Erik James Anderson
Rough Draft - Interview Assignment
3/1/06
The world consists of many cultures and subcultures that are brought together with unique beliefs and circumstances. Under a subjective microscope, the Muslim culture is quite often misinterpreted and viewed as a symbol of terror. Deriving conclusions based on subjective experiences tend to be problematic because most individuals possess ethnocentric attitudes about their home culture. Ultimately, these conclusions are frequently stereotypical and unfair because many individuals are unable to objectively observe cultures outside of their own. The goal of this paper is to make objective observations of the Muslim culture. Placing their beliefs into context forms a basis of understanding for comparison and contrast with the American culture.
Differences between cultures often become apparent with how families are structured. Aali al-Mohammad, a WVU international student, describes the family structure in his culture as being an institution. Aali stated, "Allah has given the power of managing the family institution to the man." The laws set forth by the Quran governing the family are logical and reasonable ideals that take many observations into consideration. There are three steps for disciplining the wife who is disobedient to the family unit. Disobedience is not, for example, when a woman cooks a dish that the man does not like. Disobedience is when the woman is causing corruption or disorder in the family. The man will begin admonition by use of calm, wise and persuasive language. This persuasion will carry on for several weeks if not months until it fails. If reasoning does not work then the man will banish his wife from the bed. Upon further rebellion the man is permitted to "not-hard" beat his wife. Aali makes it very clear that the Quran allows no interpretation here of the meaning in it's law. Faaiq El Madheen, an Arab from Lebanon, elaborated on the significance of the not-hard beatings. Figuratively speaking the beating represents an act of "knocking the sense into someone." The beatings are intended to make the wife realize the importance of the family's stability over her wants. In context, a Sheik possessing the most extreme view on beatings suggested the use of a handkerchief to hit his wife.
Subjectively speaking the fact that the Quran disallows the wife to beat her husband would lead one to believe that the family institution is unequal. A logical observation that Quran makes is that physically men are larger and more muscular than women. Thus, if a woman were to be given the right to beat her husband it could result in her death. The Quran says that the wife is to express her feelings of being wronged towards relatives or the courts. In these places an equal man can beat the husband on her behalf. Under certain circumstances women are allowed to banish their husbands from the bed. If a man attempts to force sexual penetration into a part of her body, for instance, the anus, he may be banished. Intercourse through the anus goes against Islamic law.
Mohammad Hussan, a Sunni student, provided an example from the Quran demonstrating discipline within the family institution. Mohammad, the prophet, had several wives who united against him. They were interested in more material possessions and demanded that the prophet seek a raise. Mohammad exclaimed that he provided what he could for his level of proficiency. The wives did not care and continued to seek out their demands. Thus, Mohammad banished them from his bed for thirty days until a Sheik intervened, offering to appease the demands of Mohammad's wives. Mohammad was insistent and eventually the demands were relinquished. It could be said that Mohammad handled the matter with wisdom and calmness.
Family structure in America has evolved into what can be thought of as an equal representation for both man and woman. The stereotypical family consisting of a father who goes to work to provide for the entire family while the mother is a homemaker has since faded. Women are now carrying out professional careers and providing competition in the work place for men. This competition inherently causes a power struggle of representation in the family. Also families in America are not institutionalized or designed by religion for stability, but are based on romance. For this reason America experiences a much higher divorce rate. Differences between these cultures do not end at the family structure.
Another contrasting belief between Muslims and Americans is the idea of suicide. Speaking with Edward Pattern, a Palestinian Psychiatrist, revealed a fascinating perspective in the Islamic religion about martyrdom. According to Islamic tradition, "he who gives his life for an Islamic cause will have his sins forgiven and a place reserved in paradise." Shihada or martyrdom in context is a beautiful thing where the soul is the most supreme idea. Edward explains that the cultural structure in America's society blinds them from realizing this and the concepts of self-sacrifice and honor do not exist. Many Americans have silly interpretations of existence that when death happens, it is just a corpse. To the Shihada it is an apex of happiness, he feels like he is flying. Transitioning to a more beautiful existence and seeing the light of his creator.
Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah, a WVU international student of Jordanian descent, wanted to clarify misconceptions between suicide and martyrdom. If a person blows himself up in a direct attack, discriminate of the enemy without the intent to kill innocent women and children, then he is considered a martyr. Furthermore, if he explodes himself among these civilians or old people who are not fighting the war, then he has committed a sin against Islam. "The harming of innocent bystanders, even in times of war, was forbidden by the Prophet Muhammad, "says Abdul.
Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, a Shiite student living in Dadisman Hall, explains that a dominating cultural belief in Islam is that death is sought out. "Suicide bombers are heroic figures to us and commendable for fighting oppression," says Mohammed. Although this is the dominate culture's view there are many sub cultures lead by Muslims who insist that suicide is forbidden by the Quran.
It is very difficult to justify or pardon suicide bombings in our culture at least by way of the dominate Christian and Catholic beliefs. Objectively it could be said that their actions are reasonable and logical parts of the culture dictated by the Quran. As the martyr has sacrificed himself for the sake of his religion against the enemy and deserves the ultimate reward of meeting his creator. This point of view would seem too liberal and thus could in turn be a primitive perspective in this delicate context. Subjective observations reveal that the suicide is affecting others often innocent civilians irregardless of the intended target. These civilians are not actively participating in the war or in combat and do not deserve to die in such a malicious, indiscriminate and thoughtless manner. For this very reason suicide bombing can not be objectively justified with any ease. It is not the religious belief by the Christian Bible, in which suicide is one of the most egregious sins, that influences this view.
Walking the fine line, figuratively speaking, between subjective and objective thinking is a difficult task when attempting to compare any two cultures. Care and precaution should be taken in order to be objective enough to understand the ideas behind and the context of a cultures belief. Also one should not make the mistake of simply justifying all the rituals of a culture which could go against the ideals of being humane. The family structure of Islam is very understandable in context, but their beliefs in suicide bombings are inexcusable by all human standards.
i hope this is able to express all that i have learned about writing in english this year. i hope that it shows progression in the positive direction. let me know what you think.
English Progression? [Archive] - ForumsHQ
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Re: English Progression? [Archive] - ForumsHQ
Submission Rough Draft – Interview Assignment
3/1/06
Ms Roy
The world consists of many cultures and subcultures that are brought together with unique beliefs and circumstances. Under a subjective microscope, the Muslim culture is quite often misinterpreted and viewed as a symbol of terror. Deriving conclusions based on subjective experiences tend to be problematic because most individuals possess ethnocentric attitudes about their home culture. Ultimately, these conclusions are frequently stereotypical and unfair because many individuals are unable to objectively observe cultures outside of their own. The goal of this paper is to make objective observations of the Muslim culture. Placing their beliefs into context forms a basis of understanding for comparison and contrast with the American culture.
Differences between cultures often become apparent with how families are structured. Aali al-Mohammad, a WVU international student, describes the family structure in his culture as being an institution. Aali stated, “Allah has given the power of managing the family institution to the man.” The laws set forth by the Quran governing the family are logical and reasonable ideals that take many observations into consideration. There are three steps for disciplining the wife who is disobedient to the family unit. Disobedience is not, for example, when a woman cooks a dish that the man does not like. Disobedience is when the woman is causing corruption or disorder in the family. The man will begin admonition by use of calm, wise and persuasive language. This persuasion will carry on for several weeks if not months until it fails. If reasoning does not work then the man will banish his wife from the bed. Upon further rebellion the man is permitted to “not-hard” beat his wife. Aali makes it very clear that the Quran allows no interpretation here of the meaning in it’s law. Faaiq El Madheen, an Arab from Lebanon, elaborated on the significance of the not-hard beatings. Figuratively speaking the beating represents an act of “knocking the sense into someone.” The beatings are intended to make the wife realize the importance of the family’s stability over her wants. In context, a Sheik possessing the most extreme view on beatings suggested the use of a handkerchief to hit his wife.
Subjectively speaking the fact that the Quran disallows the wife to beat her husband would lead one to believe that the family institution is unequal. A logical observation that Quran makes is that physically men are larger and more muscular than women. Thus, if a woman were to be given the right to beat her husband it could result in her death. The Quran says that the wife is to express her feelings of being wronged towards relatives or the courts. In these places an equal man can beat the husband on her behalf. Under certain circumstances women are allowed to banish their husbands from the bed. If a man attempts to force sexual penetration into a part of her body, for instance, the anus, he may be banished. Intercourse through the anus goes against Islamic law.
