ADD
Alzheimers
Schizophrenia
Bipolar Disorder
It can sometimes be hard to see the difference between a disorder and a disease, so as definitions go a disorder is an ailment that affects the function of mind or body and a disease is a pathological condition of a part, organ, or system of an organism resulting from various causes, such as infection, genetic defect, or environmental stress, and characterized by an identifiable group of signs or symptoms. A disorder is more difficult to find a cause and sometimes a cure but a disease can be easily identified, cause and cure.
A well-known disease such as Attention Deficient Disorder (ADD) can be controlled by daily medications. ADD is where a person is not able to pay attention for long periods of time. The person can not sit still, keep track of events and usually becomes very loud and obnoxious. ADD can effect children as well as adults. Doctors do have difficulty diagnosing ADD because children usually show some symptoms of it, to some degree , such as difficulty paying attention or being easily distracted. Adults may show symptoms because of anxiety or depression, which makes ADD the most over diagnosed mental health problem in America. A common drug given to help with this is Ritalin but if not taken every day then the drug has no real effect on the subject.
Alzheimer Disease was discovered in 1906 by a German neurologist, Alois Alzheimer.
Alzheimer disease is a progressive degenerative irreversible dementia, which
means that the nerve cells in the brain continue to break down over a period
of time and there is no known cure for it. People with Alzheimer disease become
less and less able to sense information from the outside world and lose the
capability to send the messages to their bodies. These people become unable
to think clearly, remember things, understand concepts, and make decisions as
they used to. They are also unable to do many common, everyday tasks like getting
dressed or cooking a meal and they will eventually need others to look after
them. Although there are many elderly people with dementia, or loss of memory,
Alzheimer disease is not a normal part of aging. In fact, the only sure way
of diagnosing the disease is by examining the person's brain cells after death.
In 1991, the Canadian Study of Health and Aging assessed the health of Canadians
over the age of 65. They assessed that 50% of those with dementia live in the
community while the other 50% live in institutions. This is out of the 5.1%
of people over 65 having the actual disease. They also concluded that the disease
does in fact progress with age, from 6.9% at ages 75 to 84~to 26% at age 85
and over. It is anticipated that by the year 2021 that the number of people
with the disease will more than double.
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that effects over 2.5 million people in America. It effects their thoughts, how they feel , and their overall personality. This disorder makes it hard for the person to tell the difference between what is real and what is imaginary, to think logically, and to express normal emotional responses in social situations. It is hard for people with schizophrenia to operate in everyday society and at work or school. These people's brains either produce too much of or are very sensitive to dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter, which means it allows the nerve cells in the brain to send messages to one another. This imbalance affects the way a person's brain handle's stimuli, like loud music or bright light for example. This condition in processing sights, sounds, tastes, and smells can eventually lead to hallucinations or delusions. This condition, however, is not like multiple personality disorder like the shirts say. Many people believe schizophrenics hear "voices" and have different personalities but these symptoms are only delusions of the schizophrenic and have nothing to do with multiple personalities. Scientists have also discovered the disorder tends to run in families but they only inherit the tendency to develop the disease, not the disease itself. The disorder can be triggered by environmental events like viral infections, highly stressful situations or a combination of both. Schizophrenia usually appears during adolescence and throughout puberty because of the physical and hormonal changes the body undergoes.
Bipolar disorder, which is also known as manic depression is a very confusing and distressful disorder for both the person that has it and the people around them. This disorder affects about 2 million Americans at any given time. It is characterized by very extreme mood swings from being overly elated or irritated to the point of mania to be sad and extremely depressed and then back again. Usually these violent mood swings have some period of regularity in the person's mood between them. This duration of the moods and frequencies of the moods vary from person to person. This disorder will affect a person's work, family, and social life but can be controlled with the right combination of medications. The disorder typically begins in adolescence or early adulthood and will continue throughout the individual's life. The disorder often is not recognized as a serious disorder in the person's younger age and will cause them to suffer needlessly for years or even decades without the proper medication. Today, much more is known about the causes and treatment for this psychological problem. This disorder is not only a psychological disorder but a biological disorder also. This is why medication is the most effective component to the disorder.
Nine are Mine
I'm whistling down a hallway with marble floors
The walls are solid but have many doors
Yelling and whispering with anger and crying
The sound waves penetrate these wood-grain doors
The long narrow lights flow by above my head
With a low drone moan they hum~ We want to be dead
Because we are one~ Or many I mean
Many personalities~ With one blood stream
We all speak to one another~ but only in mind
Body is opposite~ We all strive to find
That passage from the cortex~ to the eyes
We're like a big glass house~ full of flies
Streaming from one corner of the brain to the other
To find a median in one mind~ To be no other
We all speak differently~ We speak as nine
Confused and misused at any given time
One man's eyes shut~ The other man's opens
A world in a new light~ A new day begins
A different voice, a new diction~ My diagnosis is my conviction
To these psychoanalytic doctors on the other side of the bars
I see colors differently day to day
Along with my beliefs and Gods every time I pray
My social status changes from a man on his knees
To a man holding a gun pointed as the hammer is cocked with ease
I feel confusion and redundancy in the same state of mind
But in reality a possession is over me covering my true self~ I am blind
A personality is what you may call a belief system or guideline
All I feel is absence of both of these~ My mind can't place a timeline
A chaos of the mind not meant for mankind
A quarrel of ideas and ethics~ Never breaking the ties that bind
Insanity is the title placed on my unconscious mind
But my signature still remains to be signed by nine.
…joshua stuckenschneider
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