IndexIntroductionResultsDiscussionConclusionIntroductionDuring a wonderful family reunion, I tried to let my cousin Charlie, who was about twenty-one years old, know that he had a booger protruding from his nose. The moment I told him, he stared at me as if he couldn't understand what I told him. I said to myself, "Hey Charlie, you've got a booger sticking out of your nose." I even wiped my nose to let him know what I was talking about. He bluntly told me "ok". Immediately afterwards my cousin twitched as if he had been suddenly struck by an electric shock. Afterwards, it took him a minute to react to my statement and he wiped the booger from his nose. I remember trying not to make a funny face, because I couldn't understand what was happening. It made me feel uncomfortable because I thought I was right to let him know he had a booger out. The moment of silence felt so awkward. After a few seconds, my cousin started laughing, as if it was a belated reaction to what I had told him. This was my signal to leave. I later learned that Charlie had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a chronic and serious psychological disorder that affects the way a person thinks, feels and behaves. Most people who develop schizophrenia are between the ages of sixteen and thirty. Schizophrenia can be developed from various reasons such as neurotransmitter imbalances, genetics, and environmental influences. There are about three different types of symptoms that you can develop while suffering from schizophrenic disorder. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The first type of symptom is positive symptoms which are “psychotic behaviors such as hallucinations, delusions, thought disorders, and movement disorders (The National Institute of Mental Health, 2016).” Hallucination is the perception that an illusion or sound is present when it is not. Thought disorder is the organization of thoughts. A person with schizophrenia does not engage appropriately in conversation due to his illogical thinking. Movement disorder occurs when one cannot control sudden movements of one's body. For example, when I let Charlie know that he had a booger in his nose, he made the sudden movement, as if he had received a booger. electric shock. This is an indicator of movement disorder. Moving on to the second possible symptom of schizophrenia, these are negative symptoms that represent the disruption of normal emotions and behaviors, in addition, including flat affect (monotonous voice and lack of emotion). ) and the difficulty in starting and enduring activities. Going back to my cousin Charlie's scene, the small indicator that shows negative symptoms is when he bluntly told me “ok”. He didn't make any faces and just said "okay," as if he didn't mind having a booger sticking out of his nose. Even in a normal reaction to the behavior, one would be embarrassed if they had a booger coming out of their nose or would automatically try to cover their nose, or even try to immediately remove the booger. Charlie stood there staring at me as if he didn't hear me. So much so that I had to repeat myself so he could understand what I was trying to inform him. The third symptom of schizophrenia is cognitive symptoms that consist of changes in memory or other aspects of thinking. In other words, “poor functioning, difficulty concentrating, and problems with working memory.” Problems with working memory mean you don't havethe ability to put into practice what you have just learned previously. The moment I first told Charlie about his booger, he stood there silently, staring at me. I repeated myself twice and it took him a couple of minutes to react to what I was telling him. This is a sign of his poor functioning because it took him some time to understand and recognize that he has a booger. After acknowledging what I told him, he then brushed the booger away. It took Charlie longer to process the information I was giving him, due to his poor functioning. Even today, researchers are still analyzing the causes of schizophrenia. So far, one of the causes believed to be responsible for schizophrenia are environmental influences, which include “exposure to viruses, malnutrition before birth, problems during childbirth and psychosocial factors”. During conception, the fetus can develop these problems in the first six months due to a variety of reasons including the mother's high stress levels, depression and desperation. The mother's environmental influences influence the health outcomes of the fetus, which can produce abnormalities in the structure of the brain. One theory I believe is that Charlie may have been exposed to severe discomfort while in his mother's womb. His mother was sixteen when she was pregnant with Charlie and was affiliated with drugs and gangs at the time. One might believe that her mother was stressed or desperate because of the situation she found herself in. He felt like he had no help and his only way to live was to be in these situations. Imbalances in neurotransmitters are a considerable cause of development of schizophrenia. Mental Health America (2018) states that “imbalances of brain chemicals or neurotransmitters: dopamine, glutamate, serotonin…imbalance of these chemicals affect how