Mohammad Hussan, a Sunni student, provided an example from the Quran demonstrating discipline within the family institution. Mohammad, the prophet, had several wives who united against him. They were interested in more material possessions and demanded that the prophet seek a raise. Mohammad exclaimed that he provided what he could for his level of proficiency. The wives did not care and continued to seek out their demands. Thus, Mohammad banished them from his bed for thirty days until a Sheik intervened, offering to appease the demands of Mohammad’s wives. Mohammad was insistent and eventually the demands were relinquished. It could be said that Mohammad handled the matter with wisdom and calmness.
Family structure in America has evolved into what can be thought of as an equal representation for both man and woman. The stereotypical family consisting of a father who goes to work to provide for the entire family while the mother is a homemaker has since faded. Women are now carrying out professional careers and providing competition in the work place for men. This competition inherently causes a power struggle of representation in the family. Also families in America are not institutionalized or designed by religion for stability, but are based on romance. For this reason America experiences a much higher divorce rate. Differences between these cultures do not end at the family structure.
Another contrasting belief between Muslims and Americans is the idea of suicide. Speaking with Edward Pattern, a Palestinian Psychiatrist, revealed a fascinating perspective in the Islamic religion about martyrdom. According to Islamic tradition, "he who gives his life for an Islamic cause will have his sins forgiven and a place reserved in paradise." Shihada or martyrdom in context is a beautiful thing where the soul is the most supreme idea. Edward explains that the cultural structure in America’s society blinds them from realizing this and the concepts of self-sacrifice and honor do not exist. Many Americans have silly interpretations of existence that when death happens, it is just a corpse. To the Shihada it is an apex of happiness, he feels like he is flying. Transitioning to a more beautiful existence and seeing the light of his creator.
Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah, a WVU international student of Jordanian descent, wanted to clarify misconceptions between suicide and martyrdom. If a person blows himself up in a direct attack, discriminate of the enemy without the intent to kill innocent women and children, then he is considered a martyr. Furthermore, if he explodes himself among these civilians or old people who are not fighting the war, then he has committed a sin against Islam. “The harming of innocent bystanders, even in times of war, was forbidden by the Prophet Muhammad, “says Abdul.
Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, a Shiite student living in Dadisman Hall, explains that a dominating cultural belief in Islam is that death is sought out. “Suicide bombers are heroic figures to us and commendable for fighting oppression,” says Mohammed. Although this is the dominate culture’s view there are many sub cultures lead by Muslims who insist that suicide is forbidden by the Quran.
It is very difficult to justify or pardon suicide bombings in our culture at least by way of the dominate Christian and Catholic beliefs. Objectively it could be said that their actions are reasonable and logical parts of the culture dictated by the Quran. As the martyr has sacrificed himself for the sake of his religion against the enemy and deserves the ultimate reward of meeting his creator. This point of view would seem too liberal and thus could in turn be a primitive perspective in this delicate context. Subjective observations reveal that the suicide is affecting others often innocent civilians irrespective of the intended target. These civilians are not actively participating in the war or in combat and do not deserve to die in such a malicious, indiscriminate and thoughtless manner. For this very reason suicide bombing can not be objectively justified with any ease. It is not the religious belief by the Christian Bible, in which suicide is one of the most egregious sins, that influences this view.
Walking the fine line, figuratively speaking, between subjective and objective thinking is a difficult task when attempting to compare any two cultures. Care and precaution should be taken in order to be objective enough to understand the ideas behind and the context of a cultures belief. Also one should not make the mistake of simply justifying all the rituals of a culture which could go against the ideals of being humane. The family structure of Islam is very understandable in context, but their beliefs in suicide bombings are inexcusable by all human standards.
Works Cited
1) Fouad,Moughrabi, The Arab Basic Personality: A Critical Survey of the Literature. International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 9, No. 1.(Jan., 1978), pp. 99- 112.
2) Shuman, Ellis, What makes suicide bombers tick? IsraelInsider. June 4, 2001
3) Bulliet, Richard, The Shaikh Al-Islam and the Evolution of Islamic Society. Studia Islamica, No. 35. (1972), pp. 53-67. I
4) Butler, Linda et al. Suicide Bombers: Dignity, Despair, and the Need for Hope: An Interview with Eyad El Sarra. Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 31, No. 4. (Summer, 2002), pp. 71-76.
5) Said, Edward. Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World. Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 11, No. 1 (1981), pp. 161-164.
submission draft... i'm going to bed.
3/1/06
Ms Roy
The world consists of many cultures and subcultures that are brought together with unique beliefs and circumstances. Under a subjective microscope, the Muslim culture is quite often misinterpreted and viewed as a symbol of terror. Deriving conclusions based on subjective experiences tend to be problematic because most individuals possess ethnocentric attitudes about their home culture. Ultimately, these conclusions are frequently stereotypical and unfair because many individuals are unable to objectively observe cultures outside of their own. The goal of this paper is to make objective observations of the Muslim culture. Placing their beliefs into context forms a basis of understanding for comparison and contrast with the American culture.
Differences between cultures often become apparent with how families are structured. Aali al-Mohammad, a WVU international student, describes the family structure in his culture as being an institution. Aali stated, “Allah has given the power of managing the family institution to the man.” The laws set forth by the Quran governing the family are logical and reasonable ideals that take many observations into consideration. There are three steps for disciplining the wife who is disobedient to the family unit. Disobedience is not, for example, when a woman cooks a dish that the man does not like. Disobedience is when the woman is causing corruption or disorder in the family. The man will begin admonition by use of calm, wise and persuasive language. This persuasion will carry on for several weeks if not months until it fails. If reasoning does not work then the man will banish his wife from the bed. Upon further rebellion the man is permitted to “not-hard” beat his wife. Aali makes it very clear that the Quran allows no interpretation here of the meaning in it’s law. Faaiq El Madheen, an Arab from Lebanon, elaborated on the significance of the not-hard beatings. Figuratively speaking the beating represents an act of “knocking the sense into someone.” The beatings are intended to make the wife realize the importance of the family’s stability over her wants. In context, a Sheik possessing the most extreme view on beatings suggested the use of a handkerchief to hit his wife.
Subjectively speaking the fact that the Quran disallows the wife to beat her husband would lead one to believe that the family institution is unequal. A logical observation that Quran makes is that physically men are larger and more muscular than women. Thus, if a woman were to be given the right to beat her husband it could result in her death. The Quran says that the wife is to express her feelings of being wronged towards relatives or the courts. In these places an equal man can beat the husband on her behalf. Under certain circumstances women are allowed to banish their husbands from the bed. If a man attempts to force sexual penetration into a part of her body, for instance, the anus, he may be banished. Intercourse through the anus goes against Islamic law.
Mohammad Hussan, a Sunni student, provided an example from the Quran demonstrating discipline within the family institution. Mohammad, the prophet, had several wives who united against him. They were interested in more material possessions and demanded that the prophet seek a raise. Mohammad exclaimed that he provided what he could for his level of proficiency. The wives did not care and continued to seek out their demands. Thus, Mohammad banished them from his bed for thirty days until a Sheik intervened, offering to appease the demands of Mohammad’s wives. Mohammad was insistent and eventually the demands were relinquished. It could be said that Mohammad handled the matter with wisdom and calmness.
Family structure in America has evolved into what can be thought of as an equal representation for both man and woman. The stereotypical family consisting of a father who goes to work to provide for the entire family while the mother is a homemaker has since faded. Women are now carrying out professional careers and providing competition in the work place for men. This competition inherently causes a power struggle of representation in the family. Also families in America are not institutionalized or designed by religion for stability, but are based on romance. For this reason America experiences a much higher divorce rate. Differences between these cultures do not end at the family structure.
Another contrasting belief between Muslims and Americans is the idea of suicide. Speaking with Edward Pattern, a Palestinian Psychiatrist, revealed a fascinating perspective in the Islamic religion about martyrdom. According to Islamic tradition, "he who gives his life for an Islamic cause will have his sins forgiven and a place reserved in paradise." Shihada or martyrdom in context is a beautiful thing where the soul is the most supreme idea. Edward explains that the cultural structure in America’s society blinds them from realizing this and the concepts of self-sacrifice and honor do not exist. Many Americans have silly interpretations of existence that when death happens, it is just a corpse. To the Shihada it is an apex of happiness, he feels like he is flying. Transitioning to a more beautiful existence and seeing the light of his creator.
Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah, a WVU international student of Jordanian descent, wanted to clarify misconceptions between suicide and martyrdom. If a person blows himself up in a direct attack, discriminate of the enemy without the intent to kill innocent women and children, then he is considered a martyr. Furthermore, if he explodes himself among these civilians or old people who are not fighting the war, then he has committed a sin against Islam. “The harming of innocent bystanders, even in times of war, was forbidden by the Prophet Muhammad, “says Abdul.
Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, a Shiite student living in Dadisman Hall, explains that a dominating cultural belief in Islam is that death is sought out. “Suicide bombers are heroic figures to us and commendable for fighting oppression,” says Mohammed. Although this is the dominate culture’s view there are many sub cultures lead by Muslims who insist that suicide is forbidden by the Quran.
