What causes Schizophrenia? Is it a brain deficit that needs to be replaced with a drug? Or is the illness caused after a person experienced a stressful period in his/her life?

Introduction
If we have to believe the handbook and guidance guide from Schizophrenia Ireland, now called Shine, there is no cure for the disease. They claim that, ‘ Although as many as three in four people with Schizophrenia improve significantly or recover, there is no known cure to the illness. The only way to control the symptoms is with anti psychotic medication, combined with other non- medicine supportive therapies.’
This support and guidance guide is sponsored by two large pharmaceutical companies. Their power and influence within the research of Schizophrenia is far extending. They have been involved from the very beginning the illness got its name.

Schizophrenia is a old as the world it self, only people did call people who behaved out of the ordinary mad then. What causes the illness. Is it a brain deficit that needs to be replaced with a drug? Or is the illness caused after a person experienced a stressful period in his/her life?
A person with Schizophrenia can have positive, negative and cognitive symptoms. The negative
symptoms combined with the cognitive are very similar to the ones you find in a depressed person.
Positive symptoms can involve; hallucinations, delusions and paranoid thoughts. Cognitive symptoms can involve; problems with concentrating and short term memory loss.
Schizophrenia is the collective name of the above symptoms. Symptoms can be treated. A person can
learn to understand what is behind the voices s/he hears. One can learn to understand his or her own ’disturbing’ behaviour. Schizophrenia is a label which is put on millions of people who didn’t fit the norm.

In ‘On Psychotherapy’, Freud (1905) expressed the hope that psycho analytic therapy would benefit
schizophrenic patients in the future. Fifty years later, Carl Jung repeated that schizophrenia can be
completely cured using psycho dynamic theories. The Medical and Social Models have divided the
mental health world, the big losers are the patients/clients. People have the right to know there are other options. The health policy, “ A Vision for Change”, launched by the Irish government in 2006, called for the mental health patients to be accepted as active participants in their care and recovery plan. However not much has changed. John Saunders of Schizophrenia Ireland, said that 76 out of the 78 community mental health teams are totally understaffed.
Even though there are other theories which explain the cause of Schizophrenia, the two most common models used are the Medical or Disease Model and the Social Model. The Medical model claims that a biological defect in a persons brain is responsible for the illness. The Social Model claims that when a person is confronted with an extremely stressful event, his/her mind puts a defense mechanism in place.
In this paper, I will discus what these two models are about.

THE HISTORY OF SCHIZOPHRENIA

Fear to lose authority over other people has been there since time began. There is no need to go all the way back to Genesis to illustrate this. Neither is there any need to stray too far from Ireland. The role the Church played in Ireland in suppressing a whole nation is well known, even out side the country. But not only in Ireland people had to be kept in check.
In the 1700’s, the Hospital General in Paris housed people from all ages and sexes, because they were
considered inconvenient; poor, invalid, or a threat to those in power. The ‘patients’ were diagnosed as
being mad.They had some barbaric treatments in those days, like force feeding a patient soluble tartar, chimney soot, woodlice or soap.

 

Throughout time people who were different from the norm were seen as risks to people in power full
positions. They didn’t quit know how to control those people, so they locked them away.
Falret (1794-1870), suggested replacing the term ’mental disease’ with ’mental alienation’. He was
drawing attention to the process in which people can become disconnected from other people. Members of the medical profession turned a blind eye to his suggestion.
When Bayle discovered a genuine biological cause for one form of madness in 1822, hope was fuelled that other mental illnesses with a biological cause might be uncovered.
Decades past and no proof of a biological cause for madness was found. By the turn of the century, it was Kraepelin who claimed he had discovered an incurable, degenerating illness. Kraepelin repeatedly changed the rules for who had the illness. ‘ The causes for Schizophrenia are at the present time still wrapped in penetrable darkness.’ (Kraepelin)

