Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia has been known by many names before becoming the widely popular name that is known by now. Schizophrenia is a disorder that can cause problems with emotion, thoughts, perception, language and behavior. Those with schizophrenia can normally still be able to operate in daily life. Yet, schizophrenic people can be so severe sometimes that they are out of touch with reality, which is classified as a psychosis (Huffman, 2009). However, schizophrenia is not just one disorder but rather a group of disorders.
Schizophrenia, which is literally translated to split mind, was coined by Eugen Bleuler in 1908. Before then it was known as lunatic, hebephrenia, catatonia, délire chronique and démence précoce (Louter, 2010). After German psychiatrist, Emil Kraepelin, published the sixth edition of his handbook, A Compendium of Psychiatry, he brought it down to just three disorders: ‘manic depressive’, ‘dementia praecox’ and ‘paranoia’, which coincides with the schizoid personality disorder (Louter, 2010). However, schizophrenia meaning split mind is not to be confused with split personality. Even though these two disorders can be found together in some patients, it is technically not considered the same thing as thought in the past. According to the book Psychology in Action, “approximately 1 out of every 100 persons will develop schizophrenia in his or her lifetime. And approximately half of all people admitted to mental hospitals are diagnosed with this disorder” (Huffman, 2009). Schizophrenia has been classified as a group of disorders, not just one, that is identified by some kind of disturbance in one or more of the areas of perception, language, thought, emotions (affect), and behavior (Huffman, 2009).
Starting with perception, people with schizophrenia can have their sense of perception go enhanced or even get numbed. With this agitation to their perception, it can cause people with schizophrenia to hallucinate. Hallucinations are...