It is very difficult to justify or pardon suicide bombings in our culture at least by way of the dominate Christian and Catholic beliefs. Objectively it could be said that their actions are reasonable and logical parts of the culture dictated by the Quran. As the martyr has sacrificed himself for the sake of his religion against the enemy and deserves the ultimate reward of meeting his creator. This point of view would seem too liberal and thus could in turn be a primitive perspective in this delicate context. Subjective observations reveal that the suicide is affecting others often innocent civilians irrespective of the intended target. These civilians are not actively participating in the war or in combat and do not deserve to die in such a malicious, indiscriminate and thoughtless manner. For this very reason suicide bombing can not be objectively justified with any ease. It is not the religious belief by the Christian Bible, in which suicide is one of the most egregious sins, that influences this view.
Walking the fine line, figuratively speaking, between subjective and objective thinking is a difficult task when attempting to compare any two cultures. Care and precaution should be taken in order to be objective enough to understand the ideas behind and the context of a cultures belief. Also one should not make the mistake of simply justifying all the rituals of a culture which could go against the ideals of being humane. The family structure of Islam is very understandable in context, but their beliefs in suicide bombings are inexcusable by all human standards.
Works Cited
1) Fouad,Moughrabi, The Arab Basic Personality: A Critical Survey of the Literature. International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 9, No. 1.(Jan., 1978), pp. 99- 112.
2) Shuman, Ellis, What makes suicide bombers tick? IsraelInsider. June 4, 2001
3) Bulliet, Richard, The Shaikh Al-Islam and the Evolution of Islamic Society. Studia Islamica, No. 35. (1972), pp. 53-67. I
4) Butler, Linda et al. Suicide Bombers: Dignity, Despair, and the Need for Hope: An Interview with Eyad El Sarra. Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 31, No. 4. (Summer, 2002), pp. 71-76.
5) Said, Edward. Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World. Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 11, No. 1 (1981), pp. 161-164.
submission draft... i'm going to bed.
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Re: English Progression? [Archive] - ForumsHQ
the professor enjoyed the above essay (not graded, yet as it's a submission draft.) i was presented with my midterm grade: B+ ... i had hoped for more, but what can you do? i should have participated more as it received a B+ itself... so, close...
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You should feel great that 1) I actually read the ENTIRE thing [something your other writings failed to compel me to do] 2) each paragraph lead me into the next, almost making number 1 hard NOT to do and 3) used language that I could easily read and comprehend.
This is MUCH better writing, and it seems to be much more informative than your other works. I could tell what I was reading, why I should read it, and seemed to have a journalistic approach... which I figured should be the case given what I did know of the assignment. Somehow though, I don't agree that most people lack the ability to observe cultures outside their own. Generally speaking as a student and quasi editor, I don't like such words as most.... if half is 50% wouldn't most have to be a number at least 75% or more? That seems like too large of a number for just lacking an ability to objectively observe other cultures. Maybe most people cannot agree with the culture's belief system... but surely more than 25% of our population can observe it, intellectually. You might say minor detail... but on a junior year english thesis I got a total of 3 points knocked off just for using words like most, enormous, huge. Hehehehe, I sometimes have the ability to be bit dramatic and grandios... so when I see descriptors that seem too much (after that thesis) it makes me think is it accurate? Shrug... just my personal opinion/experience. But great job hun, I am very proud!
This is MUCH better writing, and it seems to be much more informative than your other works. I could tell what I was reading, why I should read it, and seemed to have a journalistic approach... which I figured should be the case given what I did know of the assignment. Somehow though, I don't agree that most people lack the ability to observe cultures outside their own. Generally speaking as a student and quasi editor, I don't like such words as most.... if half is 50% wouldn't most have to be a number at least 75% or more? That seems like too large of a number for just lacking an ability to objectively observe other cultures. Maybe most people cannot agree with the culture's belief system... but surely more than 25% of our population can observe it, intellectually. You might say minor detail... but on a junior year english thesis I got a total of 3 points knocked off just for using words like most, enormous, huge. Hehehehe, I sometimes have the ability to be bit dramatic and grandios... so when I see descriptors that seem too much (after that thesis) it makes me think is it accurate? Shrug... just my personal opinion/experience. But great job hun, I am very proud!
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erek[NOT BANNED]
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Re: English Progression? [Archive] - ForumsHQ
my communications professor highly disagrees and built a strong argument using a word called ethnocentricism. his doctoral research and studies has shown that cultures relative to each other, culturual relativism, believe they are the best. for example people in france believe they are better than all other cultures, people in the UK believe they are the best. there is strong evidence to suggest the truth in this and therefor it is very difficult for someone to objectively another culture that is vastly different. for instance my paper provides very strong examples of the muslim culture and their beliefs put into context. typical americans describe muslims as terrorists, especially around here where flight 93 downed in stoystown, pa. i cannot agree with you, sorry.
Re: English Progression? [Archive] - ForumsHQ
']my communications professor highly disagrees and built a strong argument using a word called ethnocentricism. his doctoral research and studies has shown that cultures relative to each other, culturual relativism, believe they are the best.
If your professor claimed that was his research you need to drop that class and speak with someone on the school's ethics commitee.
If your professor claimed that was his research you need to drop that class and speak with someone on the school's ethics commitee.
Re: English Progression? [Archive] - ForumsHQ
Preface
Use of online internet based medical resources and open encyclopedias for self-diagnosing health problems is a growing trend. While it could be said that sources such as Wikipedia can provide a broad and general overview of the symptoms associated with many illnesses, they are not reliable. Wikipedia's inherent nature allows anyone to submit unbiased definitions to their site. The determination of bias is based on a system of language checks built into Wikipedia's site; professional peer editors rarely revise these entries. The lack of editors and authorities on the subjects in Wikipedia provide for very subjective observations. There are professional medical websites such as WebMD which provide objective material on illnesses. The problem associated with the material on these medical sites is not the content, but the reader's ability to comprehend the content in its entirety. Using online medical resources for self-diagnosis can only provide a general overview and is not a suitable replacement for a physician's diagnosis.
The initial genre in my paper will be an essay geared to use objective observations and background information to present my issue and point of view. In the essay I present the growing trend in which many individuals attempt to use resources such as Wikipedia or WebMD in order to self-diagnosis disease or illness. My position on this issue will be that self-diagnosis via these potentially subjective resources is no substitution for a professional physician's opinion. This essay provides an excellent opportunity to introduce a lot of necessary background and psychological implications that will have the reader well informed when transitioning to my other genres.
Coming from a broad overview of my issue and presenting my point of view, I have chosen to segue into a more concise and specific genre. I wrote a detailed journal entry of a day that I decided to take a schizophrenia diagnostic screening. It is my goal to expose the psychological and emotional implications with answering the questions. It was very difficult to answer questions truthfully, especially questions that seemed to specifically test for schizophrenia. The outcome I desired had a direct impact on how I answered the questions which in turn is a big problem for self-diagnosing any illness.
The transition from the previous genre to my next, even more specific, genre elaborates on how misinterpreting symptoms from medical terminology can lead up the wrong path. An example used in my paper is that a specific symptom of schizophrenia is disorganized thought processes. I at first figured that in many social circumstances people have acknowledged that my ideas are completely random. Drawing a conclusion that I have this symptom of schizophrenia is very abrupt and illogical. Further analysis reveals that I simply am actively thinking in my mind about a lot of things that are in reality organized, but since nobody around me knows what I'm thinking my statements can sometimes seem completely random. In reality putting what I say into context and how I arrived at my statement makes perfect logical sense. For this genre I provided a collage demonstrating truly random thought processes of what an actual schizophrenic may experience.
For my fourth and fifth genres I provided a grouped list of symptoms and dictionary definitions associated with schizophrenia. The list of symptoms is made available as sample proof of the complexity of some disorders. Disorders that are not easily tested through physical inspection cause problems even for medical doctors. Many times these disorders are misdiagnosed by professionals, much less an individual who is not an authority on the material he or she is reading.
The final genre is borrowed from a clinical website which provides very specific descriptions of a mental disease called psychosis. The article alone is eight pages long and provides a thorough investigation of the illness. It is my intention to overwhelm the reader with the vast complexity and advanced terminology uses in these articles. I want to bring awareness of the importance of the small details and realization to the idea that self-diagnosis is not a suitable replacement for a physician's opinion.
