Schizophrenia

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Types of Schizophrenia




Schizophrenia is a group of disorders that are characterized by the loss of contact with reality, and the marked disturbances of thought and perception as well as bizarre behavior. This mental disease is among the most debilitating and complex mental disease. Roughly one percent of the world is afflicted with this particular illness. Schizophrenia was first discovered in 1896 by Emil Kraeplin, but since then there has been much research and further findings. Since then there has been several different classifications of schizophrenia that have been made. The purpose of this paper is to briefly inform you on these different subtypes of schizophrenia.

The first subtype of schizophrenia that I will be discussing is the paranoid subtype. The defining feature of the paranoid type is the presence of auditory hallucinations or delusional thoughts containing persecution or conspiracy. However, people with this type may be more functional with their ability to work and interact in relationships rather than people who are diagnosed with other types of schizophrenia. The reasons are not clear, but this may be because people suffering from this type often times do not do not portray symptoms of the paranoid type until later in his or hers life, which at this point they would already have achieved a higher level of functioning before the onset of their disease. People who are diagnosed with this type of schizophrenia may appear to have lived normal lives by successful management of their illness. People who are paranoid schizophrenic may not appear to be odd or dysfunctional and may not b ready to discuss their symptoms to this illness. Ordinarily, the hallucinations and delusions center around some characteristic theme, and this theme often remains fairly consistent over time. Person's temperaments and general behaviors often times relate to the content of the disturbance of thought. An example would be people w...