In our present times we are still in the dark. Kraepelin received $ 575,000 for research in Europe from the Rockefeller Foundation. Rockefelller owned the petroleum industry and had recently discovered that by products of petroleum could be used to produce medicine.
In 1911 Bleuler published ’Dementia Praecox or the group of Schizophrenia’s.’ Inconvenient or
different behaviour like: homosexuality, laziness, rebellion and remembering too intensely were but a
few of the symptoms a patient could have. And what do you think of this one: ‘Many Schizophrenics
display lively affects at least in certain directions, among them are active writers, the world improvers, the health lunatics, the founders of new religions.’ (Bleuler 1911:41)
In 1929 Denmark became the first European nation to pass an eugenics inspired sterilization law.
(Hansen 1996) In 1935 Finland passed the sterilization Act, which allowed the compulsory sterilization and castration of idiots, imbeciles, the insane, people diagnosed with Schizophrenia or manic depression. (Hemminiki et. Al. 1997; Hietala 1996)
By 1933 the law in Germany allowed the compulsory sterilization of Schizophrenics, manic depressive, hereditary- epilepsy- blindness- and deafness, severe physical deformity and severe alcoholism. Soon other European countries followed in this crusade.
In 1938 one found that sterilization was no longer enough and although the murder on these people had started that year, the plan to kill all ‘mental’ patients began in 1939. These ‘mercy’ killings as they were called, were done in gas chambers, which were later shipped to the well known concentration camps.
In the 1940’s psychologists developed test to try to improve diagnostic procedures. Only the procedures weren’t too precise validated. One of the largest reliability studies undertaken using the test-retest approach, found that consistency for Schizophrenia was only 37%.
In 1968 psychologist Don Bannister questioned the matter that when one person manifests symptoms A and B he is diagnosed with Schizophrenia, while another person manifests symptoms C, D and E is also diagnosed with the disorder. The diagnosing of patients remains precarious in the 21st century

To be continued.

Anxiety what can you do

Anxiety is one of the most complicated mental issues a person can have. We all understand that when we are having a job interview or a meeting with a doctor that we might be nervous for this. This is perfectly normal. In a situation like that or when we feel we are in danger it is a normal reaction to protect our self from the unknown and for potential treats to our health, whether it is psychological or psychical. The fact that we can't control the situation is making us vulnerable. In the case of doing an exam it is of the essence that the examine has prepared her or himself and studied the topics so that there is a good chance to succeed. This way one can take easily control over the situation, however there are people who done all this and when the moment of truth is there they have seemly forgotten what they have learned. In those cases it might be appropriate to ask your doctor for a mild sedative. This type of anxiety will wear off.



When is anxiety more than a temporary thing?

When a person feels tense, irritable, nervous for no particular reason, there might be an underlying cause for the ailment. Strangely enough it isn't always so easy to anxiety identify anxiety. Most of the time long term anxiety goes hand in hand with depression and psychosomatic pains or ailments, like irritable bowel syndrome, head ages, or other pains or illnesses. Long term anxiety can be caused by a trauma in the past, for example an accident or abuse when the person was a child. Even when the person has been treated for the trauma in hospital or had sessions with a psychologist or psychiatrist the anxiety can linger and may eventually go and live a life of its own. Especially when the the person was a child the brain had not been fully developed at the time of the trauma. The result might be that the brain gives the wrong information to the patient. For example it says that the person is in danger all the time, the result being that he or she is vigilant all the time.
If a person has been to counselling sessions and have worked through their trauma and he or she is still having re-acquiring symptoms of depression and anxiety, it might be time to consult the family doctor and ask for medication. Needless to say is that all medications have pros and con's and drugs should always be the last resort.

Who invented Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia has always been a mystery. Ever since Emil Kraepelin claimed he had discovered an incurable, degenerated illness at the turn of the 19^th century, no cure or concrete causes of Schizophrenia has been found.  Schizophrenia is the collective name of negative, cognitive and positive symptoms, like depression, delusions, hallucinations and paranoid thoughts. Even though there are other theories which explain the cause of Schizophrenia the two most common used models are the Medical or Disease Model and the Social Model. The Medical Model claims that a biological defect in the person’s brain is responsible for the illness. The Social Model claims that when a person is confronted with an extremely stressful event, his or her mind puts a defense mechanism in place.   

We all know of a person that is or has been suffering from depression. People who have experienced this devastating illness know but all too good what it can do to the mind. In most cases depression can be conquered with the help of medication or therapy. However when life seems to be going well and new horizons are being discovered one doesn’t expect to see shadows moving or get panic attacks; especially when the person is young and life is only just beginning. Nevertheless there are many young people between 14 and 26 who experience these symptoms. Some have experienced trauma but others didn’t.

