Cocaine and rock cocaine, also known as crack, are powerful illegal stimulants that cause serious negative health effects. Cocaine has been used since 1860, when it was first isolated from South American coca leaves. Crack cocaine became popular...
Schizophrenia is a serious mental disorder that affects the way a person thinks, behaves and views the world. Although there is no cure for schizophrenia, this disorder can be treated and managed with the help of medication. Antipsychotic...
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) reports that approximately 26 percent of American adults, about one in four, has a diagnosable mental health disorder. Of the 26 percent with a mental health problem, at least 6 percent suffer from...
Schizophrenia is a chronic, incurable mental disease. This disordered thinking process includes delusions, hallucinations, paranoia and a host of other frightening events occurring within the diseased mind. According to the Betty Hardwick Center,...
Aripiprazole (Abilify) is used to treat symptoms that accompany a variety of psychotic conditions such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. In some cases, it is used to treat symptoms such as aggression, temper tantrums and mood swings in...
It's the classic argument of nature versus nurture. Is schizophrenia a genetic disorder that's inherited through complex processes, or is it simply caused by the environment one grew up in? The simple answer is both.
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that makes it difficult for you to be able to tell the difference between real and unreal experiences, to have normal emotional responses, to think logically, and to behave normally. The exact cause of...
Seroquel (generic name: quetiapine) is a medication utilized to change the neurotransmitter (chemicals) levels in your brain. It belongs to a group of medicines known as anti-psychotics and its side effects include dizziness, dry mouth, headaches,...
The onset and severity of schizophrenia might be related to dietary factors. While the condition has genetic causes, environmental factors, including diet, might influence if, when and how intensely the symptoms present. Current thinking...
Schizophrenia, a mental disorder characterized by inability to separate reality from thought disturbances such as hallucinations, affects around 1 percent of people worldwide, according to the National Institutes of Health. Although both men and...
Invega, also known by its generic name of paliperidone, is an antipsychotic medication used to treat acute cases of schizophrenia. It is not your typical antipsychotic medication, and, according to the experts at Drugs.com, how it works is not...
Dehydroepiandrosterone, or DHEA, is a naturally occurring hormone that might help schizophrenic patients cope with the symptoms of their disease when taken in supplement form. The evidence is limited as of 2011, however, and the use of DHEA is not...
One of the reasons why psychological disorders in the elderly are more difficult to diagnose is that few people expect these issues. Instead, they may credit the isolation to aging or diminished social circles. The elderly fail to report these...
More than 90 percent of all cases of schizophrenia involve some type of delusions, according to the mental health website HelpGuide.org. Delusions are erroneous beliefs that are maintained even when evidence to the contrary is given, and they can...
Catatonic schizophrenia is a psychotic mental illness that commonly develops during a person's teens or 20s. It is characterized by either stupor or frenzy. Signs of stupor include sitting motionless, inability to speak, staring into space for...
Schizophrenia is not one disorder, but a group of disorders affecting approximately 2.2 million Americans, as noted in 2010 by the National Institute of Mental Health. According to the American Psychiatric Association, in order for a patient to be...
The mineral zinc is involved in scores of bodily systems and functions including the digestive, immune, glandular and musculoskeletal systems. It is also contributes to neural activity, suggesting a role in mental functioning. In numerous studies,...
Growing scientific evidence indicates that patients with schizophrenia have abnormalities in the way phospholipids -- a type of fat that forms cell membranes -- are metabolized in their brain. The phospholipids that form the membranes of brain...
Mental health residential treatment facilities provide a variety of services. They are found throughout the country and may house any number of patients from fewer than ten up to hundreds. Some facilities are state-run and accept indigent patients...
Therapy is a preferred way to manage psychological disorders. Its goal is to help the patient explore his mental state, identify negative attitudes and beliefs that may stem from the psychological disorder and then help him change those beliefs....
Dopamine is one of the brains neurotransmitters, or chemicals that transmit signals in the brain. If your dopamine levels are low, you may experience memory and attention troubles, depression and social anxiety. Dopamine levels are extremely...
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder in which you may have difficulty thinking logically and behaving appropriately among others in a social setting. Schizophrenia, notes the National Center for Biotechnology Information, may also affect your...
Cocaine comes from the leaves of the coca plant. It's a stimulant drug that affects the central nervous system. Cocaine is a highly addictive drug due to its impact on the natural reward pathway of the brain. When used in medical pharmacology,...
Abilify, known generically as aripiprazole, is classified as an atypical antipsychotic. According to the National Institutes of Health website DailyMed, it is used to treat schizophrenia, some symptoms of autism, bipolar disorder and some cases of...
Schizophrenia is a psychological disorder that affects both men and women; however, according to the National Institutes of Health, men develop schizophrenia earlier than women. The average age of onset is 45, though in rare cases, children as...
The National Institute of Mental Health notes that psychiatric medications are important in the treatment of symptoms of mental diseases such as depression; bipolar disorder, or manic-depressive illness; anxiety disorders; schizophrenia; and...
Schizophrenia often varies from patient to patient and encompasses a number of different symptoms. Most signs of the condition can be grouped into one of three categories, however. The first category, negative symptoms, entails a "shutting down"...
Melatonin is a hormone produced by the pineal gland, a small, pine cone-shaped endocrine gland located deep within the center of the brain. Melatonin is secreted at night and regulates your body's day/night cycle, also referred to as circadian or...
Schizophrenia is mental disorder that results in delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized behavior and thinking. People with schizophrenia are incapable of recognizing reality and have extreme difficulty with daily functioning, according to the...