Schizophrenia Disorder
Research on mental health has long been a deadlock for many years. Despite the notable advancement in clinical treatment, there are multiple concerns about the long-term disease management, unsatisfactory predictors of individual development and treatment strategies. This has resulted in the growth of confusion through different controversial theories concerning the aetiology and path psychological mechanisms. In the prevailing perspective on mental health, we first discuss the misconceptions in contemporary research in an attempt to link three key mental disorders to different pieces of evidence. It is important to note that time-honoured methodologies of defining the discussed mental disorders should not be contaminated with naturalistic misconceptions. Finally, lesson learned from this research might significantly contribute to developing a comprehensive standpoint on human experience as well as behaviours that incorporate methodological distinct , keeping in mind that this should true and consistent from neuroscience and psychological point of view.
The position of the authors being strongly against the media portrayal and favour of realistic ways has been on the rise. In my opinion, I feel the sources used are useful as they present clear evidence on the subject matter. Most of the sources used in this subsection were issued within the past eight years. Through comprehensive research, I have found a number of key points that deem these sources as reliable for use as supportive evidence in this research. Most of the details will be provided in the analysis below.
Schizophrenia can be described as the diagnosis given to certain people have with beliefs that are severely disrupted. Dickerson, & Lehman, (2011) indicates that “during an episode of Schizophrenia, the ability to understand and interpret things outside of the world is disrupted. This result in losing touch with reality, seeing or hearing things that are not existing” (p.137). Moreover, such individuals tend to hold irritational and unfounded beliefs which make them appear acting in very strange ways because they are trying to respond to their inner decisions. Frith, (2014) describes a set of symptoms often in people with Schizophrenia: positive and negative. Even though the positive signs are usually the most dramatic and at most the most distressing. The negative symptoms tend to bring about more problems as they tend to last longer.
There have been a considerable amount of misconceptions regarding Schizophrenia. Critics in the entertainment industry often indicate depictions of Schizophrenia as stereotypic by misinforming the masses about the symptoms, their causes and treatment. The pervasiveness of such kind of misinformation are hard to ascertain due to limited empirical evidence of movies depicting Schizophrenia. Wykes, et al., (2011) analysed depictions of Schizophrenia in the entertainment industry, in an effort to determine the stereotypes and misinformation about the disease.
To explain the complex human behaviour and the subjective experience, Jones,et al., (2014) indicates that understanding of the underlying assumptions is important to stop the ever-increasing misconceptions about the conditions which is unproductive. In my opinion, I believe it is essential to disentangle the various approaches through dualistic and naturalistic approaches. This would allow proper distinguishing of brain-mind problems in the context of Schizophrenia. The naturalistic approach would apply the methods of natural science to both mental research. Baker,et al., (2014).As a result, it abstains from operating within the realm of misconceptions and abstract constructs as the foundations of brain development (Comer,2010).
Anxiety Disorder
The dualistic approach, on the other hand, relies on empirically defined functional concepts, clinical semiology comprising of unique individual patterns of observable characteristics. Therefore it is important to encourage the development of mechanistic models to connect the two approaches. Frith, (2014) has demonstrated that, this strategy can incorporate self-reports concerning subjective experiences. In such a perspective, Schizophrenia and other related subjective abstract situations don’t have their own reality but are collective ideas defined by a combination of observable behavior. To match these approaches on the potential biological cases, the final decision must be informed by the functional anatomy of the brain (Eysenck, 2013).
Overall I believe the authors are quite knowledgeable regarding this subject, given the background of the information provided. Majority of the works used are books and journals. As a result, the evidence provided is concrete. Dealing with only specific information.
Through research from online libraries, I have been able to gather informed evidence on the issue concerning misinformation about Anxiety disorder. This has gradually become clear that non-factual representation of anxiety disorder has grown over time, my opinion being strongly against the unrealistic portrayal of the disorder. On the basis of usefulness, the main objective of the sources used were to inform of the realistic presentations and attempt to debunk the unrealistic portrayals.
Anxiety is a condition in which individuals have frequent panic attacks and as a result their behavior change. Individuals with anxiety often experience a number of symptoms. Different people usually have different symptoms (Steensel, Bögels, & Perrin, 2011).When the condition becomes severe, most individuals try hard to get out of the situation, with the hope that the feeling will subside. Others try to seek help with the fear that they may collapse, have a heart attack or become mad (Reichenberg, 2010).The most common symptom of anxiety is wanting to be alone to avoid being embarrassed in some way (Brewin et al., 2010). When the affected individuals start associating anxiety with certain situations, they usually try minimising the feeling by avoiding certain situations. For instance, some people often have their first feeling of anxiety on a train and might start avoiding trains in the future (Argyle, 2013).
