Two Different Approaches Used to Explain the Psychological Phenomenon of Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a very uncommon psychological disorder or brain condition that affects one percent of the human population. This disorder includes symptoms of hallucinations, lack of motivation and having a hard time with concentrating or thinking. When most people think of someone having Schizophrenia, they think of a person who is crazy or not in their right mind, which is not really the case. Sometimes, Schizophrenia is also often mistaken for Dissociative Identity Disorder, which can be similar in a few aspects, but the big difference is that a Schizophrenic does not have more than one personality, they see different personalities or people that no one else can see because it is their imagination. Both disorders have split brain in their own sense that sets them apart from one another. There are many different branches of Psychology that could be used to explain the psychological phenomenon of Schizophrenia. Two of the branches of psychology who's approach give us a great insight on Schizophrenia are the psychodynamic perspective of psychology and the cognitive perspective.

The psychodynamic perspective is the approach based on the view that behavior is motivated by unconscious inner forces over which the individual has little control (Feldman, R. S. (2017). Essentials of understanding psychology. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education, Pg. 16). The psychodynamic perspectives main approach to Schizophrenia is that it is a hereditary disease. Schizophrenia can be genetic but that does not mean that people who do not have relatives with Schizophrenia are not able obtain the disorder. Anyone who has trouble coping with disturbances in a deformed or not such a great environment, such as a broken family, can also be a factor in the development if this certain disorder. So the psychodynamic perspective shows us that life experiences can also contribute to the development of Schizophrenia since you cannot control everything that happens in your life. Schizophrenia has two major categories when it comes to it's symptoms, they are positive or negative. When we think of positive and negative we think it is good or bad but, that is not the case with this psychological disorder. Positive symptoms include active problems, like hallucinations, that should not be present and negative symptoms are the characteristics of a human that anyone normal would have, but this individual does not (Hickman, R. J. (2018, July 4). Schizophrenia: Understanding the Mental Illness. Retrieved September 13, 2018, from https://www.verywellmind.com/schizophrenia-what-you-need-to-know-4156588).

The cognitive perspective is the approach that focuses on how people think, understand and know about the world (Feldman, R. S. (2017). Essentials of understanding psychology. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education, Pg. 16). This certain perspective focuses on a complex relationship of factors such as environment, behavior and cognitive. Psychologists have found that most patients with Schizophrenia show disorganization and have a very hard paying attention. This could also be explained by Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) where people have a hard time being able to concentrate on even just one thing that is going on. The cognitive perspective also shows us that a Schizophrenic gets hallucinations because their senses do not process information like normal people but they are not aware of it because it is not in their full state of consciousness. Psychologists use the cognitive theory to help patients better understand what is going on with them. When a psychologist is using the cognitive approach, they are taking pieces of peoples thoughts and actions and getting a sense of why they are and think the way that they do. Cognitive perspective can be used to treat patients with Schizophrenia. They treat the patients using this approach by trying to change their thoughts, behavior responses and helping then set goals and get control of their life. They also use this for patients with depression or a feeling of helplessness get back on track to having a successful life (Mardon, A., & Trach, N. (2016, June 30). Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Schizophrenia. Retrieved from https://psychcentral.com/lib/cognitive-behavioral-therapy-for-schizophrenia/).

All in all, the psychodynamic perspectives approach focuses on unconscious behavior that a person has no control over. It helps us understand that Schizophrenia is a hereditary disease and can also be related to life experiences and trauma that people go through in life. The cognitive perspective deals with how people think, understand and know the world around them. It uses how the brain is structured and why people act the way they do. It also provides a way to help people who have Schizophrenia try to take back their lives and change their thoughts and behavior to make their symptoms go away. These two approaches are very useful with explaining this psychological disorder with their different approaches to it and makes it easier to see how a patient with this rare condition thinks differently than others with what we consider to be a normal functioning brain.

References

Feldman, R. S. (2017). Essentials of understanding psychology. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education, Pg. 16

Hickman, R. J. (2018, July 4). Schizophrenia: Understanding the Mental Illness. Retrieved September 13, 2018, from https://www.verywellmind.com/schizophrenia-what-you-need-to-know-4156588

(Mardon, A., & Trach, N. (2016, June 30). Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Schizophrenia. Retrieved from https://psychcentral.com/lib/cognitive-behavioral-therapy-for-schizophrenia/).

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