Schizophrenia is a mental disorder first identified in 1887 that causes hallucinations, delusions and disorganized thinking. It has strong genetic influences, with a 10% chance of developing it if a close relative has it. Physical signs include a blank facial expression while mental signs include hallucinations, delusions and disorganized speech. Emotionally, those with schizophrenia have reduced ability to feel pleasure and may feel detached. Treatment involves newer antipsychotic medications that can help control positive symptoms.

1. Schizophrenia
By Mark Raney

2. Table Of Contents
1. Title Page
2. Table of Contents
3. Introduction/Background
4. Physical Characteristics
5. Mental Characteristics
6. Emotional Characteristics
7. Genetic Source or Cause
8. Treatment
9. Interesting Facts
10.References

3. Introduction/Background
Schizophrenia was first discovered by Dr. Emile Kraepelin
in 1887, but is generally believed to have existed
throughout mankind. Schizophrenia causes hallucinations,
both visual and auditory. It may also lead people to believe
people are reading their minds or are going to hurt them
which causes them to shut themselves out from society
and also me very agitated.

4. Physical Characteristics
Schizophrenia doesn’t affect the carrier's physical
appearance. It does however cause them to keep a
blank/dull face with infrequent blinking, along with being
somewhat clumsy due to inexact motor skills.

5. Mental Characteristics
Mental characteristics of schizophrenic people include Hallucinations,
delusions, disorganized speech, disorganized or catatonic behavior, and overall
negative attitudes.

6. Emotional Characteristics
Emotional Characteristics of people with schizophrenia include The inability to
experience joy or pleasure from activities (called anhedonia), Sometimes
feeling nothing at all, Appearing desireless- seeking nothing, wanting nothing,
Feeling indifferent to important events, Feeling detached from your own body
(depersonalization), Hypersensitivity to criticism, insults, or hurt feelings

7. Genetic Source or Cause
Schizophrenia has a strong hereditary component. Individuals with a first-
degree relative (parent or sibling) who has schizophrenia have a 10 percent
chance of developing the disorder, as opposed to the 1 percent chance of the
general population.But schizophrenia is only influenced by genetics, not
determined by it. While schizophrenia runs in families, about 60% of
schizophrenics have no family members with the disorder. Furthermore,
individuals who are genetically predisposed to schizophrenia don’t always
develop the disease, which shows that biology is not destiny.

8. Treatment
Medications that are thought to be particularly effective in treating positive
symptoms of schizophrenia include olanzapine (Zyprexa),
risperidone(Risperdal), quetiapine (Seroquel),ziprasidone (Geodon),
aripiprazole (Abilify), paliperidone (Invega), asenapine (Saphris),lurasidone
(Latuda), and iloperidone (Fanapt). These medications are the newer group of
antipsychotic medications, also called second-generation antipsychotic drugs.
They are known for having the ability to work quickly compared to many other
psychiatric medications.

9. Interesting Facts
1. 1% of the population (2.2 million Americans) will develop schizophrenia.
2. There are five subtypes of schizophrenia
3. Schizophrenia typically appears when a person is in his or her teens to
early 20s.
4. About 10% of people with schizophrenia commit suicide and are more
likely to have a drug or alcohol abuse problem.
5. Most people prefer to be left alone and are not violent.
6. Positive symptoms of schizophrenia include delusions, hallucinations and
catatonia, which is when a person stays in a single position for a long
period of time.

10. References
http://schizophrenia.com/earlysigns.htm
http://www.helpguide.org/articles/schizophrenia/schizophre
nia-signs-types-and-causes.htm
http://www.medicinenet.com/schizophrenia/page5.htm#wha
t_are_treatments_for_schizophrenia_and_the_side_effects
_of_those_treatments
https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-
schizophrenia