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Tom DiBartolomeo
Mrs. O’Rielly
Biology
Section 9
1/22/08
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness. There are many symptoms of schizophrenia.
There are some medicines to help treat schizophrenia. The problem with them is that they can
work differently with each person.
Someone experiencing schizophrenia may demonstrate symptoms such as disorganized
thinking, auditory hallucinations, and delusions. In severe cases, the person may be mute, remain
motionless in bizarre postures, or exhibit purposeless agitation; these are signs of catatonia. The
current classification of psychoses holds that symptoms need to have been present for at least
one month in a period of at least six months of disturbed functioning. A schizophrenia-like
psychosis of shorter duration is termed a schizophreniform disorder. No one sign is diagnostic of
schizophrenia, and all can occur in other medical and psychiatric conditions (Schizophrenia)
No one knows the exact causes of schizophrenia. Experts have found that some factors
may increase the risk of getting schizophrenia. These factors may be in a person's genes. Also,
imbalances of certain chemicals in the brain can lead to the symptoms of the illness. Medicine
balances these chemicals.
There are a lot of medicines to treat schizophrenia. Scientists are still studying causes
and how to treat schizophrenia. One medicine is Geodon. Geodon improves your understanding
of what is real and what is not. It helps you feel similar to other people, feel less lonely and
removed from others, feel more hopeful and happy, and allows you to think and express yourself
more clearly (About Geodon).
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Geodon helps balance certain natural chemicals in your brain, this helps treat the
symptoms. Some symptoms that it treats are seeing or hearing things that are not there, feeling
suspicious, feeling nervous, feeling confused, and feeling agitated (How GEODON Works).
Schizophrenia has medicines and cures for it, but it does not work the same for everyone.
There are many symptoms from schizophrenia. Schizophrenia can make life very difficult for
you and your family.
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Biliography
"Schizophrenia." Geodon. Geodon. 19 Jan. 2008 <http://www.geodon.com/s_Home.asp>.
"Schizophrenia." Wikipedia. 18 Jan. 2008. Wikipedia. 19 Jan. 2008
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizophrenia#Signs_and_symptoms>.