Introduction
Schizophrenia is a severe, insistent, and an incapacitating mental illness. People with the disease have decreased rates of engagement, marriage, and self-regulating life than other individuals do. The positive symptoms of the disease incorporate hallucinations associated with hearing, illusions, and disordered language and behavior (Frankenburg, Dunayevich, and Albucher). It also has negative symptoms comprising of diminished sensitivity, lack of speech, and diminished interest. The disease also presents cognitive symptoms associated with memory (Keefe and Joseph 12). Finally, schizophrenia patients also exhibit symptoms associated with mood swings, such as being unreasonably happy or sad.
Main Body
“Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders fourth edition (DSM – IV – TR)” is applicable in diagnosing schizophrenia (Frankenburg, Dunayevich, and Albucher). The diagnosis takes place through observing patients’ symptoms to determine whether they meet the DSM – IV – TR benchmarks for identifying the disease (Frankenburg, Dunayevich, and Albucher). The symptoms of schizophrenia captured in the DSM – IV – TR includes illusions, hallucinations, and disordered language. The tool also captures disordered behavior and harmful symptoms.
Specialists acknowledge the difficulty in distinguishing schizophrenia from methamphetamine (METH) induced problems (Rawson 19). The difficulty emerges because of the similarity in their hallucination characteristics. It is normally problematic to differentiate the hallucinations of the disease from those of METH. METH induced disorders also incorporate noticeable hallucinations and illusions (Rawson 19). The presence of METH-induced illnesses is determined through a psychosis process involving a comprehensive examination of the history of patients. The determination takes place after undertaking physical examination, urine, drug, and reality tests.
Specialists argue that the hallucinations of schizophrenia comprise hearing problems. On the contrary, the hallucinations of METH-induced illnesses normally comprise of visual or tactile problems. Furthermore, a meth-induced disorder exhibits visual illusions (Lieberman, Stroup, and Perkins 194). The illusions are associated with hyperactivity, overactive sexual needs, misperception, and confusion, and signs of disorganized thinking. Schizophrenia patients also exhibit symptoms of inability to speak. Generally, the inability to speak lacks among patients with METH disorders (Tsuang, Stephen, and Stephen 71).
Although the symptoms of the two diseases are largely similar, the schizophrenia is real. Schizophrenia patients show an inability to speak while people with METH do not. Furthermore, some studies have linked heavy METH use to escalated schizophrenia (Rawson 21). The study focused on people without a history of mental disorders. The study showed that people with conditions linked to METH had a high chance of developing schizophrenia than individuals who do not use the drug (Rawson 19). Therefore, the use of METH escalates the emergence of schizophrenia.
It is notable that most schizophrenia-related cases have been recorded in the U.S. This is not an indication that Americans are at risk of developing schizophrenia. The country has advanced technology and methods for disease identification (Lieberman, Stroup, and Perkins 194). Therefore, the investigation of diverse diseases within the population has expanded extensively as compared to the level of studies to identify diseases in other countries. Furthermore, there is nothing special about the many cases of schizophrenia recorded in the country. The high cases of schizophrenia are associated with widespread disease investigation.
Conclusion
Schizophrenia entails a chronic psychiatric disease categorized by deficiencies in perception, awareness, and social and work-related effectiveness. Schizophrenia patients exhibit positive and negative symptoms. The disease has shown great similarities with METH induced disorders. This has generated doubts about whether schizophrenia is real. However, this paper suggests that Schizophrenia is real because some of its aspects are different from those of illnesses induced by methamphetamine use.
Works Cited
Frankenburg, Frances., Dunayevich, Eduardo., and Albucher, Ronald. Schizophrenia. 2013. Web.
Keefe, Richard S. E, and Joseph P. McEvoy. Negative Symptom and Cognitive Deficit Treatment Response in Schizophrenia. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press, 2001. Print.
Lieberman, Jeffrey A., Stroup, Scott., and Perkins, Diana. Textbook of Schizophrenia. Washington, DC [u.a.: American Psychiatric Publ, 2006. Print.
Rawson, Richard A. A Clinician’s Guide to Methamphetamine. Center City, Minn: Hazelden, 2004. Print.
Tsuang, Ming T, Stephen V. Faraone, and Stephen J. Glatt. Schizophrenia. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. Print.