Schizophrenia Resources

1. Read, "The Schizophrenic Mind,"Newsweek, March 11, 2002
Answer the following questions in your notes:
What is schizophrenia?
What causes schizophrenia?
What are some symptoms of schizophrenia?
What treatment options are available for schizophrenics?
Focus on one of the individuals profiled in the article. Summarize how schizophrenia has shaped his/her life.
2. Watch:
The Secret Life of the Brain (Episode 3: The Teenage Brain):
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/brain/episode3/cultures/index.html
3. Resources
What is schizophrenia:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/nash/peopleevents/e_schizo.html
Interview with John Nash (topics include symptoms, treatments, family, mathematics, Nobel Prize)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/nash/sfeature/sf_nash.html
John Nash - Recovery from Schizophrenia:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/nash/peopleevents/e_recovery.html
Online poll:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/nash/sfeature/sf_poll.html
Official Site - "A Beautiful Mind"
http://www.abeautifulmind.com/
4. Extra Credit Opportunities and Make-up Work:
* Read the interview with John Nash. Comment on two topics he discusses in his interview. Post your comments here. (Make-up or 10 points extra credit)
* Respond to this post for make-up or extra credit:
http://hansengeorge.blogspot.com/2008/04/psychology-parenting-resources.html
* Or, respond to this post for make-up or extra credit:
http://hansengeorge.blogspot.com/2008/04/definitely-worth-listening-to.html

Comments

Hamilton3 said…
Insulin Shock Therapy:
Hmmm....
The word SHOCK tends to imply bad effects. First, Why would he allow himself to undergo this treatment and Second, why on earth would puting a person in a coma help him? Unlike computers, brains dont automaticly reboot if you shut them down. If this was the case, everytime we would go to sleep, any thought or ideas that we had would be erased.

Most Original
an interesting title to win.
I think that it does take original thinking to make the leaps and bounds that scince, math, exc. to keep from stagnating. Anybody can refine or make adjustments to something. But it takes ingenuity and creativity to create something dramaticlly new.
ckupsh3 said…
I looked at "Medication" and "How does recovery happen?" in the John Nash interview.
MEDICATION:
I think that the medication for schizophrenia is kind of here-and-there. He says sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't-sometimes, he felt better, but it didn't have anything to do with the medication. Plus, the drugs had a lot of really awful side effects; gaining weight is a side effect that you can life with, but when you consider that the weight gain is going to cut your life expectancy just as much as schizophrenia does, it kind of seems like taking the drugs is just another way of dying.

HOW DOES RECOVERY HAPPEN:
As always, no one really has an answer. John Nash says that it's individual-obviously, people are going to respond differently. It is interesting how the drugs haven't really changed the amount of people who recover, though...Most people who "recover" after taking drugs are just barely okay; they're "semi-disabled". It's not the same thing as being fully recovered. I think it must depend a lot more on your determination and your own individual case than it does on the drugs. It seems like the drugs really haven't been perfected yet.
Got both of your comments!

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