Self-Diagnosis - An Essay
Use of online internet based medical resources and open encyclopedias for self-diagnosing health problems is a growing trend. While it could be said that sources such as Wikipedia can provide a broad and general overview of the symptoms associated with many illnesses, they may not be reliable. The inherent nature of Wikipedia allows for any individual to submit categorically unbiased definitions to their website. The bias of these articles is determined by a system of language checks built into Wikipedia's website; professional peer editors or authorities rarely revise these entries. The lack of academic editing of the content in Wikipedia provide for very subjective observations. Though, there are professional medical websites such as WebMD, which provide clinical data on illnesses. The problem associated with the material on these medical websites is not a question of the correctness of the content, but rather the reader's comprehension. Using online medical resources for self-diagnosis can only provide a general overview and is not a suitable replacement for a Physician's diagnoses. This paper intends to expose the risk involved when attempting to fathom the plethora of information required to accurately diagnose any medical condition.
The old adage, "You know your body better than anyone else" may be true, but not everyone understands the physiology and chemistry in their own bodies. Most high school and four year university graduates do not possess the education and knowledge to make complicated decisions about their health. The average person might feel that they are sick, but beyond such feelings, they cannot diagnose the cause. This is supported by statistics that thirty four percent of the population has a high school diploma and thirty percent have a four year college degree. Putting these numbers into perspective reveals that a majority of the population has little or no background in the studies of chemistry or biology, much less graduate work in these fields. Without possessing the necessary foundation from general chemistry and biology, people cannot be expected to understand the intricacies of a neurological disease such as schizophrenia.
Problems begin to arise when people develop slight delusions of grandeur where they believe they can feel around the terminology on clinical websites. Many times it is believed that if they can grasp the general underlying concepts of the disease, the technical jargon can be overlooked. Or they develop an interpolated definition of the words based on their usage in a sentence. It is usually that very jargon in which the most pertinent information about the disease is presented. It wouldn't be a smart idea to skim over or discount big words as inconsequential to the overall picture, especially when your health is in question. Imagine if everyone began self-diagnosing disorders online and rushed to the hospital when they believe symptoms they're feeling may be related to a certain disease. The doctors would be overwhelmed with questions and unnecessary visits; wasting time, resources and money.
The notion of self-diagnosing disorders via online resources to hypochondriacs is a great idea. They can research and look up diseases and eventually become so fascinated with what they're reading that they in turn believe they may have that particular ailment. Hypochondriacs may have many troubles when it comes to diagnostic screenings of disorders. Potentially their interest in the disorder leads them to believe they have the ailment and therefore respond to questions on the test as to guarantee a positive result. In reality they are suffering, not from any disease, but by their own delusions and fallacies. Self-diagnosing disorders online for a hypochondriac only perpetuates their discourse in life. It is a terrible idea for them, only to waste the resources of private hospitals.
Not only is there a knowledge barrier, but for some there is a language barrier when considering self-diagnosis. Many American websites featuring clinical data about diseases are very negative in nature. They intend to put forward the worst case scenario of the disorder due to the fear of legal repercussions. Doom and gloom is a term associated with such sources as they usually provide very little hope for chronic disorders. For instance many sites claim that after undergoing a serious operation such as kidney dialysis that the patient is unlikely to live a full life. Instilling such fear into people seems to propagate from America's reputation of following negative mass media.
The art of self-diagnosing any medical condition via online medical websites or Wikipedia is a slippery slope. Time and money can easily be wasted on the unnecessary visits to private hospitals, not to mention the emotional implications. Untrained individuals with no professional background in chemistry and biology should not take the risk of using self-diagnosis as a replacement for any physician's opinion.
Journal Entry
4.9.2006 Schizophrenic Fascination
Dear diary,
Today in English 101 I was assigned a multi genre research paper where the topic and focus of the paper was left to the imagination. From the classroom discussion I had gained tremendous insight into why Academic papers should not use online resources such as Wikipedia. I had always felt that Wikipedia would have very little merit in a research paper, but I didn't understand the underlying principles. As I gathered from the lecture, Wikipedia's content tends to be subjective because anyone has an opportunity to submit. I didn't realize the importance of this and how it would impact my paper until after class.
While walking over to the library class, somehow the idea of wanting to focus my paper on finding out if I suffered from any symptoms of schizophrenia popped into my head. I'm not really certain of how I arrived at such a notion, but it was quite fascinating to me. I struggled with the idea of finding an appropriate way to implement the topic into a research paper. In my mind I was waging a war between the focus of determining if I had schizophrenia or the idea of self-diagnosing being uneducated and abrupt.
At the library I began my research with looking for the symptoms of a specific disorder, schizophrenia fit the bill. Reading down the list of the symptoms I began to get excited as many of them described my experiences in life. For instance I have been considered by a lot of friends to be the most random individual they have ever met. This lends a hand to idea of disorganized thought processes and incoherency. I figured that a list of symptoms would provide for a nice and specific genre, as well. Eventually my searches lead me to schizophrenia.com's diagnostic screening test and this is where I began to discover the focus of my paper. Problems with the principle behind the test came out immediately. I wanted to answer many questions that I felt had an impact on the results, untruthfully. I had many problems answering questions in a manner that was true to reality. For instance the statement, "I have thought that it might be possible that other people can read my mind, or that I can read others minds." Now, as a little child I had always believed that my father or grandmother knew if I was thinking of being ornery. I tried to always think of positive things and worried that they knew my thoughts. So for that question I answered "Somewhat Agree." Looking back at my decision, I can only shake my head as I know whole heartedly that my father and grandmother cannot read my mind. Clearly I was under the influence of wanting to receive a positive indicator for schizophrenia.
Having completed that diagnostic screening I ventured back up to the dormitory to share my new fangled results to my friends. The unfortunate idea behind this is I basically knew that I was going to bring attention to myself, but the end result was more understanding. I came to the simple realization that my thought process is not disorganized in my head, but many times what I say has no context. In my mind I'm actively thinking during a conversation and at certain times I'll make a comment that is perceived as completely random. In reality there is very logical reasoning behind it, I just usually forget to put my statement into context. I knew then what the focus of my paper should be. The problems with being true to who I am and being reasonable with my observations proved a point about attempting self-diagnosis. Self-diagnosing any medical condition is difficult on a multitude of levels, ranging from emotional to basic knowledge of terminology. I began to respect the idea that a physician's opinion cannot be replaced by subjective online resources such as Wikipedia or clinical medical repositories.
Detailed Symptoms
There are six major categories of symptoms that are characteristic of schizophrenia with many sub-categories providing for a very complicated disorder.
With there being so many aspects to schizophrenia it is easy to understand why even medical professionals misdiagnose it, let a lone the average individual. Provided here is a grouped listing of the numerous symptoms known to be signs of schizophrenia.
Delusions - false beliefs strongly held in spite of invalidating evidence, especially as a symptom of mental illness: for example,
1. Paranoid delusions, or delusions of persecution, for example believing that people are "out to get" you, or the thought that people are doing things when there is no external evidence that such things are taking place.
2. Delusions of reference - when things in the environment seem to be directly related to you even though they are not. For example it may seem as if people are talking about you or special personal messages are being communicated to you through the TV, radio, or other media.
3. Somatic Delusions are false beliefs about your body - for example that a terrible physical illness exists or that something foreign is inside or passing through your body.
4. Delusions of grandeur - for example when you believe that you are very special or have special powers or abilities. An example of a grandiouse delusion is thinking you are a famous rock star.
Hallucinations - Hallucinations can take a number of different forms - they can be:
1. Visual (seeing things that are not there or that other people cannot see),
2. Auditory (hearing voices that other people can't hear,
3. Tactile (feeling things that other people don't feel or something touching your skin that isn't there.)
4. Olfactory (smelling things that other people cannot smell, or not smelling the same thing that other people do smell)
5. Gustatory experiences (tasting things that isn't there)
Disorganized speech (e.g., frequent derailment or incoherence) - these are also called "word salads".
Grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior (An abnormal condition variously characterized by stupor/inactivity, mania, and either rigidity or extreme flexibility of the limbs).
Negative symptoms, these are the lack of important abilities. Some of these include:
1. lack of emotion - the inability to enjoy acitivities as much as before
2. Low energy - the person sits around and sleeps much more than normal
3. lack of interest in life, low motivation
4. Affective flattening - a blank, blunted facial experession or less lively facial movements or physical movements.
5. Alogia (difficulty or inability to speak)
6. Inappropriate social skills or lack of interest or ability to socialize with other people
7. Inability to make friends or keep friends, or not caring to have friends
8. Social isolation - person spends most of the day alone or only with close family
Cognitive Symptoms of Schizophrenia
Cognitive symptoms refer to the difficulties with concentration and memory. These can include:
1. disorganized thinking
2. slow thinking
3. difficulty understanding
4. poor concentration
5. poor memory
6. difficulty expressing thoughts
7. difficulty integrating thoughts, feelings and behavior
Useful Defintions
Hypochondriac Function: noun
: one affected by hypochondria
Hypochondria Function: noun
: extreme depression of mind or spirits often centered on imaginary physical ailments
Schizophrenia Function: noun
1 : a psychotic disorder characterized by loss of contact with the environment, by noticeable deterioration in the level of functioning in everyday life, and by disintegration of personality expressed as disorder of feeling, thought (as in hallucinations and delusions), and conduct -- called also dementia praecox
Clinical Function: adjective
1 : of, relating to, or conducted in or as if in a clinic : as a : involving direct observation of the patient b : diagnosable by or based on clinical observation
Psychosis Function: noun
: fundamental mental derangement (as schizophrenia) characterized by defective or lost contact with reality
worst paper i had to ever write...
