1% of the population or 1 in every 100 people, (Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia, n.d). The basis of this report is to discuss in detail exactly what schizophrenia is, who it affects, and how it affects its sufferers. The history of the research done on this illness,
Initially subtle and minor these changes in one's personality usually go unnoticed. There is often a decrease in expression of feeling or emotions as well as a lack of interest and motivation upon the onset of the illness. Thought changes also play a large part in the affects of schizophrenia. One becomes unable to think clearly and the barrier to normal reasonableness is established. Thoughts take longer to form, come very quickly, or don't come at al for schizophrenics. Often times one will jump from topic to topic, seem confused or have difficulty reaching easy conclusions. Thinking may also be colored by delusions and false beliefs that have no logical explanation. One may express strong ideas of persecution, convinced that he/she is being spied on or plotted against. Perceptual changes are another dominate change that one suffering from schizophrenia will undergo, (Davis et al, 1991). The world through the eyes of a sufferer becomes topsy-turvy and the nerves carrying sensory messages to the brain from the eyes, ears, nose, etc become confused causing one to see, hear, feel or smell a sensation which does not really exist which is known as hallucinations. A sufferer tends to also lose a sense of their self. When one or all five of the senses becomes affected the person may feel out of time, out of space, free floating and bodiless and nonexistent and a person,
This idea of an imbalance of the brain's chemical system has long been suspected as the main cause of the illness. Some researchers believe neurotransmitters, substances that allow communication between cells, are the cause and others believe the illness is based on unregulated dopamine as mentioned earlier. Children with one schizophrenic parent have a 10% chance of developing the illness. When both parents are schizophrenic a child has a 40% chance of developing the illness. There are many misconceptions about the causation of this mind disease such as the idea of stress, drug abuse, infections, and viruses; however, to date there has been no connection made between the following and schizophrenia. Although there has been lots of research done throughout the past century there is still a lot more to be done. Researchers continue to find new things everyday, yet no concrete understanding of schizophrenia has been developed to