Schizophrenia and Psychosis and Life Span Development Paper Shanda Walton University of Phoenix October 20, 2008 Schizophrenia translates as split mind and the psychological changes can be so profound that the affected individual is thrust into a world that bears little resemblance to everyday experience. The person with schizophrenia lives in an internal world marked by thought processes that have gone awry; delusions, hallucinations, and generally disordered thinking become the norm. Hansell and Damour (2005) states: Psychosis is a state of being profoundly out of touch with reality.Psychotic individuals may experience hallucinations and/ or delusions (p. 393).
Psychosis can occur in many mental disorders, and is most frequently associated with schizophrenia (p. 398). Hansell and Damour (2005) also states: The effort to define what constitutes psychological normality and abnormality in developing children has given a rise to field within abnormal psychology known as developmental psychopathology which aims to "understand troublesome behavior in light of the developmental tasks, sequences, and processes that characterize human growth" (p. 438).Patients whom have delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized behavior but do not meet the criteria for catatonic, paranoid, or disorganized schizophrenia are diagnosed as undifferentiated schizophrenia. Catatonic schizophrenia is characterized by various motor disturbances including catatonic postures-bizarre, stationary poses maintained for many hours- and waxy flexibility, in which the person's limbs can be molded into new positions, which are then maintained.
Paranoid schizophrenia symptoms are delusions of persecution, grandeur, or control, although delusions can also occur in other forms of schizophrenia.However, not all paranoid schizophrenics believe that they are being persecuted. Some believe that they hold special powers that can save the world, or that they are Christ or Napoleon, or the President of the United States. Disorganized schizophrenia was once called hebephrenic schizophrenia and is a serious disorder. Usually it is progressive and irreversible.
People with disorganized schizophrenia often display signs of emotion, especially silly laughter that are inappropriate to the circumstances and their speech tends to be a jumble of words: "I came to the hospital to play, gay, way, lay, day, bray, donkey, monkey. The speech of a seriously deteriorated hebephrenic is often called word salad. Psychosis Dementia praecox is an early term for schizophrenia, from the Greek for "premature dementia" (Hansell & Damour, 2005, p. 395) Life Span Development "Mental retardation occurs when an individual must have an IQ score below 70 and have significant trouble functioning independently.
Mental retardation is one of the few disorders that is usually present at birth and persists throughout life" (Hansell & Damour, 2005, p. 441).Learning disorders involves individuals suffering from trouble with a specific kind of academic skill. Pervasive developmental disorders are severe impairments in several areas of development. "Attention deficit and disruptive behavior disorders include three diagnoses: attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and conduct disorder. All three of these disorders are characterized by externalizing behaviors in which children "act out" and fail to conform to the behavioral standards of their homes, school, and communities" (Hansell & Damour, 2005, p.
54). Oppositional defiant disorder involves consistently negativistic, hostile, and defiant behavior that is very disruptive with behavior. Separation anxiety disorder involves excessive anxiety concerning separation from home or attachment figures, usually parents. The disorders that affect old age include delirium and dementia.
"Delirium is an acute cognitive disorder involving disruptions in attention, and changes to cognitive capacity such as memory loss, disorientation, or language problems.Dementia is a progressive cognitive disorder usually seen among older adults, involving the development of multiple cognitive deficits" (Hansell and Damour, 2005, p. 477). Analyze the biological, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components Hansell and Damour (2005) states: The most prominent finding regarding brain function and schizophrenia focus on abnormal neurotransmission.
Genetic evidence suggests that a predisposition to schizophrenia is inherited, but that genetic factors must interact with environmental factors for the disorder to develop.
