The History of Schizophrenia
From the research appears that schizophrenia exist from a very long period of time.
Symptoms relating to schizophrenia have been noted since antiquity. People from that period believed that those with strange behavior (schizophrenic persons) are possessed and skulls have been found with holes made in them so the demon can came out and leave the possessed body.
The first notice we have is from the year 2000 before Christ, in the book named Book of Hearts. Also in Greek and Roman literature there are notes about schizophrenia symptoms.
Scientists believe, that is a possibility that in Christian period people that are saints in fact were schizophrenic, that’s why they heard voices and saw visions and they in fact were having hallucinations.
Many centuries after that, in inquisition period, women suffering from schizophrenic symptoms were thought to be witches and were burnt at the stake.
In 17th century appeared the first psychiatric hospitals. In 1887, Emil Krapelin named the symptoms of what we call today schizophrenia “dementia praecox”, and in 1911, convinced that not about dementia is what we talk about, he named this disease “schizophrenia”, what in Greek means “split mind”.
After we had a name, other were the problems. The symptoms were classified in positive and negative symptoms, and after that a new category was introduced: cognitive(disorganized) symptoms.
The types of schizophrenia were three at the beginning : disorganized, catatonic and paranoid types. In present we have five types: disorganized, catatonic, paranoid, residual and undifferentiated.
The treatment of schizophrenia has an interesting story too.
Many ways of treatment were used, from lobotomy and electric therapy to antipsychotic medicine.
First antipsychotic drugs, named today classic antipsychotics are haloperidol, chlorpromazine, and fluphenazine. They have many side effects, even if they control well delusions and hallucinations.
The new class of antipsychotics, from witch we remember Risperidone (Risperdal), olanzapine (Zyprexa), quetiapine (Seroquel), ziprasidone (Geodon) and aripiprazole (Abilify), don't have the side effects that the classic antipsychotic drugs have. But they have side effects, patients gain weight or make a disease called agranulocitozys .
It is obvious that schizophrenia interested us from the very beginning, and I’m sure that will do in the future too.
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