Use of online internet based medical resources and open encyclopedias for self-diagnosing health problems is a growing trend. While it could be said that sources such as Wikipedia can provide a broad and general overview of the symptoms associated with many illnesses, they are not reliable. Wikipedia's inherent nature allows anyone to submit unbiased definitions to their site. The determination of bias is based on a system of language checks built into Wikipedia's site; professional peer editors rarely revise these entries. The lack of editors and authorities on the subjects in Wikipedia provide for very subjective observations. There are professional medical websites such as WebMD which provide objective material on illnesses. The problem associated with the material on these medical sites is not the content, but the reader's ability to comprehend the content in its entirety. Using online medical resources for self-diagnosis can only provide a general overview and is not a suitable replacement for a physician's diagnosis.
The initial genre in my paper will be an essay geared to use objective observations and background information to present my issue and point of view. In the essay I present the growing trend in which many individuals attempt to use resources such as Wikipedia or WebMD in order to self-diagnosis disease or illness. My position on this issue will be that self-diagnosis via these potentially subjective resources is no substitution for a professional physician's opinion. This essay provides an excellent opportunity to introduce a lot of necessary background and psychological implications that will have the reader well informed when transitioning to my other genres.
Coming from a broad overview of my issue and presenting my point of view, I have chosen to segue into a more concise and specific genre. I wrote a detailed journal entry of a day that I decided to take a schizophrenia diagnostic screening. It is my goal to expose the psychological and emotional implications with answering the questions. It was very difficult to answer questions truthfully, especially questions that seemed to specifically test for schizophrenia. The outcome I desired had a direct impact on how I answered the questions which in turn is a big problem for self-diagnosing any illness.
The transition from the previous genre to my next, even more specific, genre elaborates on how misinterpreting symptoms from medical terminology can lead up the wrong path. An example used in my paper is that a specific symptom of schizophrenia is disorganized thought processes. I at first figured that in many social circumstances people have acknowledged that my ideas are completely random. Drawing a conclusion that I have this symptom of schizophrenia is very abrupt and illogical. Further analysis reveals that I simply am actively thinking in my mind about a lot of things that are in reality organized, but since nobody around me knows what I'm thinking my statements can sometimes seem completely random. In reality putting what I say into context and how I arrived at my statement makes perfect logical sense. For this genre I provided a collage demonstrating truly random thought processes of what an actual schizophrenic may experience.
For my fourth and fifth genres I provided a grouped list of symptoms and dictionary definitions associated with schizophrenia. The list of symptoms is made available as sample proof of the complexity of some disorders. Disorders that are not easily tested through physical inspection cause problems even for medical doctors. Many times these disorders are misdiagnosed by professionals, much less an individual who is not an authority on the material he or she is reading.
The final genre is borrowed from a clinical website which provides very specific descriptions of a mental disease called psychosis. The article alone is eight pages long and provides a thorough investigation of the illness. It is my intention to overwhelm the reader with the vast complexity and advanced terminology uses in these articles. I want to bring awareness of the importance of the small details and realization to the idea that self-diagnosis is not a suitable replacement for a physician's opinion.
Self-Diagnosis - An Essay
Use of online internet based medical resources and open encyclopedias for self-diagnosing health problems is a growing trend. While it could be said that sources such as Wikipedia can provide a broad and general overview of the symptoms associated with many illnesses, they may not be reliable. The inherent nature of Wikipedia allows for any individual to submit categorically unbiased definitions to their website. The bias of these articles is determined by a system of language checks built into Wikipedia's website; professional peer editors or authorities rarely revise these entries. The lack of academic editing of the content in Wikipedia provide for very subjective observations. Though, there are professional medical websites such as WebMD, which provide clinical data on illnesses. The problem associated with the material on these medical websites is not a question of the correctness of the content, but rather the reader's comprehension. Using online medical resources for self-diagnosis can only provide a general overview and is not a suitable replacement for a Physician's diagnoses. This paper intends to expose the risk involved when attempting to fathom the plethora of information required to accurately diagnose any medical condition.
The old adage, "You know your body better than anyone else" may be true, but not everyone understands the physiology and chemistry in their own bodies. Most high school and four year university graduates do not possess the education and knowledge to make complicated decisions about their health. The average person might feel that they are sick, but beyond such feelings, they cannot diagnose the cause. This is supported by statistics that thirty four percent of the population has a high school diploma and thirty percent have a four year college degree. Putting these numbers into perspective reveals that a majority of the population has little or no background in the studies of chemistry or biology, much less graduate work in these fields. Without possessing the necessary foundation from general chemistry and biology, people cannot be expected to understand the intricacies of a neurological disease such as schizophrenia.
Problems begin to arise when people develop slight delusions of grandeur where they believe they can feel around the terminology on clinical websites. Many times it is believed that if they can grasp the general underlying concepts of the disease, the technical jargon can be overlooked. Or they develop an interpolated definition of the words based on their usage in a sentence. It is usually that very jargon in which the most pertinent information about the disease is presented. It wouldn't be a smart idea to skim over or discount big words as inconsequential to the overall picture, especially when your health is in question. Imagine if everyone began self-diagnosing disorders online and rushed to the hospital when they believe symptoms they're feeling may be related to a certain disease. The doctors would be overwhelmed with questions and unnecessary visits; wasting time, resources and money.
The notion of self-diagnosing disorders via online resources to hypochondriacs is a great idea. They can research and look up diseases and eventually become so fascinated with what they're reading that they in turn believe they may have that particular ailment. Hypochondriacs may have many troubles when it comes to diagnostic screenings of disorders. Potentially their interest in the disorder leads them to believe they have the ailment and therefore respond to questions on the test as to guarantee a positive result. In reality they are suffering, not from any disease, but by their own delusions and fallacies. Self-diagnosing disorders online for a hypochondriac only perpetuates their discourse in life. It is a terrible idea for them, only to waste the resources of private hospitals.
Not only is there a knowledge barrier, but for some there is a language barrier when considering self-diagnosis. Many American websites featuring clinical data about diseases are very negative in nature. They intend to put forward the worst case scenario of the disorder due to the fear of legal repercussions. Doom and gloom is a term associated with such sources as they usually provide very little hope for chronic disorders. For instance many sites claim that after undergoing a serious operation such as kidney dialysis that the patient is unlikely to live a full life. Instilling such fear into people seems to propagate from America's reputation of following negative mass media.
The art of self-diagnosing any medical condition via online medical websites or Wikipedia is a slippery slope. Time and money can easily be wasted on the unnecessary visits to private hospitals, not to mention the emotional implications. Untrained individuals with no professional background in chemistry and biology should not take the risk of using self-diagnosis as a replacement for any physician's opinion.
Journal Entry
4.9.2006 Schizophrenic Fascination
Dear diary,
Today in English 101 I was assigned a multi genre research paper where the topic and focus of the paper was left to the imagination. From the classroom discussion I had gained tremendous insight into why Academic papers should not use online resources such as Wikipedia. I had always felt that Wikipedia would have very little merit in a research paper, but I didn't understand the underlying principles. As I gathered from the lecture, Wikipedia's content tends to be subjective because anyone has an opportunity to submit. I didn't realize the importance of this and how it would impact my paper until after class.
While walking over to the library class, somehow the idea of wanting to focus my paper on finding out if I suffered from any symptoms of schizophrenia popped into my head. I'm not really certain of how I arrived at such a notion, but it was quite fascinating to me. I struggled with the idea of finding an appropriate way to implement the topic into a research paper. In my mind I was waging a war between the focus of determining if I had schizophrenia or the idea of self-diagnosing being uneducated and abrupt.
