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This is a 3 page paper that provides an overview of schizophrenia and self-medication. Several psychological discussion questions are addressed. Bibliography lists 1 source.
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3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: KW60_KFpsy048.doc
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alcohol. The connection between these traits may be that schizophrenics have a tendency to forego prescribed antipsychotic medications out of a belief that self-medication is a superior route to calming
their symptoms and overcoming their disease. One strong example of schizophrenic self-medication that has often been looked at is the tendency for schizophrenics to smoke tobacco. A recent study
pointed out the strangely disproportionate percentage of schizophrenics who use tobacco products: 80%, compared to just 25% of the "general population" (Leonard, Mexal, & Freedman, 2007). While this phenomenological assessment
is certainly interesting, it is of great importance to clinicians to address the issue of why schizophrenics engage in such behavior. The study suggests that the urge to self-medicate
is at the root of this behavior. This is because smoking tobacco may provide some immediate and appealing benefits to the schizophrenic patient. For instance, "smoking normalized auditory evoked potential
and eye tracking deficits in schizophrenia, as well as improving cognitive function" (Leonard, Mexal, & Freedman, 2007). This occurs because the schizophrenic brain exhibits abnormalities in certain nicotine receptor structures
that in turn influence the abnormal production of a host of neurotransmitters; when one smokes, the expression of these repressed genes tends to be normalized (Leonard, Mexal, & Freedman, 2007).
Likewise, such a genetic phenomenon might explain the tendency for schizophrenics to self-medicate with other drugs as well, including illegal ones such as cannabis. For instance, an ongoing clinical
trial at Dartmouth has assessed the hypothesis that schizophrenics who make use of cannabis may well do so in order to normalize the expression of a deficient genetic structure that
provides the brain with neurotransmitter-based "rewards" for positive behavior of achievements; in other words, such patients may actually require the interaction of drugs such as cannabis in order to normalize
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