One major misconception about anxiety is “going crazy”. Some people often presume that the symptoms are signs that they are going crazy or mad. Aldao, & Nolen-Hoeksema, (2012) indicate that not knowing what is going on in you can be very scary, especially when the symptoms are very frequent. While the symptoms might be interpreted as strange, however specific they might appear, such symptoms are very different from those of serious mental disorder. Most psychological problems are associated with hallucination and delusion (Newman et.al, 2013).Some run through families, with only a small number of people with high vulnerabilities develop such conditions. However, in other people, no such amount of stress can precipitate the disorder (Goldin, & Gross, 2010).
An argument by Aldao, & Nolen-Hoeksema to refute the misconceptions is strong. They argue that “the causes of anxiety should not be misinterpreted with the trigger/factors revealing that someone is anxious. Someone might be “gestating” an anxiety and trying to justify their symptoms” (p.148).However, in the face of critical events such as job loss, the condition becomes serious. It is important to mention that not everyone suffering from such triggers feels anxious. However a huge number of people who do not experience adverse situations do (Eysenck, 2013).
Bipolar Disorder
I believe that is right to argue that when everything in life is good for someone, there is a huge possibility that even then the individual can feel anxious. However, this argument can be partially erroneous, since it suggests that the association between the anxieties is weaker than it really is (Wells, 2013). Moreover, this also refers to the idea that anxiety is a disorder and therefore is highly dependent on specific biological alterations and independent of certain situations. In fact, it is not true that a huge percentage of people who do not suffer from stressors become anxious (Farchione et al., 2012).
I searched from the sources from online libraries. They provide comprehensive coverage of the current debates on Bipolar disorder, offering balances evidence that both supported and disagreed with how the disease was presented in the media and entertainment channels. The primary objective of the sources is to inform the reader with facts, researched information on both factions concerning the issues at hand. Therefore, they are objective sources. Since the subtopic is about bipolar disorder, the date of these sources is important, with most of published in the past eight years, thus making them very recent source.
A bipolar disorder which is also known as the manic-depressive disorder is a complex, and severe mental condition that is often characterised by manic episodes, depression of a combination of both. Geddes, & Miklowitz, (2013) describe the condition as a complex genetic disorder where the most common symptom is an incorrigible disturbance in moods that change between periods of happiness or jubilation (mania). These periods change to severe depression which often affects the thinking and behavioural patterns and might also include psychotic symptoms. Yatham,et al.,(2013) elaborated further by defining bipolar disorder as a condition of episodes, suggesting that one can fully recover within episodes. Phillips, & Kupfer, (2013) agree with this views by indicating that, by defining bipolar disorder as a chronic condition. That has distinctive and recurrent features mania and depression and has had a huge impact on the global economic burden of disease (Newman, et al., 2013).
While little has been discussed about the misconception of bipolar disorder in entertainment industry. A number of scholars have analysed various television programmes depicting characters with bipolar disorder. Some of them often depict realistic symptoms of the disorder, including major depressive episodes as well as professional competencies. Other list unrealistic stereotypes are largely absent in movies such as Homelands. (Craske, et.al, 2011). Such misconceptions include being only happy or sad at certain moments. Craddock, & Sklar, (2013) critiques Homelands misconception, believing that the characters depicting bipolar disorder seem unrealistic as she acts manic and full of depression even when taking her medication.
Another major misconception is that individuals with bipolar disorder refuse to take treatment. Once an individual acquires treatment, some also think that patients recover instantaneously. Torrent, et al., (2013) analyses the experience of one patient in a scientific journal, attributing the ability to manage the symptoms through an ongoing relationship with a reliable psychiatrist. This case debunks the depiction of bipolar individuals taking pills, or seeking some treatment and recover instantaneously. It is often agreed within the medical fraternity that persons with bipolar disorder might learn to cope, even though it impossible to fully recover (Oltmanns, et al. 2011). Moreover, it has been proven through a huge number of anecdotal studies that individuals with bipolar disorder experience the best outcomes through a series of factors, such as medication, and social support.
