Table of ContentsIntroductionFindingsDiscussionConclusionIntroductionAt a wonderful family gathering, I tried to let my cousin, Charlie, - he was about twenty-one years old - know that he had a poop of nose sticking out of his nose. The moment I told him, he looked at me like he couldn't understand what I had told him. I repeated to myself, “Hey Charlie, you have a booger coming out of your nose.” I even wiped my nose to let him know what I was talking about. He flat out said “okay”. Right afterward, my cousin shook as if he had been suddenly electrocuted. Then it took him a minute to react to my statement and wipe the booger from his nose. I remember trying not to make a weird face, because I couldn't understand what was happening. This made me uncomfortable because I thought I did the right thing by letting him know that he had a booger sticking out. The moment of silence was so awkward. After a few seconds, my cousin started laughing as if it was a delayed reaction to what I had said to him. That was my cue to move away. I later learned that Charlie had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a chronic, serious psychological disorder that affects the way a person thinks, feels, and behaves. Most people who develop schizophrenia are between the ages of sixteen and thirty. Schizophrenia can be developed for a variety of reasons such as neurotransmitter imbalances, genetics, and environmental influences. There are about three different types of symptoms that one can develop when suffering from schizophrenia. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The first type of symptom is positive symptoms which are “psychotic behavior such as hallucinations, delusions, thought disorders, and movement disorders (The National Institute of Mental Health, 2016). Hallucination is a perception in which one believes that an illusion or hearing is present when it is not. Thought disorder is the organization of thoughts. A person with schizophrenia does not engage appropriately in conversation because of their illogical thoughts. A movement disorder occurs when you cannot control sudden movements of your body. For example, when I let Charlie know that he had a booger in his nose, he made a sudden movement, as if he had been electrocuted. This is an indication of a movement disorder. Let's move on to the second possible symptom of schizophrenia: negative symptoms that disrupt normal emotions and behaviors, including flat affect (monotone voice and lack of emotion) and difficulty initiating and sustaining activities. . Going back to my cousin Charlie's scene, the small indicator that shows negative symptoms is the moment when he bluntly said "okay" to me. He didn't make any faces and clearly said "okay", as if he didn't mind having a booger coming out of his nose. Additionally, in a normal reaction to a behavior, one would be embarrassed to have a booger coming out of one's nose or one would automatically try to cover one's nose, or even try to remove the booger immediately. Charlie stood there looking at me as if he couldn't hear me. So much so that I had to repeat myself so he could understand what I was trying to tell him. The third symptom of schizophrenia is cognitive symptoms which consist of changes in memory or other aspects of thinking. In other words, “poor functioning, difficulty concentrating, and problems with working memory.” Problems with working memory mean that one does not have the ability to put into practice what they have just learned. The moment I first told Charlie about his booger, he stood there quietly, looking at me. I repeated myself twice and it took him a few minutes to react to what I said. This is a sign of his malfunction because it took him a while to understand and recognize that he had a booger. After acknowledging what I had told him, he then wiped the booger away. It took Charlie longer to process the information I was giving him, due to his malfunction. To this day, researchers are still analyzing the causes of schizophrenia. So far, one of the presumed causes of schizophrenia is environmental influence, which includes "exposure to viruses, malnutrition before birth, problems during childbirth and psychosocial factors." During conception, during the first six months, the fetus may develop these problems for a variety of reasons, including the mother's high stress level, depression, and hopelessness. Environmental influences from the mother affect the health of the fetus, which can produce abnormalities in brain structure. One theory I believe in is that Charlie may have been exposed to great distress while in his mother's womb. His mother was sixteen when she was pregnant with Charlie and was also affiliated with drugs and gangs at the time. It can be believed that her mother was experiencing stress or despair because of the situation she found herself in. She felt like she had no help and her only way to live was to live in these situations. Neurotransmitter imbalances are a considerable cause of the development of schizophrenia. Mental Health