Practice Related to Schizophrenia

Practice Related to Schizophrenia

Introduction

Among many psychotic disorders schizophrenia is one complex disorder. Schizophrenia is an intricate mental disorder owing to its high prevalence, absence of any particular test for diagnosis and a combination of useful treatments. This paper aims to study the extent and nature of schizophrenia in addition to its diagnosis, treatments and comparison with other related disorders. In the end, the paper also provides comment on the culturally bound syndromes.

Extent and Nature of the Disorder

Schizophrenia is an extreme and serious kind of mental sickness which affects around 7 adults in every one thousand. The disorder predominantly occurs during the ages of 15-35 years. Although the rate of occurrence of this disorder is low that is 3-10,000, but owing to the chronicity the prevalence of the disorder is high. Around 24 million people across the world are being affected by Schizophrenia disorder. Of this 24 million people, fifty percent are not getting the correct care required for its treatment. Interestingly, around ninety percent of the people affected by Schizophrenia, who are not treated, dwell in developing countries. According to research, in the 10 years, the percentage of people who got treated and recovered from schizophrenia is 25%. Moreover it is found that 1 person in every 4000 is diagnosed every year of schizophrenia (WHO, 2013).

The prevalence of this order in United States is around 1.1% of the adult population of the United States. Moreover, women and men are affected by Schizophrenia equally. However, the occurrence of symptoms in men occurs somewhat earlier as compared to women. This disorder instigate mainly in the early adulthood. The age ranges from 15 to 25. Schizophrenia prevails in all the groups and societies irrespective of the color, race, culture and religion. According to recent researches; however, it is found that it prevails mostly in the lower income class people. Around 28% of the people suffering from schizophrenia lives independently (NIMH, n.d.).

Symptoms and Procedures for the Diagnosis of the Disorder

There are no as such medical tests for the diagnosis of the Schizophrenia disorder. As such no physical or laboratory tests prevail for diagnosing this disorder. A psychiatrist usually examines the person who seems to have the clinical symptoms identified for the disorder. The psychiatrist interviews the person and his family and studies the medical history of the person. While there are no direct medical tests for the diagnosis of Schizophrenia, certain lab tests such as urine test, blood tests are carried out to rule out any other problems that have similar symptoms as that of Schizophrenia. “Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale” and “Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale” are often used in the process of diagnosis of this disorder (DNALC, n.d.).

Psychiatrist discerns the presence and the duration of presence of the symptoms of Schizophrenia in the person to diagnose the disorder. The symptoms as provided by DSM-IV include delusions, disorganized speech, catatonic behavior, hallucinations and other negative symptoms such as emotional flatness. When at least two of the identified symptoms prevail for ...