Page 479 - Understanding Psychology

Schizophrenia and Mood Disorders
s Main Idea
Schizophrenia involves disordered thoughts. Mood disorders involve disturbances in the experience and expressions of depression.
s Vocabulary
• schizophrenia
• delusions
• hallucinations
• major depressive disorder
• bipolar disorder
s Objectives
• Describe the disorder of
schizophrenia.
• Describe several theories that try to
explain mood disorders.
Reader’s Guide
Exploring Psychology
Word Salad
A woman was delighted to receive a letter from her son abroad, but distraught when she read it: “Dear mother . . . I am writing on paper. The pen I am using is from a factory called Perry and Co. The factory is in England. The city of London is in England. I know this from my school days. Then I always liked geography. My last teacher in that subject was Professor August A. He was a man with black eyes. There are also blue and grey eyes and other sorts too. I have heard it said that snakes have green eyes. All people have eyes. There are some, too, who are blind.”
—from The Human Mind Explained, edited by Susan A. Greenfield, 1996
The man who wrote this letter later was diagnosed with schizo- phrenia. Sufferers of schizophrenia often have difficulty using language to communicate. They seem to go from one phrase to another by random association. This confused language may result because schizophrenia affects the working memory, which is used to form sentences. A person with schizophrenia will not remember the beginning of a sentence and thus finishes it with an unrelated thought. Schizophrenia is often misunderstood.
We can understand depression, and most of us have experienced anxi- ety. In addition, we can appreciate how people with these problems strive to overcome them as best they can. An individual with schizophrenia, however, who withdraws from normal life and whose distorted percep- tions and behavior reach an irrational, fantastic, fear-laden, unimaginable
Chapter 16 / Psychological Disorders 465