History of Schizophrenia Treatments: Research Paper Example

Introduction

The history of schizophrenia treatments and diagnoses has been characterized by confusion. The mental condition is majorly defined as the loss of touch with reality since sufferers exhibit delusional behavior and have difficulty relating to daily activities. The victims interpret reality abnormally, and they may hallucinate or have thinking disturbed thoughts. The symptoms of schizophrenia pose a severe threat to the sufferer as they limit the regular performance of a person. The mental condition can be traced back to ancient times where David in the Bible played the harp to calm King Saul after he was possessed with some evil spirits. It is therefore evident that mental conditions were recognized even in the ancient times with attempts to remedy them deliberately applied.

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Contrary to popular opinion, schizophrenia does not mean a split personality as the etymology of the name suggests. The name is derived from the Greek words 'schizo' meaning split and 'phren' meaning mind as coined by Paul Eugen Bleuler, a Swiss psychiatrist. The definition, therefore, has misled most people to believe that schizophrenia refers to a split personality. It is important to note that the description of the condition influences the treatment approaches significantly. Modern scholars have argued the term schizophrenia has currently acquired negative connotation and is prone to stigmatization since sufferers are termed unpredictable. The paper, therefore, seeks to provide an in-depth analysis of the history of schizophrenia treatments with particular attention to electroconvulsive therapy, lobotomies, medication and therapies used on schizophrenic patients.

Initial Period, the 1930s to 1980s

Electro Convulsion

Electroconvulsive therapy as a method of curing mental conditions has its roots in the late nineteenth century. It found precedence in the analysis of the relationship between the psychological states and the characteristics of the physical body (Hirshbein, 2012). Fever, trauma, and convulsions had a strong link and therefore could be explored to make people with mental conditions feel better. The next method of inducing attacks was by use of electric shock. It was observed that it was safer and worked better than the previous means thus was preferred in the treatment of schizophrenia. During the period, the method gained popularity due to mechanical, scientific applications to the condition and the realization that it could alleviate depression too. In light of the superiority of electro convulsion over the other methods coupled with limited knowledge of different ways, it became the principal method of treating schizophrenia.

The initial methods of using electro convulsion in the 1940s were crude and viewed as torture to the patients. The patients were tied to a bed without any anesthesia or drugs to relax their muscles (Cyrzyk, 2013). The shocks are reported to have been done in the open wards in full view of other patients. The experience, as admitted by patients who underwent the process, was dehumanizing and excruciating. It led to the notion that doctors did that deliberately to assert their authority over the patients and help bring order in the often chaotic wards. Furthermore, it was argued that people who went through the process suffered significant memory loss and thus the method was heavily criticized.

Lobotomy

The history of using lobotomies in medical practice dated back into the nineteenth century and was stumbled upon accidentally. While working in the amine, a worker had an iron bar driven into the front part of his brain. Not only had he survived the accident but his behavior had been altered noticeably. The change in behavior motivated a German doctor of psychiatry Dr. Gottlieb Burckhardt to drill holes into the front his six patients had obvious mental problem characterized by agitation (Soares et al., 2013). The patient's behavior changed but two of them died thus public opinion was against the process. Another doctor, Egaz Moniz, also tried the same with chimpanzees, but they were unresponsive though there was a slight change in behavior. An American doctor Walter Freeman was motivated by the works of Moniz and requested a monograph of the procedure. Walter and his friend Watts formed a partnership developing the Freeman-Watts standard lobotomy by drilling holes on both sides of the head and opening the head then cutting nerve matter in arcs using a blunt knife insert via a needle.

Between 1931and 1951, many people admitted into institutions of mental illness due to the adverse psychological effects of the Second World War. The lobotomies were performed on former soldiers, enemies and even unruly children. Schizophrenia was subjected to lobotomy on the basis that the frontal lobe of the brain was responsible for controlling behavior, impulses, and emotions. More in-depth research into the matter found a defect in the frontal lobe of people with schizophrenia (Lally & MacCabe, 2015). There is evidence the frontal lobe among people with schizophrenia is reduced and that there is a reduced amount of grey matter in the brains as well. These findings led to the use of lobotomies to deal with schizophrenia. The case study in Finland shows that lobotomies were used considerably in the 1950s to cure schizophrenia.

Medication

Medication for schizophrenic patients faced major obstacles since there was insufficient concrete knowledge on the causes of the disease or the significant symptoms. Initially, the definition of the disease was still an issue of great debate as scholars could not agree on a single workable definition (Engstrom, 2017). In the period towards the 1930's, there was an important discovery that changed the course of mediation for the condition. Doctors discovered that spirochete, a biological factor, was a significant cause of a severe form of insanity.

