Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is the split between the emotional and intellectual aspects of experiences. There are disconnected with reality. Schizophrenics will experience all or some of these symptoms: delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, disorganized behavior, absent emotion, inability to speak, and are unsociable. This disorder is very complex and determining where it comes from is very difficult. There are so many theories and they seem to all touch on just about everything. So what is it really? Is it due to the viruses a mother is exposed to while their child is in the womb, between 15 different genes mutations, a mother who doesn't eat enough fish, a parasite from cats, Rh differences  drugs, little glutamate, or too much dopamine synapse activity? I am really confused and concerned. Why is it so hard to determine? I feel very bad for those who have to go through this terrifying experience and I hope that people with schizophrenia aren't shunned away because they were born that way. I think schizophrenia is better explained from people who actually have it so here are some more videos.

The Rise of Depression

After learning about the symptoms of major depression I began to wonder if depression has increased since the past. I haven't really heard of many people being diagnosed as depressed in the past even through events such as the Great depression and WWII.

There are studies that show a steady increase in depression, anxiety, and other mental disorders among children and adolescents over the past fifty to seventy years. There were tests giving to young adults that date back to 1938 and it seems that young college students are more depressed now than in the past.
It is suggested that the increase is due to the fact that today's society is more worried about extrinsic goals rather than finding our internal value. This means that we are more concerned with the judgment of other people and material objects rather than being content in trying to develop our own meaning of life. As a result of the increased importance of being rich, looking attractive, and having a good job; people feel that they have no control over their lives.

Furthermore, it is suggested that this lack of control is due to the fact that children and young adults do not have enough free time. The duration of school has increased and control over students by teachers, grades, and rules has diminished their sense of self control and abilities to explore their own opportunities. We are taught at an early age that whatever we do or say is wrong. As students we were constantly supervised and directed by adults. This sends a message of incompetence, which can make a child or teen very sad and disappointment.

It is sad to hear that students are lacking this sense of control because of the over guidance of instructors and that this is causing more anxiety and mental disorders.

Moebius Syndrome

When telling a joke or a crazy story people usually look for your reaction, a facial expression to determine if you understand or like what they are telling you or not. If you look like your really not interested people might perceive you as not caring about what they say or that they aren't that good at story telling. It is a natural thing to look at the eyes and mouth to determine whether someone is sad, angry, surprised, happy, or afraid. For people with Moebius syndrome, making friends can be difficult. 

Moebius syndrome is a rare condition where a person is unable to move their facial muscles to make a smile. Apparently, studies have shown that people who smile feel happier than people who do not smile or laugh at a something. However people with this syndrome experience happiness just as anyone else. After hearing about this condition I wanted to hear about it from a person who is living with this rare syndrome.

As you can see in the video, Alonso is laughing and acting like a normal teenage girl but while laughing, is unable to move her mouth to show smiling.  Because Moebius does not allow facial movements, Alonso has a hard time pronouncing words that have to do with the lips. She seems to be able to move her tongue but I have heard from other videos of people speaking about their condition, that they can not move their tongue so speaking is even more difficult. Some surgeries have been done to help the people express emotion on their face, such as, taking muscles from other parts of the body and putting it in the face.
I am glad that this individual is able to overcome the bullying that comes to her way because of her condition. Thanks to Alonso sharing her experience of Moebius syndrome, I better understand what it is about.