Schizophrenia and Mental Retardation

Schizophrenia is a mental illness which usually interferes with an individuals ability to think clearly, emotional imbalances and decision making among many other symptoms. This mental illness affects approximately 1% of the American population; it is considered a long-term medical condition (Desousa, 2015). The mental health condition usually occurs at any age. Usually, men experience it in their late 10 to early 20s while women experience it in their late 20s to early 30s. In many cases, through the aid of medical treatment, cases of schizophrenia are managed, and people can live with the condition and lead normal lives. The symptoms of schizophrenia include hallucinations, delusions, cognitive issues and negative symptoms like dull speech. The causes usually include genetics, substance abuse, and environmental factors. In the paper were are going to delve more into the relationship between schizophrenia and mental retardation (Kay, 2017).

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Symptoms of Schizophrenia

Usually, the symptoms of schizophrenia are difficult to notice among teens; the reason is that they usually include a change of friends, poor sleeping cycles, irritability and dismal performance in school, these are common adolescent issues hence it is difficult to differentiate a schizophrenic case from an adolescent case. The prodromal stage is the first stage of schizophrenia and is usually characterized by tendencies of psychosis, suspicions, and isolation. Like the case of Macbeth in Shakespeares literary play, Macbeths state of mind is unstable, he displays traits of hesitations, wild fancies, and gloomy suspicions. While at the banquet, Macbeth loses consciousness of the people at the banquet and he starts to speak with ghosts as they were all alone in a room together. He displays traits of moral and mental degeneration and a total collapse of his mental prowess. Following up to this evident case of mental degradation in Macbeth we are going to look into the common symptoms of schizophrenia;

Hallucinations: This symptom can be arrived at in the case where an individuals start hearing a voice, smelling things and even seeing things that cannot be perceived by other people. These hallucinations are all totally real to the individuals, and it is usually very confusing for other people to comprehend what is going on. The voices that are usually heard can be of critical importance or can be threats; usually, it involves people that the individuals knows about or unknown characters.

Delusions: These are permanent believes that individuals believe to be true and they never change even upon the presentation of newer facts that disapprove the existence of their theories. In many cases, this symptom is accompanied by confusion in thinking, attention and concentration deficit and another claim that they feel their thoughts are being blocked.

Cognitive dissonance: This usually presents itself in the form of disorganized thinking, individuals hold different and conflicting beliefs while conducting their daily activities. This usually leads to the inability to remember things, have organized thoughts or even complete simple tasks, reason is usually having conflicting ideas on how to undertake an activity.

Negative symptoms: A sense of dullness in an individuals abilities, this is commonly seen in an individuals lack of psych and emotional flatness. Usually, the patient feels disconnected from reality, and they usually have challenges following up though with activities. A lack of interest and even the inability to maintain and sustain long-term relationships.

It is common for schizophrenic cases to regress all the way to mental deficient and total retardation based on the above symptoms. Mental retardation comes in once the medical condition is not handled at the right time and in other cases treatment of this patient may be difficult as they may not be aware that they are undergoing treatment.

Causes of Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is caused by a number of variant conditions such as genetics, environmental factors, the brain chemistry and drugs and substance abuse. Researchers have shown that schizophrenic behavior is displayed in all the above risk factors and hence its effects on mental degradation of a patient. Here is an outlook of the causes of schizophrenia:

Genetics: Genetics comes into play with variants of environmental conditions for it to cause schizophrenia. A family history of psychosis is one of the greatest risk factors for schizophrenia. It occurs mostly in 10% of individuals with a first-degree relative who had a case of psychosis or schizophrenia. Worst case scenarios occur when twins are born, and one is diagnosed with schizophrenia, surely the other twin will be affected (K Rabia, 2017).

Environment: Exposure to viruses during the second and the third trimesters of pregnancy predisposes a newborn to schizophrenia. Autoimmune diseases also increase chances of an increased immunity.

Brain chemistry: Neurotransmitters like dopamine and glutamate deficiencies or balance also causes schizophrenia. Lack of enough neurotransmitters leads to poor coordination in the brain.

Drugs and Substance Abuse: Uptake of mind altering drugs such as marijuana during younger ages can result in cases of schizophrenia. The more frequent the usage is, the higher the chances of exposure to schizophrenia.

The Diagnosis and Treatment of Schizophrenia

Getting a clear diagnosis of schizophrenia is not an easy task. The abuse of drugs such as LSD causes symptoms alike those of schizophrenics. The lack of awareness and connection to reality is a common symptom in people with schizophrenia, in many cases, this usually complicates the treatment of these patients. One needs to show the presence of hallucinations, delusions, improper speech and disorderly behavior. The management of cases of schizophrenia can be handled through hospitalization of patients; the primary aim is the remission of the patient from acute psychotic episodes through the use of antipsychotic drugs. Usually, 80% of schizophrenic patients recover upon the administration of supportive psychotherapy, rehabilitation in a mental hospital, family intervention and the use of cognitive behavioral therapy (Morgan, Leonard, Bourke, & Jablensky, 2008).

In synopsis, mental retardation occurs mostly among individuals diagnosed with mental disorders. Schizophrenia, Anxiety Disorders, and Depression all lead to cases of mental retardation if the situation is not handled in due time. The separation of cognitive health from intellectual disability needs to be understood. In many cases, mental disorders have been major contributors to intellectual disability. Psychiatric measures need to be put to use in cases where only psychiatric disorders have contributed to mental health after the proper diagnosis of the patient condition. Schizophrenia is a major cause of mental challenges and retardation. Psychiatric approaches such as behavioral therapy, cognitive therapy, and use of antipsychotic drugs, psycho-education and group therapy can be put in place to help out these challenges. Schizophrenia is a major cause of mental retardation due to the effects of delusions and hallucinations presented by patients and the unawareness of ongoing therapeutical treatment.

ReferencesDesousa, A. "Living With Schizophrenia". Schizophrenia Bulletin, 2015, Oxford University Press (OUP), doi:10.1093/schbul/sbv069.

"IMMUNE RESPONSE IN SCHIZOPHRENIA: HOST-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTIONS". Schizophrenia Research, vol 136, 2012, p. S10. Elsevier BV, doi:10.1016/s0920-9964(12)70035-x.

K Rabia, EM Khoo. "A Mentally Retarded Patient With Schizophrenia". Pubmed Central (PMC), 2017, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4170365/.

Kay, S. R. "Diagnosis Of Mental Retardation In Schizophrenia: Psychometric Distinction Between Intellectual Subnormality And Abnormality". 2017,.Morgan, V. A. et al. "Intellectual Disability Co-Occurring With Schizophrenia And Other Psychiatric Illness: Population-Based Study". The British Journal Of Psychiatry, vol 193, no. 5, 2008, pp. 364-372. Royal College Of Psychiatrists, doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.107.044461.

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