In my view not a lot of people are well
educated about schizophrenia, the label is so tainted, I cannot even tell if it
is better or just as bad as when David Rosenhan conducted his experiment. (For those of you who have never heard of
this experiment I have posted a video below that summarizes, it is very
interesting and is known as the most infamous psychological experiments of all
time). I had a friend who was a paranoid
schizophrenic, and I have a cousin who is schizophrenic as the result of
substance abuse and people seemed to think everything they say is crazy, and
when my friend would become upset, people would become terrified. In my experience schizophrenic people are not
violent, and they are actually very smart, that is not to say this is the norm
per say, but it is a good thing that so much research is being conducted, and
hopefully the other views are explored further.
Monday, November 26, 2012
The first one to be eliminated...
If the man upstairs came to earth and told me that I must
have one disorder from the DSM and I could choose, schizophrenia is one that I
would definitely not choose. As
schizophrenia is defined as the loss of touch with reality and the 'disease'
most commonly associated with the concept of madness. I am the type of person who likes to be in
control of everything, as in situations, feelings, thoughts, reactions, expressions,
you name it. I cannot imagine not being
able to control something so vital to everyday life. There are many theories/explanations as to
the development of schizophrenia, including psychodynamic, cognitive,
behavioral, sociocultural, and biological.
Most research has been toward the biological view of schizophrenia,
nonetheless, in my opinion all of the theories play a role in the
development. As to the treatment, drugs
are the most used and most effective treatment for schizophrenia.
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Wow! I’ve thought about it, but never really thought someone had actually being sent to an asylum by pretending to be mentally ill. I agree that there are a lot of misconceptions about schizophrenia and also a lot of other mental disorders. There’s also a lot of criticism against psychiatry. I don’t agree that everything should be classified as a disorder, but I believe that the misconceptions of mental disorders lead to people finding psychology to be a pseudoscience. I think that the way that people say they’re so bipolar when they have mood swings or saying they’re OCD when they can’t leave well enough alone or even saying they’re ADD when they’re anxious has everything to do with the fact that it’s seen that psychiatrists treat everything as a mental disorder. In reality, I believe, a lot more than those characteristics are used to diagnose someone with any disorder. Psychology is fairly young and as time and technology progress, I think we'll get more answers.
ReplyDeleteI have never met anyone with schizophrenia. You however have met two people and have had that experience. You know how they really act. Sometimes schizophrenia is overrated but in serious cases its not. Im sure there is schizophrenics that we should be afraid of.
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