Talk:Schizophrenia

This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Peer reviewers: AdammmUNC.

Semi-protected edit request on 25 November 2017

Change: Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by abnormal social behavior and failure to understand what is real.[2] Common symptoms include false beliefs, unclear or confused thinking, hearing voices that others do not hear, reduced social engagement and emotional expression, and a lack of motivation.[2][3] People with schizophrenia often have additional mental health problems such as anxiety, depressive, or substance-use disorders.[11] Symptoms typically come on gradually, begin in young adulthood, and last a long time.[3][5]

to Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by abnormal social behavior and failure to understand what is real.[2] Schizophrenia includes positive and negative symptoms. Positive symptoms are those experienced in addition to normal experiences, these include Hallucinations (in relation to any sense), as well as Delusions. Negative symptoms include Avolition or loss of motivation, and speech poverty. People with schizophrenia often have additional mental health problems such as anxiety, depressive, or substance-use disorders.[11] Symptoms typically come on gradually, begining in young adulthood, and last a long time.[3][5] TheblueDoggo (talk) 16:04, 25 November 2017 (UTC)

Not done: Please next make you changes clear by underlining what was removed, added or altered. Now it is hard to see the difference. But this edit is not done because you did not give any new sources so such altering will only be synthesis or cosmetic –Ammarpad (talk) 12:50, 26 November 2017 (UTC)

A blurry line between science and art

Dear Wikipedia,

Your mental illness pages often seem overly concerned with what I would attribute to an entirely separate page. Take Schizophrenia for example. The main image is an artistic representation of the illness, and a quite abstract one at that. I think that the artistic side of the illness and other illnesses should be presented on a different article page titled "Schizophrenia in art" or something. Physical illnesses such e.g. cancer are not given such a treatment and are instead treated wholly scientifically on their main wiki article pages. I think a similar treatment for mental illnesses would be right in the name of good science, good information storing, and right to those who have the illnesses or have interests in the illness. It would go a long way to help the issue of stigma associated with mental illness, which is at the end of the day a physical illness of the brain. The first image on this article in questions clearly portrays a certain view of scitziophrenia, when perhaps some brain scans or medical images (like on physical illness pages) would be more accurate and of better taste.

Your sincerely, A wikli user — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.42.185.241 (talk) 13:05, 5 January 2018 (UTC)

There are no physical tests that have an image that would go in the infobox. I understand the issue - illustrations that we could use are tricky to come up with. Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 13:17, 5 January 2018 (UTC)

The First Sentence

May I suggest that characterizing schizophrenia as a "failure to understand reality" is unnecessarily stigmatic? The cited source says nothing about "failure" or "reality." I think the words "failure to understand reality" represent an unneccessary extrapolation on the part of the author(s) of this page. I'm not saying it is an inaccurate description, but I am saying that such an assertion is definitely not directly supported by the cited source. The source says that schizophrenia is characterized by "distortions in thinking, perception, emotions, language, sense of self and behaviour." I see no reason to characterize schizophrenia as a "failure" when there are much more precise ways to describe the disease (i.e., the disease constitutes a distortion, not a failure). Moreover, I fail to see any reason to extrapolate "failure" from a cluster of symptoms described on a WHO page. "Failure" connotes judgment. I suggest that someone in control of this article revise this wording. Even though it might seem trivial, when the very first sentence of the article describes schizophrenia as a "failure" it certainly contributes to the stigma surrounding the disease. I submit my comment very humbly, and without any intention to be inflammatory -- I'm just saying that if I were a schizophrenic I would feel bad if I went to Wikipedia to learn about my disease and found it characterized as a "failure." I would be further distressed if I went to the cited source and found the word "failure" did not appear anywhere in the source. Nor did the word "reality." Using words like these seem to lay bare the judgment of their author. Not very informative.

Benefit of medicine for the negative symptoms of schizophrenia.

I see a lot of old links, some that link to studies with not even a snippet of information, that reflect outdated judgment on the benefit of medicine for the negative symptoms of schizophrenia. They state that medicine has little to no impact on them. Haven't reviewed the quality of evidence on the positive symptoms yet. Dopaminergics and noradrenergics collectively improve motivation, desire to work, keenness, greater salience of one's life experience, and in certain cases cognition. Serotonergics, 5-HT_2A, 5-HT₆, and 5-HT₇ antagonists collectively, among other benefits, improve happiness, cognition, learning, memory, mood stablization, increased sociability, and decreased aggressive behavior/ideation. There's a wealth of information from WP:MEDRS and user reviews on sites like www.drugs.com that support this. Does anyone here have the desire to update schizophrenia with evidence showing the benefits in this area? If not, I'll probably try tackling it myself in the coming weeks. Reixus (talk) 08:00, 26 January 2018 (UTC)

What sources are you proposing?

User reviews are not MEDRS. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 09:53, 26 January 2018 (UTC)

I know, I know :D Just meant to steer some attention to the fact that individuals taking the medicine also in many cases report the same benefits. But yeah, right now I'm studying up on some neurology but I'll try to see if I can find the time to forage for some MEDRS on the negative symptom treatment subject in the coming weeks. Reixus (talk) 13:15, 26 January 2018 (UTC)

It's a vexed topic area. Reviewing the evidence would be worthwhile though. Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 22:34, 10 March 2018 (UTC)

John Forbes Nash

The reference in the History section) to John Forbes Nash as a Nobel Prize winning Mathematician. Perhaps edit it to "a Mathematician who won the Nobel prize for Economics". That would stop people (like me)becoming distracted due to half-remembering that there isn't a Nobel for mathematics.41.188.70.156 (talk) 21:52, 10 March 2018 (UTC)

tweaked Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 22:32, 10 March 2018 (UTC)

Objective test

In the diagnosis section, it is stated that "there is no objective test". Perhaps add the following paragraph: "However, a niacin flush test has been moderately successful in distinguishing patients with schizophrenia. The test is based on applying a topical skin cream or patch containing a formulation of niacin. Healthy individuals exhibit a flush response (inflammation and swelling). This response is usually attenuated or absent in schizophrenic patients."

References

--ChinaTwist (talk) 18:38, 12 March 2018 (UTC)

Please read WP:MEDRS. The test is not diagnostic. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 21:09, 12 March 2018 (UTC)

In my second quoted reference, it says: "Our results are therefore consistent with the previous published report and suggest that this test may be useful clinically in the diagnosis of schizophrenia". Obviously the test is not used clinically, but it is good quality evidence of an objective measurement. If you're going to write "there is no objective test", you should probably include the caveat that some objective tests have been shown to be moderately successful in research. Otherwise it might give the false impression that the disease is purely psychological with no physical manifestation.--ChinaTwist (talk) 23:43, 12 March 2018 (UTC)