life of schizts

We all know of the various psychiatric disorders. Some are more obvious than others and some are more tolerable than others. Taking various psychology courses, i've learned that there are so many factors that play into these disorders. Whether is has to do with biological or even environmental factors. For example,  recently i was reading more about the schizophrenia disorder. It is one of the disorders that i have not personally encountered, but i have come to learn that it can be one that is difficult to deal with.  I would imagine that its hard to see one of your loves one going through this disorder because it is a disorder that not only affects the lifestyle of the person suffering from it, but also the people who take care of them.
Even though men are more susceptible to suffer from it compared to women, it usually tends develops in the person 20s. Imagine being 20 something and finding out you are diagnosed with schizophrenia? These are the highlight years of your life. Years where you graduate from college, get married, and start a family. If a person with schizophrenia has difficulty getting a simple point across i imagine how hard it would be to accomplish all three.

Like i mentioned before, since i personally haven't met someone who suffers from this disorder i can't say that they can't accomplish many normal things in their life. I just imagine that it must be a bit tougher. I've heard that this particular disorder might have something to do with genetics and all honesty, i am not surprised. Being a pre-med student and everything, i am well aware of how certain small mutations in someones gene can cause a tremendous effect. It has been shown that those who suffer from schizophrenia have multiple microdeletions or microduplications.
I'm sure these genes are affected in way that can manipulate the brain and make a person visualize or see things that aren't really there. This is exactly what happens to a person with schizophrenia. The scary thing is that you have to keep an eye out on those who suffer from this. They become a danger to themselves as well as others. 

 In my opinion, i believe that the effect is mostly biological than environmental. For instance, the video

below is a video of a child who suffers from schizophrenia. This child, janie, seemed to show signs from an early age. Its unbelievable to see the measures  the parents have to take to keep her and their other child safe. This looks stressful and seems really hard to deal with. But then again when its your child, you will do anything. The other girl, Rebecca, who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia showed really bad signs when she tried to kill herself. Its so sad :/ and she feels like she has to inorder to get rid of an hallucination she calls "the man".
If environmental played a huge role, then you wouldn't see schizophrenia in children. Although, yes it is rare, but it basically proves that biological has a bigger effect. 

My daughter is long gone

Im sure we have all been in situations where a traumatic event has left us feeling helpless or feeling that our world is about to fall apart. Its not easy to try to shake this off and pull yourself together. Some may take a few days or weeks to recover, while others may take months or even years.
 I can't say i've lived a whole lot because im only 21 right, but i can say that having traveled to like 15 + different countries and there hasnt been one person who i've met who has not  felt some sort of vulnerability  at some point in their lives. Difficult situations that occurs in our lives is what makes us i guess you can say....human.
Having a father who is a physician i have come across many of his patients who confuse depression with being fatigued, sick, or lack of motivation. I've heard many of their stories. There were some that  if they had ask me for advice i would tell them exactly what they should do, and then there were some  that i wouldn't know what to say and then realizing how lucky i was. I remember this one lady who had just suffered a loss of a daughter. This little girl was about 7 years old and had past away due to cancer. I remember that when i first starting talking to the lady, she was talking about her daughter as if she was still alive. She was talking about how her daughter loved to dance and was obsess with Hanna Montana and how they drove to Houston to see one of her concerts. It wasn't until towards the end of the conversation events didn't seem to coordinate and she confessed that her daughter had died. A couple of minutes had past and i began talking to her husband and he started telling me that his wife is extremely depressed but didn't want to admit it. He was the one who actually came to see my dad and was hoping that if he took her with him, my dad could convince her to take some type of antidepressants. Apparently for the past 6 months she hadn't really been doing much and he himself had even walked in on her trying to take her life. There was more details into the story, but it might be to personal to talk about it right now.

 Depression is a common disorder.  If you met someone who was suffering from depression, how would approach this situation and what advice would you give them?

There are many different ways to treat it. For example there are people who go on antidepressants. I've heard of others who started exercising or taking some sort of mediation classes and that helped them. In my opinion, I think that the best approach is to talk to them. Sometimes what we need is a strong support system and someone to listen to us. Keeping our problems bottled up doesn't help anyone. Before directly seeking medication, its best to find other alternatives. Although I do have to admit that medications do work pretty fast, we have to remember that with any medication there also are side affects that come along with it. What if the side affects become more last-longing than the depression itself? Something to think about right!?

Below is a video of case study of a patient dealing with depression. The source of the depression varies for different people. My advice is to start doing something you love or to do something you've always wanted to do but never got the chance to do. Something that felt was similar in most depressive patients was that i don't think they felt they we're loved or felt that they had any purpose on this earth. That they couldnt survive if they didnt have that one thing they loved. ( most of the time that one thing they loved was taken away from them which is what lead to the depression in the first place).
If you know some who is depressed make sure they find some kind of help. You might just save a life!

A Terrified Gasp for Air

Have you ever had an episode of an intense fear that seems grow deep inside of you and  your heart begins to pound so rapidly as if it was about to jump right out of your chest?

I remember growing up I had friend who had that same exact feeling repeatedly. There were several instances where during class you would hear him trying loudly to gasp for air and turn extremely red. You could see the terrified look on his face and the teachers would have to take him outside of the classroom so he could calm down. I remember being as confused  as everyone else in class and no one even dared to ask what was going on with him. ( I'm sure he was pretty embarrassed himself). These same incidents reoccured over and over again for a couple of years. I then moved away and several years went by and the other day I bumped into him. I finally had the courage to ask to him what was going on. He explained to me that he was suffering from panic disorder. He was having repeated panic attacks and told me that it usually happened out of no where but would definitely occur when the class got really loud all of a sudden. He said couldn't help it and left like an outcast because of it. I felt pretty bad because i knew the rest of the kids felt he was a little weird and top it off he just always looked so fragile. He said that what scared him the most was the fact that he knew he could just get a panic attack hated that he couldnt control it. He eventually sought professional help and now he doesnt have to worry about it anymore.

Below is an animated video that talks about panic disorders and what exactly it is. Here Dylan talks about his own experience and explains that this disorder limited him from doing the things he love, like skateboarding. After seeing a psychiatrist, he was assisted to better cope with this condition.