In the 1950's, Bleuler discovered that dementia praecox was caused by pathology and resulted in the weakening of choice function of the victims. Consequently, it highlighted the need of classification of the disease as either a syndrome or a disease which further hoped to streamline the development of drugs to fight the condition. This related discoveries led to the development of effective medications for depression. The foundation that influenced for medication for the disease was therefore laid. Later, towards the 1980s, hallucinations were considered secondary effects of the schizophrenic conditions which saw an interest of developing drugs which would inhibit dopamine. As a result, clinical trials of suppression of dopamine were done to create the antipsychotic drugs. Dopamine agonists were the primary focus for the doctor at this stage.

Clozapine was among the first drugs to be developed in the 1960s. It eliminated the fallacy that use of the medication was always accompanied by extrapyramidal side effects (EPS) in the treatment of the mental condition (Tandon, 2011). Its purpose was celebrated and applied extensively only to realize that it had a more significant side effect in the form of agranulocytes which then made its use limited significantly. Afterward, the medics resorted to comparing the efficiency y of the SGA and FGA. The FGA was mainly used from the 960s to the 1970s while the SGA was used from the 1970s up to the turn of the century. It is undoubted that antipsychotic medication has come a long way and is a better method as compared to the previous crude methods sufferers was subjected.

Therapies

Therapies for schizophrenia have their roots in the nineteenth century and were actively practiced then. Hippocrates was the initial person to discover that malaria if used to induce convulsions in patients who were insane, it cured them. It was noted that some fevers such as cholera epidemics in insane asylums had an improvement effect on some of the crazy people. There was the discovery that claimed the mental state of patients showed considerable improvement after being administered with a smallpox vaccine. Additionally, physicians noted that people very few epileptic people had schizophrenia thus a notion of fighting mental sickness with convulsions was planted into physicians.

In the first half of the twentieth century, methods of treating mental illness by use of convulsions were borne. The first form of inducing seizures was by use of malaria to cause fever and was mainly used to treat syphilis or paralysis of the insane (Hirshbein, 2012). Therapy was considered, and therapies thus evolved emboldened by a patient who had suffered from severe syphilis which affected her brain. She went down with a fever, and after it had passed, it was observed her mental state was much improved. Fever therapy was therefore initiated from experience. In the mental asylums of that period, there were various therapies which were invented and thought to help the patients feel better. They included sleep therapy or sleep cures for patients. It is important to note that these methods were rudimentary and did not have a valid scientific premise for the application. Therapies, therefore, were not effective in the initial years and most were abandoned in the second half of the century.

Modern Era: 1980s to Present

There have been significant changes in the treatment of schizophrenia in the modern era as most of the first methods dropped. Electro convulsion faced much criticism because of the inhuman experience. Criticism further abounded on the technique because there was a split opinion on the efficiency of the plan. Clinicians argued that it was successful, but the patients themselves were not sure if they felt better. More so, the patents were treated against their will as they were never asked to consent to use of the method on them. There was an evolution of the process that sought to provide a more humane way of applying the technique (Cyrzyk, 2013). Though the method is not widely used in the United States of America, it is still used across Europe. Refinement of the process touches on duration and dosage which is keenly observed (cite). The electrode placement is done carefully to minimize the effect on the brain. Above all, the ethical consideration is given priority through the consent of the patient and carrying out the process in a humane and standardized environment (cite).

In the 1990s doctors needed to perform trials and animals were involved in the tests just as it had happened with lobotomies. The doctors argued that the condition had biological manifestation the gene and if the gene composition of the animals were studied to determine the underlying causes or predisposing factors, the situation would be manageable with an effective remedy either of drugs or therapy. Refined studies ultimately led to the development and testing of various drugs with the aim of finding a solution to fighting the ailment (Tregellas, 2014). Improvements have proven beneficial in antipsychotic drug development.

Currently, medication is the mainstream method of antipsychotic treatment. It is widely used because the drugs developed and the side effects of other ways have made medication the priority. Since schizophrenia distorts the perception of reality by the sufferer, the medication is intended to help the patient enjoy a better quality of life by revising the incidents of exacerbation, reduce the pain of symptoms and improve the person function better (Tandon, 2011). In the last half-century, there have been more than sixty different medications developed against schizophrenia. The effective remedy complements the provision of a calm environment and support to the patient. The medication is generally of two types, the first generation agents (FGA) and the second generation agents (SGA). Both types of medication have the primary role of blocking dopamine D2 receptor...