America (2018) states “imbalances in brain chemicals or neurotransmitters: dopamine, glutamate, serotonin…the imbalance of these chemicals affects how a person's brain responds to stimuli.” Each neurotransmitter has a different effect when you don't have the right balance. Having too little of the neurotransmitter dopamine can make a person feel sluggish because they don't get enough of that rewarding feeling. Dopamine also affects the thought process and makes it dismal. This brings us back to the negative symptoms that schizophrenia develops. Dopamine imbalance leads to disruptions in normal behaviors. A person cannot respond to such arousal behavior or react normally because the low level of dopamine causes him to have flat affective behavior. Having too much dopamine in your system can lead to hallucinations and sudden movements. This leads to positive symptoms of schizophrenia. Access to too much dopamine increases a person's feeling of gratification. This is when one begins to become delusional and is unable to sit still because of the glorious feeling one feels. The neurotransmitter, glutamate, is responsible in the brain section for learning and memory. Having too little glutamate also affects the ability to understand and maintain transmitted material. The reasoning leading to schizophrenia is developing cognitive symptoms such as poor functioning and difficulty concentrating. Due to lack of glutamate in the body, the process of learning and memory becomes difficult to maintain. Knowledge cannot be processed quickly enough due to the lack of glutamate in the brain. The neurotransmitter serotonin helps regulateemotional behavior, but serotonin imbalances can still affect mood, social behavior, memory, and functioning. Serotonin plays an effective role in all three symptoms of schizophrenia. Having too little serotonin can cause fatigue, boredom, and even insomnia, which helps lead to hallucinations. Serotonin can interrupt mood and social behavior due to the lack of responsiveness preventing a person from functioning normally. Genetics is another cause of the development of schizophrenia. According to the National Organization for Rare Disorders (2018), genetic findings “indicate that people with schizophrenia and similar psychotic disorders tend to have a missing section of DNA on chromosome 1…both groups also have confirmed a previously identified missing section on chromosome 22." The missing part of chromosome 1 proves the reason why one can develop hallucinations and thought disorders when experiencing positive symptoms, as chromosome 1 is responsible for "psychiatric problems or behavioral (National Organization For Rare Disorders, 2018). Hallucinations are false perceptions, making people hear things that are never said, whether the person is there or not. Likewise, it gives a person delusions. A person with schizophrenia would see something extraordinary and believe they saw a specific situation, act, or object and believe it actually happened. Charlie, who I later learned had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, broke down at my grandmother's house because he thought my uncle was looking at him badly and talking negatively about him. I was there to witness the whole situation, I knew Charlie had all this on his mind because I was there the whole time and not even once did we look at Charlie or mention him to anyone moment. The missing part of chromosome 22 may reflect a lack of "verbal and nonverbal communication skills, extreme social withdrawal, and a restricted range of interests and activities." This is proof that negative symptoms develop because the narrow range of interests makes a person lifeless. Another reason why someone with schizophrenia cannot have social interaction is because the lack of information in chromosome 22 prevents it from happening. After observing Charlie's behavior for a while, I noticed that he was distant from his people. Charlie was a sweet and talkative guy, a calm and sometimes aggressive person. Charlie quickly lost the relationship and connection with his skateboard team due to his disorder. Not to mention Charlie had no interest in skateboarding anymore, even though he had such a passion for skateboarding. ResultsUnfortunately, there is no cure for schizophrenia yet, but there are some treatments to minimize their behavior like symptoms. The number one treatment is to express your emotions. You should not accumulate emotions because this can agitate the three symptoms of schizophrenia. A person with schizophrenia should undergo cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) because it helps develop cognitive thinking, acquire skills and cope with reality. This is an individual session, where everyone can help themselves manage schizophrenia by learning behavioral techniques. Another form of treatment may involve taking medications to balance the neurotransmitters that affect schizophrenia. For example, taking antipsychotic medications helps reduce psychotic symptoms. This helps reduce hallucinations and.