Adolescence is a period wherein a person develops the last parts of the body and brain. These are enormous changes and are usually causes much psychological pain and confusion. Many discoveries like sexuality are made in this period. To contribute to this confusion and pain, major changes like study, exams, jobs and relationships are thrown in. Often they come all at once. It is also in this period that many young people experience with drugs and alcohol. Needless to say that causes many problems and damages not only a person’s liver but also the person’s brain. Withdrawal from it after excessive use can cause anxiety, bad dreams, depression, shaking and vomiting; these are just the mild to moderate withdrawal symptoms. The more serious symptoms are; hallucinations – known as delirium tremors and black outs.

Alcohol use is affecting the neurotransmitters in the cortex, the cerebellum, the hippocampus, the amygdala, the superior and the inferior colliculi. Cannabis is mainly affecting the nucleus accumbens, caudate but also the cerebellum and the hippocampus.  These are all located in the mid brain which contains dopaminegic neurons.

When in the case of excessive drugs, alcohol use or when experiencing extreme stress; which adolescence may be filled with, the stress hormones suppress the activity of the hippocampus. As a result the hippocampus loses its ability to function normal. The amygdala and the hippocampus are deeply involved in responding to stressful events. Charles Nemeroff discovered that the hippocampus is 15% smaller in a person with depression. In some cases the hippocampus might not be able to distinguish between a piece of asphalt on a warm day or a turbulent river. In normal circumstances the amygdala sends alarm messages to the cortex when needed. The hippocampus assists in the transfer of this information. When the cortex realises that the danger is over it instructs the amygdala to stand down. This is supposed to happen in a normal situation. However when this process is distorted the person might develop anxiety, which may include paranoid thoughts and or delusions. The person might also have difficulty in concentrating and have low motivation. Anxiety is a very complex phenomenon and a panic attack can be extremely freighting. Some people even see shadows moving or see human or animal figures that aren’t real. This is the brain’s way of dealing with the situation at that moment. A similar thing is happening when we dream; we digest the things we’d done and work through situations we yet have to understand.

Schizophrenic symptoms are frequently also found in other mental disorders, like post traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disease and obsessive compulsion disorder. In the 1800’s before psychoanalyses and psycho-pharmacology, 70 % of patients in hospitals were discharged after their first admission receiving ‘moral treatment’. They had either improved or recovered from their symptoms. By 1900 the ‘moral treatment was abandoned and replaced with more scientific somatic treatment, discharge rates dropped to 20-30%. Moral treatment included;

• striving the patient as an individual
• developing a full and accurate history
• encouraging work and sociallising
• never humiliating patients
• only use physical force to prevent a patient form harming themselves or others, never as punishment.

Kleinian analysts see Schizophrenia as a defense against overwhelming abolition and tormenting anxieties. They interpret unconscious matters at the level of greatest anxiety, to develop awareness of the links between reality and fantasy.

The dopamine hypothesis is currently the most widely accepted biochemical theory. According to this hypothesis, Schizophrenia is caused by hyperactive transmissions in neurons in the brain which use dopamine as a chemical messenger. By administer patients with anti psychotic drugs these dopamine neurotransmitters are blocked.  Some psychiatrists have come to the conclusion that drugs are not the answer to curing Schizophrenia and other mental illnesses. Post mortem on people who suffered from Schizophrenia stated signs of increased dopamine levels. However it has also been discovered that anti psychotic drugs not only causes a blockage of dopamine, but also kicks off an attempt of the brain to compensate for the blockage. In other words, over activity in the dopamine system is caused by the anti psychotic drugs that are supposed to threat the illness.

References: Haracz J, The dopamine hypothesis, Schizophrenia Bulletin 8:438-6

Tyler A, Street drugs, Holder and Stoughton, London 1995

Read J, Mosher L.R, Bentall R.P., Models of madness, Routledge New York USA, 2006

Colbert Ty C, Broken brains or wounded hearts, Kevco Publishing, Santa Anna, California

Scot-Peck M, The road less travelled, Arrow books London, 1990  

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http://www.kolt.info/