Mental Disorders

There are theories which can be read and understood through books but subject like “Mental Disorders” needs a detailed study along with concrete supporting examples to understand the phenomena involved in this versatile complex subject. It is therefore useful to categorize the symptoms of mental health and to make distinctions.
Psychiatrists have developed systems for classifying mental disorders that describe the kinds of symptoms and behavior which are commonly seen among those considered to be mentally disordered. These mainly fall into three groups: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_illness )
1. personality disorders
2. psychoses
3. anxiety disorders (Another common group of disorders is usually termed)
Each group is having number of sub categories. While considering the schizophrenia which comes under the “psychoses” term for a group of mental disorders and it has been recognized with variety of symptoms.

SYMPTOMS
Symptoms of schizophrenia as described by the psychiatrists can be present in any individual with reference to thoughts, movements, interpersonal relationships and feelings. When an individual fails to make logical connection and by developing thought delusions comes under ‘Thought Disorders’. ‘Hallucinations’ particularly hearing one’s thoughts spoken aloud or hearing imaginary voices giving commands or making comments—are the principal perceptual problems.
The chances of schizophrenia to get developed in any human being are at his or her middle age especially during the phase transition from a child into an adult (http://www.mentalhealth.com/dis/p20-ps01.html ). One can make out the schizophrenic by noticing individual behavior and also by his or her deteriorated work, social relationship.
There is no such described list through which one can identify schizophrenic, however, can convey the devastation of schizophrenia. Being schizophrenic, it becomes difficult to order and control one’s own thought, they are isolated and seems miles from vision of reality and they also believe that someone is commanding them to do something, which in real doesn’t even exist- these are the experiences that make schizophrenia such a frightening and lonely experience.

TREATMENT

The best and most effective medicine for relieve from schizophrenia is antipsychotic medication (http://mentalhealth.about.com/cs/psychopharmacology/a/antipsy.htm).These drugs made into use for schizophrenic since the mid-1950s. These drugs made schizophrenic to function without experiencing crushing fear or troublesome symptoms. These drugs not only rectified terrified effects of schizophrenia, but also prevented future breakdowns. It’s well known evidence that every good thing has a bad part too. So these drugs have also some bad effects such as drowsiness or dry mouth, and they also can have long-term consequences.

Some patients who have taken antipsychotic drugs for many years have developed a condition known as tardive dyskinesia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardive_dyskinesia). Characterized by abnormal movements of the mouth and tongue, tardive dyskinesia is especially serious because it has no known cure and may not disappear if the drug is stopped. It is not mandatory for each and every schizophrenic to take antipsychotic drug, as studies says neither does every schizophrenic patient benefit from antipsychotic drugs, nor do some seem not to need them at all. Some form of psychotherapy is usually used to treat schizophrenic patients. There are chances that schizophrenic suffer from social and vocational difficulties that may have developed as a result of their illness and also there are chances that the schizophrenic patient can be violent sometimes so it’s advisable to keep the patient in a proper supervision not only for others safety but for the patient safety, because there are chances that the patient can hurt himself too.
The pain of schizophrenia has been faced & realized by a great mathematician ‘John Forbes Nash Jr.’, later he is awarded with a Nobel Prize in 1994 for giving a beautiful theory known as “Theory of Equilibrium”, which is widely used into the field of economics. Nash showed the sign of schizophrenia in the year 1958. He became paranoid and terrified with his delusion and then admitted into McLean Hospital, April-May 1959, where he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and mild depression with low self-esteem (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinical_depression). After a problematic stay in Paris and Geneva, Nash returned to Princeton in 1960. He remained in and out of mental hospitals until 1970, being given insulin shock therapy and antipsychotic medications ((http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin_shock_therapy), usually as a result of being committed rather than by his choice. From 1970, by his choice, he never took antipsychotic medication again.

In late 90’s one of my friends sister who also suffered from the schizophrenia and number of symptoms were seen on her. Her behavior was wild and scary. She used to talk with people though no one being around her. While watching her activities it seemed like with whom she is talking, they are sitting next to her. Sometimes she used to get very angry and try to hurt herself. Then she had been gone through proper medication and it took 8 yrs to bring her out from her delusion.

The symptoms, characteristics and treatment can be seen in the movie named “A Beautiful Mind”. The movie is an ‘Academy Award’ winner inspired by and based on the Nobel Prize winner mathematician “John Nash” and his experiences of schizophrenia. While watching this movie one can experience in and out of schizophrenia and what’s going in his life being schizophrenic, and how he struggled to overcome from his mental disorder. The life of John Nash reflects that nothing is impossible if one wants to achieve something neither writing an “Equilibrium Theory” nor coming out of the mental disorder like ‘schizophrenia’.

REFERENCES

Ø http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_illness
Ø http://www.mentalhealth.com/dis/p20-ps01.html
Ø http://mentalhealth.about.com/cs/psychopharmacology/a/antipsy.htm
Ø http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardive_dyskinesia
Ø (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinical_depression
Ø http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin_shock_therapy)