At the library I began my research with looking for the symptoms of a specific disorder, schizophrenia fit the bill. Reading down the list of the symptoms I began to get excited as many of them described my experiences in life. For instance I have been considered by a lot of friends to be the most random individual they have ever met. This lends a hand to idea of disorganized thought processes and incoherency. I figured that a list of symptoms would provide for a nice and specific genre, as well. Eventually my searches lead me to schizophrenia.com's diagnostic screening test and this is where I began to discover the focus of my paper. Problems with the principle behind the test came out immediately. I wanted to answer many questions that I felt had an impact on the results, untruthfully. I had many problems answering questions in a manner that was true to reality. For instance the statement, "I have thought that it might be possible that other people can read my mind, or that I can read others minds." Now, as a little child I had always believed that my father or grandmother knew if I was thinking of being ornery. I tried to always think of positive things and worried that they knew my thoughts. So for that question I answered "Somewhat Agree." Looking back at my decision, I can only shake my head as I know whole heartedly that my father and grandmother cannot read my mind. Clearly I was under the influence of wanting to receive a positive indicator for schizophrenia.
Having completed that diagnostic screening I ventured back up to the dormitory to share my new fangled results to my friends. The unfortunate idea behind this is I basically knew that I was going to bring attention to myself, but the end result was more understanding. I came to the simple realization that my thought process is not disorganized in my head, but many times what I say has no context. In my mind I'm actively thinking during a conversation and at certain times I'll make a comment that is perceived as completely random. In reality there is very logical reasoning behind it, I just usually forget to put my statement into context. I knew then what the focus of my paper should be. The problems with being true to who I am and being reasonable with my observations proved a point about attempting self-diagnosis. Self-diagnosing any medical condition is difficult on a multitude of levels, ranging from emotional to basic knowledge of terminology. I began to respect the idea that a physician's opinion cannot be replaced by subjective online resources such as Wikipedia or clinical medical repositories.
Detailed Symptoms
There are six major categories of symptoms that are characteristic of schizophrenia with many sub-categories providing for a very complicated disorder.
With there being so many aspects to schizophrenia it is easy to understand why even medical professionals misdiagnose it, let a lone the average individual. Provided here is a grouped listing of the numerous symptoms known to be signs of schizophrenia.
Delusions - false beliefs strongly held in spite of invalidating evidence, especially as a symptom of mental illness: for example,
1. Paranoid delusions, or delusions of persecution, for example believing that people are "out to get" you, or the thought that people are doing things when there is no external evidence that such things are taking place.
2. Delusions of reference - when things in the environment seem to be directly related to you even though they are not. For example it may seem as if people are talking about you or special personal messages are being communicated to you through the TV, radio, or other media.
3. Somatic Delusions are false beliefs about your body - for example that a terrible physical illness exists or that something foreign is inside or passing through your body.
4. Delusions of grandeur - for example when you believe that you are very special or have special powers or abilities. An example of a grandiouse delusion is thinking you are a famous rock star.
Hallucinations - Hallucinations can take a number of different forms - they can be:
1. Visual (seeing things that are not there or that other people cannot see),
2. Auditory (hearing voices that other people can't hear,
3. Tactile (feeling things that other people don't feel or something touching your skin that isn't there.)
4. Olfactory (smelling things that other people cannot smell, or not smelling the same thing that other people do smell)
5. Gustatory experiences (tasting things that isn't there)
Disorganized speech (e.g., frequent derailment or incoherence) - these are also called "word salads".
Grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior (An abnormal condition variously characterized by stupor/inactivity, mania, and either rigidity or extreme flexibility of the limbs).
Negative symptoms, these are the lack of important abilities. Some of these include:
1. lack of emotion - the inability to enjoy acitivities as much as before
2. Low energy - the person sits around and sleeps much more than normal
3. lack of interest in life, low motivation
4. Affective flattening - a blank, blunted facial experession or less lively facial movements or physical movements.
5. Alogia (difficulty or inability to speak)
6. Inappropriate social skills or lack of interest or ability to socialize with other people
7. Inability to make friends or keep friends, or not caring to have friends
8. Social isolation - person spends most of the day alone or only with close family
Cognitive Symptoms of Schizophrenia
Cognitive symptoms refer to the difficulties with concentration and memory. These can include:
1. disorganized thinking
2. slow thinking
3. difficulty understanding
4. poor concentration
5. poor memory
6. difficulty expressing thoughts
7. difficulty integrating thoughts, feelings and behavior
Useful Defintions
Hypochondriac Function: noun
: one affected by hypochondria
Hypochondria Function: noun
: extreme depression of mind or spirits often centered on imaginary physical ailments
Schizophrenia Function: noun
1 : a psychotic disorder characterized by loss of contact with the environment, by noticeable deterioration in the level of functioning in everyday life, and by disintegration of personality expressed as disorder of feeling, thought (as in hallucinations and delusions), and conduct -- called also dementia praecox
Clinical Function: adjective
1 : of, relating to, or conducted in or as if in a clinic : as a : involving direct observation of the patient b : diagnosable by or based on clinical observation
Psychosis Function: noun
: fundamental mental derangement (as schizophrenia) characterized by defective or lost contact with reality
worst paper i had to ever write...
Re: English Progression? [Archive] - ForumsHQ
Revision for conference submission:
Self-Diagnosis – An Informative Warning
Erik Anderson
Ms Roy
4/9/06
Preface
Internet based medical resources and open encyclopedias that are being used to self-diagnose health problems is a growing trend. Sources such as Wikipedia provide content that is acceptable for obtaining a general understanding of an illness, but can be subjective. While there are some sites that are not subjective, such as WebMD, they are very clinical. It would be easy for an individual with limited understanding of the chemistry, biology and physiology to misinterpret the finer details of an illness. The more specific details of the illness usually reveal the most important aspects that should not be overlooked, especially since an individual’s health is in question. My research is meant to expose the danger and risk in replacing a physician’s diagnosis with an individual’s researched opinion.
The first genre in my paper will be an essay geared to use objective observations and background information to present my issue and point of view. In the essay, I present the growing trend in which many individuals attempt to use resources such as Wikipedia or WebMD in order to self-diagnose disease or illness. My position on this issue will be that self-diagnosis via these potentially subjective resources is no substitution for a professional physician’s opinion. This essay provides an excellent opportunity to introduce a lot of necessary background and psychological implications that will have the reader well informed when transitioning to my other genres.
Coming from a broad overview of my issue and presenting my point of view, I have chosen to segue into a more concise and specific genre. I wrote a detailed journal entry of a day that I decided to take a schizophrenia diagnostic screening. It is my goal to expose the psychological and emotional implications with answering the questions. It was very difficult to answer questions truthfully, especially questions that seemed to specifically test for schizophrenia. The outcome I desired had a direct impact on how I answered the questions, which in turn is a big problem for self-diagnosing any illness.
The transition from the previous genre to my next, even more specific, genre elaborates on how misinterpreting symptoms from medical terminology can lead up the wrong path. An example used in my paper is that a specific symptom of schizophrenia is disorganized thought processes. I at first figured that in many social circumstances people have acknowledged that my ideas are completely random. Drawing a conclusion that I have this symptom of schizophrenia is very abrupt and illogical. Further analysis reveals that I simply am actively thinking in my mind about many ideas that are in reality organized, but since nobody around me knows, what I am thinking my statements can sometimes seem completely random. In reality, putting what I say into context and how I arrived at my statement makes perfect logical sense. For this genre, I provided a collage demonstrating truly random thought processes of what an actual schizophrenic may experience.
For my fourth and fifth genres, I provided a grouped list of symptoms and dictionary definitions associated with schizophrenia. The list of symptoms is made available as sample proof of the complexity of some disorders. Disorders that are not easily tested through physical inspection cause problems even for medical doctors. Many times these disorders are misdiagnosed by professionals, much less an individual who is not an authority on the material he or she is reading.
The final genre is borrowed from a clinical website, which provides very specific descriptions of a mental disease called psychosis. The article alone is eight pages long and provides a thorough investigation of the illness. It is my intention to overwhelm the reader with the vast complexity and advanced terminology used in these articles. I want to bring awareness of the importance of the small details and realization to the idea that self-diagnosis is not a suitable replacement for a physician’s opinion.
Self-Diagnosis – An Essay
Use of online internet based medical resources and open encyclopedias for self-diagnosing health problems is a growing trend. While it could be said that sources such as Wikipedia can provide a broad and general overview of the symptoms associated with many illnesses, they may not be reliable. The inherent nature of Wikipedia allows for any individual to submit categorically unbiased definitions to their website. The bias of these articles is determined by a system of language checks built into Wikipedia’s website; professional peer editors or authorities rarely revise these entries. The lack of academic editing of the content in Wikipedia provide for very subjective observations. However, there are professional medical websites such as WebMD, which provide clinical data on illnesses. The problem associated with the material on these medical websites is not a question of the correctness of the content, but rather the reader’s comprehension. Using online medical resources for self-diagnosis can only provide a general overview and is not a suitable replacement for a Physician’s diagnoses. This paper intends to expose the risk involved when attempting to fathom the plethora of information required for accurately diagnosing any medical condition.
