Clair+Kang+Schizo

John Nash received insulin shock therapy because he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. During this therapy, he was injected with insulin, and after a series of these insulin shock therapy sessions, he is released. He does have to take antipsychotic medication though. Although this treatment might have helped him a little bit at least temporarily, this showed negative side effects. This affected his relationship with his wife, and altered him both mentally and emotionally. So I would say that this treatment was not a very successful one.
 * 1. Was insulin shock therapy a viable clinical treatment?**

I believe that the case with John Nash is quite an unusual one. Schizophrenic patients have a very hard time fitting in society especially without medication. It is very hard for them to ignore their condition. As we can see from the movie, the disorder and even the medication that was supposed help to stop having hallucinations had negative effects on the John. It affected his relationships in a bad way, so I think John Nash's case was pretty unusually since he learned to function in society normally despite the fact that his disorder was affecting him so hugely.
 * 2. Was John Nash an unusual case, or do you think that many schizophrenic patients can be taught to function in society with without medication?**

The insulin shock therapy was used to treat people with schizophrenia. They injected large does of insulin to make the patients fall into hypoglycemic comas which were believed to relieve psychotic disorders. However, this therapy is now out of favor, because it causes many dangers to the patients. The hypoglycemia that resulted from the treatment made patients extremely restless, sweaty, and liable to further convulsions and "after-shocks". In addition, patients invariably emerged from the long course of treatment "grossly obese". The shock therapy could even cause death and brain damage, resulting from irreversible or prolonged coma respectively (1% mortality rate)
 * 3. What are the dangers and/or advantages of this type of treatment (re: insulin shock therapy)?**

Between 1960-1970, they used the insulin shock therapy to treat schizophrenia. Nowadays, they rarely use this method of therapy. Instead, neuroleptic drugs are more often used to treat the disorder.
 * 4. What is the difference between the treatment of schizophrenia in 1960-1970 and today?**

There are generally 5 different types of schizophrenia. They are: 1. Paranoid-type schizophrenia- delusions and auditory hallucinations but relatively normal intellectual functioning and expression of affect. This is the type of schizophrenia that John Nash most likely had, at least in the movie, The Beautiful Mind. 2. Disorganized-type schizophrenia - characterized by speech and behavior that are disorganized or difficult to understand, and flattening or inappropriate emotions. Disrupt normal activities 3. Catatonic-type schizophrenia - characterized by disturbances of movement; the people who have this type keep themselves completely immobile or move all over the place. It impairs their ability to take care of themselves 4. Undifferentiated-type schizophrenia - characterized by some symptoms seen in above types but not enough of any one of them to define it as another particular type of schizophrenia 5. Residual-type schizophrenia- characterized by a past history of a least one episode of schizophrenia, but the person currently has no positive symtoms
 * 5. What are the various types of schizophrenia? Which would you consider the worst case to have? The least worst? Explain why for each.**

I think that the first type described, paranoid-type schizophrenia is the worst type to have, because even though the patient will have delusions and auditory hallucinations, they function on normal intellect and they can stay mingle in society and look normal. The worst case to have is the catatonic-type schizophrenia. This type puts the person who has it in great danger, because they cannot take care of themselves. A lot of the times, they do not know what to do with themselves.


 * 6. What treatments are being pioneered today for schizophrenia?**

Right now, the most common treatment for schizophrenia is probably use of neuroleptic drugs, such as antipsychotic, antidepressant, and antianxiety medication. When this medication works for the schizophrenics, psychotherapy can help further to treat the disorder.