Author: Lauren Sheehan

Schizophrenia is a chronic brain disorder affecting less than one percent of the United States population. Symptoms of Schizophrenic disorder include delusions, hallucinations, trouble concentrating, and lack of motivation. The most well known symptom would be the hearing of other voices. We often see these portrayed in films such as “A Beautiful Mind” or “The Soloist” where the character suffers from hearing multiple voices in the their head. Many people when the hear “schizophrenic” they often conclude that the person just hears voices in their head. This may be true for many cases but there are many other symptoms to the disorder. Symptoms such as confused and disordered thinking and speech are often found in schizophrenic patients. Having trouble with logical thinking and sometimes bizarre behavior or abnormal movements. Some other symptoms include problems with attention, concentration, memory and declining educational performance.

Many cases of schizophrenia often happen when the patient is entering into adulthood. Many people who suffer from schizophrenia tend are usually diagnosed in their early 20’s to 30’s.

One of my neighbors growing up was actually diagnosed with schizophrenia around 20. He suffers from hallucinations and tends to only hear voices where as others may experience visionary hallucinations. Other signs that shows he suffers from this brain disorder is that when he would walk around the neighborhood to work out he would never look up to wave, he often just focused on the ground because for many schizophrenics, they tend to focus on one thing such as rubbing the arm of a chair for hours which was discussed in class.  My neighbor was also never dangerous or aggressive. Many movies sometimes portray the character as a violent person, but in most cases schizophrenics are not at all dangerous and can live pretty normal lives. Going to a therapist also helped with my neighbors schizophrenia because the therapist could help with developing his social skills and to improve his condition by learning to live with it.

Based on what we learned in this unit of Psychology, there are three different types of parenting; authoritarian, permissive, and authoritative. Authoritarian parenting tends to be the most strict and involves parents imposing rules and expecting obedience from the children.  Authoritative parenting is the most common style which involves demanding rules from their children but still are responsive to their children’s needs. The last type of parenting is Permissive parenting. Permissive parenting tends to be very loving and nurturing but lacks discipline and rules. Permissive parents act more like friends rather than a parental figures. The effects that this type of parenting has on their child includes struggling with self regulation and self control. The child is also more likely to display low achievement in certain areas such as school, more likely to display aggression, and it can even lead to substance abuse. So what does this mean? For instance, if you are strict with a child who has been raised with permissive styles, then chances are the child will act out in irrational ways.

In my experience, I have had to babysit many children all of which have all had different parenting styles. The most difficult child that I had to baby sit is a perfect example of the effects that permissive parenting can have. This child was an only child and grew up with all the attention from his parents. Despite getting all the attention, the child also got anything he wanted. He had toys that filled up two rooms, a smartphone at the age of 7, and his parents rarely, if ever, told him “no”. This made my job of babysitting a lot more difficult because when I tried to enforce rules on him, he would often throw tantrums, screaming, crying, etc. In order for me to get him to do something, such as pick up his toys, I would have to bribe him of candy. Bribery and incentives are also a big part of permissive parenting because it’s easier for the child to listen to you if there’s a benefit for them. Overall, it was obvious that the kid was raised in a permissive environment where there were very little rules and his parents acted as his friends, rather than authority figures.

The brain is one of the most complex organs in the human body. It is made up of more than a billion nerves that communicate via synapses. The brain has many parts to it that are specific to different tasks. For example, the cerebellum, also known as the “little brain” is found in the back of the brain and is responsible for coordination and balance. So, what does that mean exactly? The cerebellum is the part of the brain that allows us to drive, to walk, and to throw a ball and it even helps with vision and eye movement. Ultimately, the cerebellum helps humans with anything involving movement and coordination. In fact, when we get drunk, the cerebellum is affected hence people not being able to walk right or slurring their words. Many cerebellar disorders result in difficulty speaking, not being able to walk, abnormal eye movements, and lack of muscle control. Although the cerebellum is known as the “little brain” the cerebellum plays a huge role in our everyday functions. 

In my personal experience, my second cousin suffers from an injury that partially damaged the cerebellum. He had fallen off a deck and hit his head resulting in many surgeries and eventually the doctors stated that his cerebellum was among one of the parts of the brains that was damaged. What was the result of this damage? Well, it took him a while to learn how to walk again and talk again and he still to this day cannot drive despite the injury being over 20 years ago. Today, he has difficulty walking and it takes him longer to get from point A to point B. With practice and many physical therapy sessions, my cousin has gotten a little better at walking but still will not be as healthy as he was before his injury. His injuries also affected his speech. He often slurs words and can forget certain things he says. He repeats himself time and time again because he lacks the part of his brain that lets him to speak clearly. That being said, the cerebellum is an extremely important part of the brain that helps us do normal things.   

Cerebellum, www.neuroskills.com/brain-injury/cerebellum/.