The old adage, “You know your body better than anyone else” may be true, but not everyone understands the physiology and chemistry in their own bodies. Most high school and four year university graduates do not possess the education and knowledge to make complicated decisions about their health. The average person might feel that they are sick, but beyond such feelings, they cannot diagnose the cause. This is supported by statistics that thirty four percent of the population has a high school diploma and thirty percent have a four year college degree. Putting these numbers into perspective reveals that a majority of the population has little or no background in the studies of chemistry or biology, much less graduate work in these fields. Without possessing the necessary foundation from general chemistry and biology, people cannot be expected to understand the intricacies of a neurological disease such as schizophrenia.
Problems begin to arise when people develop slight delusions of grandeur where they believe they can feel around the terminology on clinical websites. Many times, it is believed that if they can grasp the general underlying concepts of the disease, the technical jargon can be overlooked. Alternatively, they develop an interpolated definition of the words based on their usage in a sentence. It is usually that very jargon in which the most pertinent information about the disease is presented. It wouldn’t be a smart idea to skim over or discount big words as inconsequential to the overall picture, especially when your health is in question. Imagine if everyone began self-diagnosing disorders online and rushed to the hospital when they believe symptoms they’re feeling may be related to a certain disease. The doctors would be overwhelmed with questions and unnecessary visits; wasting time, resources and money.
The notion of self-diagnosing disorders via online resources to hypochondriacs is a great idea. They can research and look up diseases and eventually become so fascinated with what they are reading that they in turn believe they may have that particular ailment. Hypochondriacs may have many troubles when it comes to diagnostic screenings of disorders. Potentially their interest in the disorder leads them to believe they have the ailment and therefore respond to questions on the test as to guarantee a positive result. In reality, they are suffering, not from any disease, but by their own delusions and fallacies. Self-diagnosing disorders online for a hypochondriac only perpetuates their discourse in life. It is a terrible idea for them, only to waste the resources of private hospitals.
Not only is there a knowledge barrier, but for some there is a language barrier when considering self-diagnosis. Many American websites featuring clinical data about diseases are very negative in nature. They intend to put forward the worst-case scenario of the disorder due to the fear of legal repercussions. Doom and gloom is a term associated with such sources as they usually provide very little hope for chronic disorders. For instance many sites claim that after undergoing a serious operation such as kidney dialysis that the patient is unlikely to live a full life. Instilling such fear into people seems to propagate from America’s reputation of following negative mass media.
The art of self-diagnosing any medical condition via online medical websites or Wikipedia is a slippery slope. Time and money can easily be wasted on the unnecessary visits to private hospitals, not to mention the emotional implications. Untrained individuals with no professional background in chemistry and biology should not take the risk of using self-diagnosis as a replacement for any physician’s opinion.
Journal Entry
4.9.2006 Schizophrenic Fascination
Dear diary,
Today in English 101, I was assigned a multi genre research paper where the topic and focus of the paper was left to the imagination. From the classroom discussion I had gained tremendous insight into why Academic papers should not use online resources such as Wikipedia. I had always felt that Wikipedia would have very little merit in a research paper, but I didn’t understand the underlying principles. As I gathered from the lecture, Wikipedia’s content tends to be subjective because anyone has an opportunity to submit their ideas with very little revision. I did not realize the importance of this and how it would impact my paper until after class.
While walking over to the library class, somehow the idea of wanting to focus my paper on finding out if I suffered from any symptoms of schizophrenia popped into my head. I’m not really certain of how I arrived at such a notion, but it was quite fascinating to me. I struggled with the idea of finding an appropriate way to implement the topic into a research paper. In my mind I was waging a war between the focus of determining if I had schizophrenia or the idea of self-diagnosing being uneducated and abrupt.
At the library I began my research with looking for the symptoms of a specific disorder, schizophrenia fit the bill. Reading down the list of the symptoms I began to get excited as many of them described my experiences in life. For instance I have been considered by a lot of friends to be the most random individual they have ever met. This lends a hand to idea of disorganized thought processes and incoherency. I figured that a list of symptoms would provide for a nice and specific genre, as well. Eventually my searches lead me to schizophrenia.com’s diagnostic screening test and this is where I began to discover the focus of my paper. Problems with the principle behind the test came out immediately. I wanted to answer many questions that I felt had an impact on the results, untruthfully. I had many problems answering questions in a manner that was true to reality. For instance the statement, “I have thought that it might be possible that other people can read my mind, or that I can read others minds.” Now, as a little child I had always believed that my father or grandmother knew if I was thinking of being ornery. I tried to always think of positive things and worried that they knew my thoughts. So for that question I answered “Somewhat Agree.” Looking back at my decision, I can only shake my head, as I know whole-heartedly that my father and grandmother cannot read my mind. Clearly, I was under the influence of wanting to receive a positive indicator for schizophrenia.
Having completed that diagnostic screening, I ventured back up to the dormitory to share my new fangled results to my friends. The unfortunate idea behind this is I knew that I was going to bring attention to myself, but the result was more understanding. I came to the simple realization that my thought process is not disorganized in my head, but many times what I say has no context. In my mind, I am actively thinking during a conversation and at certain times, I will make a comment that is perceived as completely random. In reality there is very logical reasoning behind it, I just usually forget to put my statement into context. I knew then what the focus of my paper should be. The problems with being true to who I am and being reasonable with my observations proved a point about attempting self-diagnosis. Self-diagnosing any medical condition is difficult on a multitude of levels, ranging from emotional to basic knowledge of terminology. I began to respect the idea that subjective online resources such as Wikipedia or clinical medical repositories cannot replace a physician’s opinion.
Detailed Symptoms
There are six categories of symptoms that are characteristic of schizophrenia and many sub-categories providing for a very complicated disorder. With there being so many aspects to schizophrenia it is easy to understand why even medical professionals misdiagnose it, let a lone the average individual. Provided here is a grouped listing of the numerous symptoms known to be signs of schizophrenia.
Delusions - false beliefs strongly held in spite of invalidating evidence, especially as a symptom of mental illness: for example,
1. Paranoid delusions, or delusions of persecution, for example believing that people are "out to get" you, or the thought that people are doing things when there is no external evidence that such things are taking place.
2. Delusions of reference - when things in the environment seem to be directly related to you even though they are not. For example it may seem as if people are talking about you or special personal messages are being communicated to you through the TV, radio, or other media.
3. Somatic Delusions are false beliefs about your body - for example that a terrible physical illness exists or that something foreign is inside or passing through your body.
4. Delusions of grandeur - for example when you believe that you are very special or have special powers or abilities. An example of a grandiouse delusion is thinking you are a famous rock star.
Hallucinations - Hallucinations can take a number of different forms - they can be:
1. Visual (seeing things that are not there or that other people cannot see),
2. Auditory (hearing voices that other people can't hear,
3. Tactile (feeling things that other people don't feel or something touching your skin that isn't there.)
4. Olfactory (smelling things that other people cannot smell, or not smelling the same thing that other people do smell)
5. Gustatory experiences (tasting things that isn't there)
Disorganized speech (e.g., frequent derailment or incoherence) - these are also called "word salads".
Grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior (An abnormal condition variously characterized by stupor/inactivity, mania, and either rigidity or extreme flexibility of the limbs).
Negative symptoms, these are the lack of important abilities. Some of these include:
1. lack of emotion - the inability to enjoy acitivities as much as before
2. Low energy - the person sits around and sleeps much more than normal
3. lack of interest in life, low motivation
4. Affective flattening - a blank, blunted facial experession or less lively facial movements or physical movements.
5. Alogia (difficulty or inability to speak)
6. Inappropriate social skills or lack of interest or ability to socialize with other people
7. Inability to make friends or keep friends, or not caring to have friends
8. Social isolation - person spends most of the day alone or only with close family
Cognitive Symptoms of Schizophrenia
Cognitive symptoms refer to the difficulties with concentration and memory. These can include:
1. disorganized thinking
2. slow thinking
3. difficulty understanding
4. poor concentration
5. poor memory
6. difficulty expressing thoughts
7. difficulty integrating thoughts, feelings and behavior
Useful Definitions
Hypochondriac Function: noun
: one affected by hypochondria
Hypochondria Function: noun
: extreme depression of mind or spirits often centered on imaginary physical ailments
Schizophrenia Function: noun
1 : a psychotic disorder characterized by loss of contact with the environment, by noticeable deterioration in the level of functioning in everyday life, and by disintegration of personality expressed as disorder of feeling, thought (as in hallucinations and delusions), and conduct -- called also dementia praecox
Clinical Function: adjective
1 : of, relating to, or conducted in or as if in a clinic : as a : involving direct observation of the patient b : diagnosable by or based on clinical observation
Psychosis Function: noun
: fundamental mental derangement (as schizophrenia) characterized by defective or lost contact with reality
Conclusion
The use of internet based resources such as Wikipedia or WebMD for self-diagnosing medical conditions is not a replacement for a physician’s opinion. The notion is not entirely bad as it is useful for creating awareness of tell tale signs that would lead a person to seek medical advice. Although caution should be taken as to not become overly obsessed with ones health, the problem hypochondriacs face. This concession to the idea of self-diagnosis does not weaken the argument that self-diagnosis is not a replacement. The concession simply suggests a more intelligent approach to the problem and strengthens the argument. Research and first hand attempts at self-diagnosis demonstrate that many misconceptions can be made. For example, the idea of random thought processes was rationalized when the statements were put into context. Only the statements seemed random while the thought processes were completely logical. For these reasons self-diagnosis of any medical condition is not a suitable replacement for a medical doctor’s opinion.
