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The Effects Of Schizophrenia On The Human Brain

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Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that affects the human brain. This mental disorder is characterized by delusions and hallucinations, but other characteristics include disorganized thoughts, poor concentration, and bundled emotions (Nordqvist, 2016). The many obvious effects of schizophrenia an individual has are not the only symptoms taking place in the life of that individual. Many of the effects that schizophrenia has on a person connect deeper than just their personalities, linking to abnormal brain development, flat affect, delusions and hallucinations, catatonia, and genetics. Schizophrenia is a severe disorder in which the person suffers from disordered thinking, bizarre behavior and hallucinations, and is unable to distinguish between …show more content…
Delusions of reference are delusions that one is going through events and believing they have strong personal connections. Delusions of influence are delusions that one is being controlled by an outside force, mind control or magic for example. Delusions of grandeur are delusions that one believes their importance is superior than the rest, such as being famous or a genius. The hallucinations that an individual with schizophrenia experiences are false sensory perceptions. These hallucinations start with hearing things, voices, then later progresses to seeing things. Flat affect is the lack of emotional responsiveness. There will be no signs of any emotion, facial expressions, and they may speak in a monogamous tone. Catatonia is characterized by either wildly excessive movement or total lack of motion thereof. It may be expressed by staying still, lack or speech, or the inability to control their movements. People with schizophrenia can reach a point in their disease called a psychotic break. A psychotic break is the break away from the ability to distinguish what is reality and what is fantasy. In other words, it is the disconnection from reality. People with schizophrenia can create full worlds in …show more content…
The positive symptoms show an excess or distortion of normal functions. These include distortions in thought content, perception, language and thought process, self monitoring of behavior, hallucinations, delusions, and distorted thinking. The negative symptoms are an absence of normal behavior, which includes poor attention, flat affect, poor speech production, restrictions in the range and intensity of emotional expression, the fluency and productivity of thought and speech, and the initiation of goal directed behavior. (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2000)
The causes of schizophrenia can vary. Biological explanations focus on structural defect in the brain, inflamations, and genetic influence. The onset of schizophrenia is around the ages from sixteen through twenty-two. This is at the end of adolescence and the beginning of adulthood. At this time is when the frontal lobe, prefrontal cortex, ect. finish developing. Doctors only then discover the abnormal growth in the brains of individuals with schizophrenia. There is little, or not enough growth, in the frontal lobes of individuals with this disorder. Studies have also shown that the disorder is highly

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