Schizophrenia and Access to Treatment

...

Conclusion

As previously stated, schizophrenia is an immensely debilitating disease that effects both the victim and their loved ones. The amount of research on this disease has increased in the past decade; however, we are still puzzled as a society, on how to effectively help victims of schizophrenia in appropriate treatment and intervention. I would love to dive into this issue more later in my career in attempt to better understand mental illness and how to help those affected. The main reason I am interested in this issue is because my brother has schizophrenia. I have gone my whole life knowing of his disease, but not knowing why it is so difficult for these people to get the help they truly need. I can personally confirm that this disease affects every single part of the person’s life and their families lives as well. One day I hope to learn more about this issue in order to use my knowledge in my career to either spread awareness or help others achieve treatment for themselves. Knowing more about schizophrenia will help me as a person to help my brother live a healthier and more stable lifestyle. It will also help me by increasing my knowledge on the illness, just in case I encounter a child with schizophrenia in my future career as a school psychologist.

References

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental

disorders, 5(1).

Fung, K. T., Tsang, H. H., & Corrigan, P. W. (2008). Self-stigma of people with schizophrenia

as predictor of their adherence to psychosocial treatment. Psychiatric Rehabilitation

Journal, 32(2), 95-104.

Reddy, S., Thirthalli, J., Channaveerachari, N., Reddy, K., Ramareddy, R., Rawat, V., . . .

Gangadhar, B. (2014). Factors influencing access to psychiatric treatment in persons with

schizophrenia: A qualitative study in a rural community. Indian Journal of

Psychiatry, 56(1), 54-60.

Walsh, A., & Yun, I. (2013). Schizophrenia: Causes, crime, and implications for criminology

and criminal justice. International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice, 41(2), 188-202.