Philosophy

Neurological Damage of Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a chronic brain disorder that affects almost one to two percent of the worlds total population. It can occur as early as the age of five, although rare cases occur at this time. There is no definite cause of schizophrenia. It was believed that it is a product of a combination of different factors such as genetics, pre-natal problems and early brain damage. Schizophrenia is known for its symptoms which include hallucinations, delusions, disordered thinking and unusual speech or behavior caused by the damage on the brain brought about by the disease. Up to date there is no known cure for schizophrenia and most patients are not treated.

There is an evidence that schizophrenia largely affect the brain in many ways. The damages incurred in the brain include significant loss of gray matter and neurological abnormalities. Individuals with schizophrenia significantly shows a reduced volume of gray matter in the brain, especially in the frontal and temporal lobes. Up to 25 percent of gray matter is lost due to the schizophrenia. The loss of this brain tissue will yield to severe symptoms like hallucinations, delusions, psychotic thoughts and depression. Individuals with schizophrenia and other brain disorders show a high prevalence of neurological damage which is detrimental to patients. Other neurological effects of schizophrenia include enlarged brain ventricles, impaired cognitive function, decreased pre-frontal brain function and impaired awareness of illness.

Behavioral and Functional Changes
Individuals with schizophrenia may experience changes in behavior and abilities compared to how they act before. Schizophrenia is a chronic disorder that alters the behavior of the affected individuals. For some people, schizophrenia appears so sudden and spontaneous however, for most people, the onset of the disease is gradual with warning signs and symptoms that cause gradual decline in functioning. Schizophrenia does not exhibit physical signs in the body or manifest any form of pain or suffering, schizophrenia makes afflicted persons to make their own world that is different from the real world. The affected person tend to function and act within the private world he or she built. People with this particular disease often lose their social skills and their ability to perform their schooling or jobs, their ability to communicate and interact with other people and their sexual drive and desires. They are most of the time preoccupied in their private worlds. Because the person with schizophrenia is experiencing hallucinations and delusions, they fail to perform their tasks and activities properly and effectively. This has been a great obstruction to their career and familial lives. Moreover, because of these symptoms, patients of schizophrenia become a threat to other people and to the society as they sometimes reacted violently to the things that they see.

People with schizophrenia also lost the ability to communicate and to hold a conversation. This is mainly because they experience trouble in concentrating and maintaining a train of thought. Patients often speak incoherently. The ability to communicate is one of the essential tool in socializing and participating in the society through interaction with other people. Lastly, people with schizophrenia have an overall disorganized behavior that includes a decline in daily functioning, unpredictable and inappropriate emotional responses towards things, they act and behave differently and without sufficient purpose for their deviant behavior, lack of inhibition and control over their reactions, behavior and emotions. Schizophrenia is a disease that obstructs the goal-directed activities of the afflicted persons. Thus, it causes disruptions in their work, interaction with others and taking care of himself or herself. Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder that not only affects the person mentally or neurologically but it also affects the other lifes aspects.