Schizophrenia is a mental disorder, which causes the victim to be unable to tell the difference between reality and non-reality experiences, unable to think reasonably, unable to have normal emotional responses, and unable to act normally in public situat
Running Head: Schizophrenia: A Disorder
Schizophrenia: A Disorder of Illusion and Reality
Ryan Mathews, Dominic Nguyen, and David Poretto
Coach Hailey
Health Period 2
10 October 2009
Schizophrenia: A Disorder of Illusion and Reality
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder, which causes the victim to be unable to tell the difference between reality and non-reality experiences, unable to think reasonably, unable to have normal emotional responses, and unable to act normally in public situations. The name "schizophrenia" was derived from Greek roots. "Schizo" means "split", and "phren" means mind in Greek.
The main causes of schizophrenia are from genetic vulnerability and social and environmental risk factors. Schizophrenia usually runs in families, in which relationship is essential in determining the risk of attaining schizophrenia. If an identical twin has schizophrenia, then the other twin has a 48 percent chance of developing schizophrenia also. On the contrary, if a first cousin has schizophrenia, then he or she has a 2 percent chance of developing schizophrenia. Social and environmental factors are important because it may influence the emotional and physical body changes of teen undergoing puberty or hormonal changes in ways such as viruses, poor social interaction with others, and high stress. Schizophrenia normally occurs in people in their teenage years or in their twenties and thirties. Schizophrenia is fairly common in the U.S. with one percent being diagnosed with schizophrenia, which is about 20 million.