SCHIZOPHRENIA

Schizophrenia



Schizophrenia

Introduction

According to the diagnostic manual of mental disorders (DSM-IV) schizophrenia is characterized by at least two of the following: delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech (frequent derailment or incoherence), catatonic behavior, negative symptoms (flattening affect, apathy, alogia). According to the manual is only required to talk about psychosis if delusions are bizarre or voice is a running commentary on the behavior or thoughts of the subject, or if two or more voices conversing with each other. In this sense it expresses a social and occupational dysfunction. Schizophrenia is not considered is whether the causal substance or an associated medical condition.

Historical Content

The history of schizophrenia develops parallel to the history of psychiatry. Corresponds to figures such as Emil Kraepelin, Eugen Breul, Benedict A. Luwig Morel and Karl Kahlbaum early and profound descriptions of the clinical manifestations of this condition accepted today and enriched by other scholars, including just to mention some mention: Adolf Meyer, Harry Stack Sullivan, Gabriel Langfedt, Kurt Schnider and Karl Jasper, all in one form or another have attempted to define diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia, there are now about a dozen patterns for these criteria.

Schizophrenia is a mental disease of early onset in life, acute onset or insidious, chronic evolution by outbreaks, characterized by cognitive-affective dissociation-producing conative personality deterioration and the consequent involvement of the creative and relational the individual to his surroundings, still has a deplorable difficulty, which is the precise etiology is not that between a dopaminergic hypothesis to a more explanatory as possible, able to encompass all described, the viral (Comer, 2011). Worldwide, this disease is estimated prevalence between 0.5 and 1.5% of the population; in general there is little variation between different cultures. This prevalence is expressed equally by men and women, although for men there is an early start.

Fig. 1

Studies of this entity have been directed generally to its relations with the geographical distribution, expression patterns of reproduction, population density, medical comorbidity, association to commit suicide, use and abuse of alcohol and other substances as well as risk factors. More modern aspects are explored: genetic, biochemical, molecular, protein, enzymatic, and neuroendocrine neuroimmunological also delves into the behavioral findings humoral pathologists and imageneológicos.

Other aspects of their research tend to cultural and social considerations that vary according to their philosophy and approach from which we can observe the homeless, the theory of drift and cause downvard social, however, cannot be ignored in terms of the improvement made their taxonomy, epidemiology and economic costs to society from which it has a strong value pharmacotherapy (Heinrichs, 2003). Supporters of social psychiatry in recent years, paying special attention to the quality of life of schizophrenic patients in which psychosocial rehabilitation and social support have their leading role. Related to the high cost of schizophrenia, attention has been dedicated to the effectiveness of conventional and novel drug in their risk-benefit and cost-effective, and most recent evaluation of the role of the facilitator in the rehabilitation social ill in relapse prevention and quality of life for this, which ...