Chris+Nam+SCHIZO

//1. Was insulin shock therapy a viable clinical treatment?// Insulin shock therapy is now an outdated treatment, and is rightly so, as it is confirmed both by its interpretation on A Beautiful Mind and psychological statistics. Insulin shock therapy can be likened to Walter Freeman’s ice pick lobotomy and psychosurgical trepanation – a now-obsolete measure to supposedly cure psychological illness based upon wrong premises. Even in //A Beautiful Mind//, it is apparent that John Nash’s bout with schizophrenia did not end with his six-week-long insulin shock therapy program. The simple fact is that surgeries for psychological illnesses like schizophrenia do not completely mitigate them, but rather may ease them either temporarily or partially.

//2. Was John Nash an unusual case, or do you think that many schizophrenic patients can be taught to function in society without medication?// John Nash does not seem to be a particularly unusual case of schizophrenia. Despite Nash’s own social ineptitude and the obvious problems that schizophrenics face in their daily lives, schizophrenics may possess the intelligence or social skills required for quotidian interactions with society. However, Nash is indeed highly disturbed through his delusions, another key symptom of schizophrenia. Although it is mentioned once in the movie that Nash’s schizophrenia seems to have lasted for a very long time before its diagnosis (in retrospect, one can imagine it surfaced when Charles Bender first appeared), Nash’s brand of schizophrenia doesn’t seem to deviate from its norm excessively.

//3. What are the dangers and/or advantages of this type of treatment (re: insulin shock therapy)?// Insulin shock therapy has shown to have some beneficial effect over one's mental condition. It is true that Nash’s hallucinations did somewhat cease through such surgical procedures. However, insulin shock therapy provides the ultimate flaw that many other outdated medical methods exhibit – dangerous side effects. Hypoglycemia is one such serious side effect that could result from insulin shock therapy. The most extreme side effects can be manifest through prolonged comas or brain damage. There is also the risk of unsuccessfulness.

//4. What is the difference between the treatment of schizophrenia in 1960-1970 and today?// In the fifty-odd years that have passed since the days of insulin shock therapy, medicinal progress cannot be possibly be described in words. Medicine has become more effective and more secure at the same time; unlike the uncertainty and the risks that insulin shock therapy brought to schizophrenics, newer methods of therapy, among them cognitive behavioural therapy, along with more potent antipsychotic drugs. An example of such an antipsychotic is LY2109823, a recent drug that has been suggested to effectuate very few detrimental side-effects and is very effective in curbing various symptoms manifested in schizophrenics.

//5. What are the various types of schizophrenia? Which would you consider the worst case to have? The least worst? Explain why for each.// Despite the usual assertion that psychology is a growing science and what not, the DSM-IV proclaims the existence of at least five basic subtypes of schizophrenia (in parentheses are simplified definitions for all of them) – paranoid (ever-anxious obsession with the notion of persecution and danger; delusions), disorganized (less pronounced delusions, but disorderly thought processes and speech), catatonic (deficiency of motor skills and lack of voluntary movement), undifferentiated (too undeveloped to correctly identify the disorder’s subtype), and residual (mitigated enough for the affected person to be able to interact with society somewhat effectively). The most severe, I would imagine, is the catatonic subtype. The thought of being unable to move in ways one desires is most definitely terrifying; those inflicted with catatonic schizophrenia possess too little command over their own motor skills, so much so that they often stay fixed in a pose for possibly hours at a time. Catatonic excitement, while being at the other end of the spectrum, still is a case of involutary movement and is reflective of one's inability to exercise their motor skills in the ways they desire. The least severe of the five, of course, seems to be residual schizophrenia, which does not have as great a bearing on one’s social interactions as the other four.

//6. What treatments are being pioneered today for schizophrenia?// Treatment for schizophrenia remains highly controversial, but the goal remains simple – first, to correctly rectify the disorder at hand, and second, to minimize side effects as much as possible. Clozapine, a rather cheap antipsychotic, is among the most effective antipsychotics to battle schizophrenia; meanwhile, there are also numerous other antipsychotics, antidepressants and antianxiety medications that help //treat// schizophrenia, but not //rid of// it or //cure// it completely. LY2109823 is one powerful example of an antipsychotic that has been suggested to be revolutionary in the treatment of schizophrenics.