a person's brain reacts to stimuli.” Each neurotransmitter has a different effect when you don't have the right balance. Having too little of the neurotransmitter, dopamine, can make a person sluggish, as they don't have enough of that rewarding feeling. Dopamine also affects the thought process by making it sad. This leads back to the negative symptoms that schizophrenia develops. Dopamine imbalance leads to disruptions in normal behaviors. A person cannot react to such excitatory behavior or respond normally because the low level of dopamine causes flat affective behavior. Having too much dopamine in your system can lead to hallucinations and sudden movements. This leads to positive symptoms of schizophrenia. Access to too much dopamine increases a person's feeling of satisfaction. This is when you start to have illusions and are unable to sit still because of the glorious sensation you feel. The neurotransmitter, glutamate, is responsible for learning and memory in the brain. Having too little glutamate also affects your ability to understand and support the material being delivered. Thinking about schizophrenia develops cognitive symptoms of poor functioning and difficulty concentrating. Due to the lack of glutamate in the body, the learning and memory process becomes difficult to sustain. Knowledge cannot be processed fast enough due to the lack of glutamate in the brain. The neurotransmitter serotonin helps regulate mood behavior, but serotonin imbalances can still affect mood, social behavior, memory and function. Serotonin plays an effective role in all three symptoms of schizophrenia. Having too little serotonin can cause annoyance, boredom and even insomnia, which helpslead to hallucinations. Serotonin can disrupt mood and social behavior through unresponsiveness preventing a person from functioning normally. Genetics is another cause of how schizophrenia can develop. According to the National Organization for Rare Disorders (2018), genetics findings “indicate that people with schizophrenia and similar psychotic disorders tend to have a missing section of DNA on chromosome 1…both groups also confirmed a previously missing section identified on chromosome 22”. The missing part in chromosome 1 demonstrates why hallucinations and thought disorders with positive symptoms can develop because chromosome 1 is responsible for "psychiatric or behavioral problems (National Organization for Rare Disorders, 2018)". Hallucinations make you think to false perceptions that make people hear things that are never said, regardless of whether a person is present or not. Likewise, it causes a person to have delusions. A person with schizophrenia saw in an out-of-the-ordinary way and believed that he saw a specific situation, act or object and believed that it really happened. Charlie, who I later learned had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, had a breakdown at my grandmother's house because he thought my uncle looked at him wrong and spoke negatively about him. Being there to witness the whole situation, I knew that Charlie had all of this in his head because I was there the whole time and not once did we look at Charlie or mention him at any point. The missing part in chromosome 22 may represent a lack of “verbal and nonverbal communication skills, extreme social withdrawal, and a narrow range of interests and activities.” This is evidence of why negative symptoms develop because the narrow range of interests makes a person lifeless. Another reason why a person with schizophrenia cannot have access to social interaction is because the lack of information in chromosome 22 prevents this from happening. After observing Charlie's behavior for a while, I noticed that he was distant from his people. Charlie was a sweet and talkative boy, for a selfish, quiet, sometimes aggressive person. Charlie soon lost his relationship and connection with his skateboard team due to his disorder. Not to mention that Charlie no longer found interest in skateboarding when he had such a passion for skateboarding. Results Unfortunately there is no cure for schizophrenia yet, but there is a certain treatment to minimize behavioral symptoms. The number one treatment is to express emotions. One should not accumulate emotions because this can agitate the three symptoms of schizophrenia. A person suffering from schizophrenia should undergo cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) as it helps develop cognitive thinking, skill training and reality checks. This is a one-on-one session, where you can help yourself manage schizophrenia by learning behavioral techniques. Another form of treatment may be taking medications to balance the neurotransmitters that affect schizophrenia. For example, taking antipsychotic medications helps reduce psychotic symptoms. This helps reduce hallucinations and disordered thoughts. Taking the drug helps to cooperate with CBT because their disturbed thoughts are minimized, which helps to practice cognitive thoughts, social interactions and be able to manage themselves. Discussion The reason I chose schizophrenia is because I have at least three relatives who have been diagnosed with this psychological disorder. I feel like writing this essay has helped me.