The Misconceptions about Schizophrenia
To conclude the sources used to provide strong evidence that refutes the stereotypes portrayed by movies about anxiety disorder. Through the evidence provided, it shows that Anxiety disorder if not a condition that can be healed instantaneously, gradually putting to an end such kind of misconceptions. Through such convincing ideas, organized and informative ideas have been presented accurately.
References
Aldao, A., & Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2012). When are adaptive strategies most predictive of psychopathology?. Journal of abnormal psychology, 121(1), 276.
Brewin, C. R., Gregory, J. D., Lipton, M., & Burgess, N. (2010). Intrusive images in psychological disorders: characteristics, neural mechanisms, and treatment implications. Psychological review, 117(1), 210.
Baker, J. T., Holmes, A. J., Masters, G. A., Yeo, B. T., Krienen, F., Buckner, R. L., & Öngür, D. (2014). Disruption of cortical association networks in schizophrenia and psychotic bipolar disorder. JAMA psychiatry, 71(2), 109-118.
Craske, M. G., Rauch, S. L., Ursano, R., Prenoveau, J., Pine, D. S., & Zinbarg, R. E. (2011). What is an anxiety disorder?. Focus, 9(3), 369-388.
Craddock, N., & Sklar, P. (2013). Genetics of bipolar disorder. The Lancet, 381(9878), 1654-1662Dickerson, F. B., & Lehman, A. F. (2011). Evidence-based psychotherapy for schizophrenia: 2011 update. The Journal of nervous and mental disease, 199(8), 520-526.
Hoge, E. A., Bui, E., Marques, L., Metcalf, C. A., Morris, L. K., Robinaugh, D. J., … & Simon, N. M. (2013). Randomized controlled trial of mindfulness meditation for generalized anxiety disorder: effects on anxiety and stress reactivity. The Journal of clinical psychiatry, 74(8), 786.
Farchione, T. J., Fairholme, C. P., Ellard, K. K., Boisseau, C. L., Thompson-Hollands, J., Carl, J. R., … & Barlow, D. H. (2012). Unified protocol for transdiagnostic treatment of emotional disorders: a randomized controlled trial. Behavior therapy, 43(3), 666-678.
Newman, M. G., Llera, S. J., Erickson, T. M., Przeworski, A., & Castonguay, L. G. (2013). Worry and generalized anxiety disorder: a review and theoretical synthesis of evidence on nature, etiology, mechanisms, and treatment. Annual review of clinical psychology, 9, 275-297.
Reichenberg, A. A. (2010). The assessment of neuropsychological functioning in schizophrenia. Dialogues in clinical neuroscience, 12(3), 383.
Geddes, J. R., & Miklowitz, D. J. (2013). Treatment of bipolar disorder. The Lancet, 381(9878), 1672-1682.
Goldin, P. R., & Gross, J. J. (2010). Effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on emotion regulation in social anxiety disorder. Emotion, 10(1), 83.
Jones, I., Chandra, P. S., Dazzan, P., & Howard, L. M. (2014). Bipolar disorder, affective psychosis, and schizophrenia in pregnancy and the post-partum period. The Lancet, 384(9956), 1789-1799.
Phillips, M. L., & Kupfer, D. J. (2013). Bipolar disorder diagnosis: challenges and future directions. The Lancet, 381(9878), 1663-1671.
Torrent, C., Bonnin, C. D. M., Martínez-Arán, A., Valle, J., Amann, B. L., González-Pinto, A., … & Arango, C. (2013). Efficacy of functional remediation in bipolar disorder: a multicenter randomized controlled study. American Journal of Psychiatry, 170(8), 852-859.
van Steensel, F. J., Bögels, S. M., & Perrin, S. (2011). Anxiety disorders in children and adolescents with autistic spectrum disorders: a meta-analysis. Clinical child and family psychology review, 14(3), 302.
Wykes, T., Huddy, V., Cellard, C., McGurk, S. R., & Czobor, P. (2011). A meta-analysis of cognitive remediation for schizophrenia: methodology and effect sizes. American Journal of Psychiatry, 168(5), 472-485.
Wells, A. (2013). Cognitive therapy of anxiety disorders: A practice manual and conceptual guide. John Wiley & Sons.
Yatham, L. N., Kennedy, S. H., Parikh, S. V., Schaffer, A., Beaulieu, S., Alda, M., … & Ravindran, A. (2013). Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT) and International Society for Bipolar Disorders (ISBD) collaborative update of CANMAT guidelines for the management of patients with bipolar disorder: update 2013. Bipolar disorders, 15(1), 1-44.