Works Cited
Goldberg, Martin. A guide to psychiatric diagnosis and understanding for the helping professions. Chicago, Nelson-Hall Co., 1973.
Goldberg, Richard J. Diagnosing disorders of mood, thought, and behavior : 50 clinical case studies : a guide for the interdisciplinary and interspeciality management of patients with behavioral disturbances. Garden City, N.Y : Medical Examination Pub. Co., 1980.
Goodwin, Donald W. Psychiatric diagnosis. New York : Oxford University Press, 1989.
“Should we use the internet to self-diagnose medical conditions?” AOL /discuss. Feb 20 2006. AOL .
Vinsonhaler, John. Diagnosing children with educational problems : characteristics of reading and learning disabilities specialists and classroom teachers. East Lansing, Mich. : Institute for Research on Teaching, Michigan State University, 1982.
“Psychosis” Wikipedia. Apr 10 2006. Wikipedia .
Abstract
Use of online, internet based medical resources and open encyclopedias for self-diagnosing health problems is a growing trend. While it could be said that sources such as Wikipedia can provide a broad and general overview of the symptoms associated with many illnesses, they are not reliable. Wikipedia’s inherent nature allows anyone to submit unbiased definitions to their site. The determination of bias is based on a system of language checks built into Wikipedia’s site; professional peer editors rarely revise these entries. The lack of editors and authorities on the subjects in Wikipedia provide for very subjective observations. However, there are professional medical websites such as WebMD, which provide objective material on illnesses. The problem associated with the material on these medical sites is not the content, but the reader’s ability to comprehend the content in its entirety. This paper is meant to expose the danger and risk involved with using self-diagnosis as a replacement for a medical doctor’s opinion.
Goldberg, Martin. A guide to psychiatric diagnosis and understanding for the helping professions. Chicago, Nelson-Hall Co., 1973.
This resource provides a repository of many clinical facts and assessments within psychiatric diagnoses. The text contains many papers that are a survey of a wide variety of relevant perspectives in the psychiatric community. Being that many disorders are intrinsically complicated, this text helps validate my thesis.
Goldberg, Richard J. Diagnosing disorders of mood, thought, and behavior : 50 clinical case studies : a guide for the interdisciplinary and interspeciality management of patients with behavioral disturbances. Garden City, N.Y : Medical Examination Pub. Co., 1980.
This text provides a more succinct and specific investigation of diagnosing disorders. On a scientific level this text brings forth even more complexity to the scene with the involvement of many different neurological factors. Providing not only strong factual information it also brings with it a sample population of case studies.
Goodwin, Donald W. Psychiatric diagnosis. New York : Oxford University Press, 1989.
This is a general overview of MD psychiatric diagnosis from one of the world’s most renowned universities, Oxford. This will provide a strong base for understanding into the knowledge and care required to properly diagnose any mental disorder. This could set the groundwork for most of my paper.
“Should we use the internet to self-diagnose medical conditions?” AOL /discuss. Feb 20 2006. AOL .
This is an invaluable source of information that hits the point of the nail of my research topic. AOL /discuss provides the question and numerous responses to interpreted answers by regular users. This resource culminates both supporting and not supporting of self-diagnosis with extended user discussions and comments.
Vinsonhaler, John. Diagnosing children with educational problems : characteristics of reading and learning disabilities specialists and classroom teachers. East Lansing, Mich. : Institute for Research on Teaching, Michigan State University, 1982.
This text provides very specific information in terms of diagnosing a disorder that has more easily seen symptoms that actually support self-diagnosis. Although self-diagnosis is an interesting tool for personal investigation it should never be sought out as a replacement to a Medical Doctor’s Diagnosis. This document will help pave a path for more productive use of self-diagnosis.
the professor stated that i wrote a concise and well researched paper and it is very evident that my writing has improved. we were able to make clear connections with my genres and she said that it made her think about a situation in her past. she was impressed.
(looks like i'm heading in the right direction for that A I deserve.)
Self-Diagnosis – An Informative Warning
Erik Anderson
Ms Roy
4/9/06
Preface
Internet based medical resources and open encyclopedias that are being used to self-diagnose health problems is a growing trend. Sources such as Wikipedia provide content that is acceptable for obtaining a general understanding of an illness, but can be subjective. While there are some sites that are not subjective, such as WebMD, they are very clinical. It would be easy for an individual with limited understanding of the chemistry, biology and physiology to misinterpret the finer details of an illness. The more specific details of the illness usually reveal the most important aspects that should not be overlooked, especially since an individual’s health is in question. My research is meant to expose the danger and risk in replacing a physician’s diagnosis with an individual’s researched opinion.
The first genre in my paper will be an essay geared to use objective observations and background information to present my issue and point of view. In the essay, I present the growing trend in which many individuals attempt to use resources such as Wikipedia or WebMD in order to self-diagnose disease or illness. My position on this issue will be that self-diagnosis via these potentially subjective resources is no substitution for a professional physician’s opinion. This essay provides an excellent opportunity to introduce a lot of necessary background and psychological implications that will have the reader well informed when transitioning to my other genres.
Coming from a broad overview of my issue and presenting my point of view, I have chosen to segue into a more concise and specific genre. I wrote a detailed journal entry of a day that I decided to take a schizophrenia diagnostic screening. It is my goal to expose the psychological and emotional implications with answering the questions. It was very difficult to answer questions truthfully, especially questions that seemed to specifically test for schizophrenia. The outcome I desired had a direct impact on how I answered the questions, which in turn is a big problem for self-diagnosing any illness.
The transition from the previous genre to my next, even more specific, genre elaborates on how misinterpreting symptoms from medical terminology can lead up the wrong path. An example used in my paper is that a specific symptom of schizophrenia is disorganized thought processes. I at first figured that in many social circumstances people have acknowledged that my ideas are completely random. Drawing a conclusion that I have this symptom of schizophrenia is very abrupt and illogical. Further analysis reveals that I simply am actively thinking in my mind about many ideas that are in reality organized, but since nobody around me knows, what I am thinking my statements can sometimes seem completely random. In reality, putting what I say into context and how I arrived at my statement makes perfect logical sense. For this genre, I provided a collage demonstrating truly random thought processes of what an actual schizophrenic may experience.
For my fourth and fifth genres, I provided a grouped list of symptoms and dictionary definitions associated with schizophrenia. The list of symptoms is made available as sample proof of the complexity of some disorders. Disorders that are not easily tested through physical inspection cause problems even for medical doctors. Many times these disorders are misdiagnosed by professionals, much less an individual who is not an authority on the material he or she is reading.
The final genre is borrowed from a clinical website, which provides very specific descriptions of a mental disease called psychosis. The article alone is eight pages long and provides a thorough investigation of the illness. It is my intention to overwhelm the reader with the vast complexity and advanced terminology used in these articles. I want to bring awareness of the importance of the small details and realization to the idea that self-diagnosis is not a suitable replacement for a physician’s opinion.
Self-Diagnosis – An Essay
Use of online internet based medical resources and open encyclopedias for self-diagnosing health problems is a growing trend. While it could be said that sources such as Wikipedia can provide a broad and general overview of the symptoms associated with many illnesses, they may not be reliable. The inherent nature of Wikipedia allows for any individual to submit categorically unbiased definitions to their website. The bias of these articles is determined by a system of language checks built into Wikipedia’s website; professional peer editors or authorities rarely revise these entries. The lack of academic editing of the content in Wikipedia provide for very subjective observations. However, there are professional medical websites such as WebMD, which provide clinical data on illnesses. The problem associated with the material on these medical websites is not a question of the correctness of the content, but rather the reader’s comprehension. Using online medical resources for self-diagnosis can only provide a general overview and is not a suitable replacement for a Physician’s diagnoses. This paper intends to expose the risk involved when attempting to fathom the plethora of information required for accurately diagnosing any medical condition.
The old adage, “You know your body better than anyone else” may be true, but not everyone understands the physiology and chemistry in their own bodies. Most high school and four year university graduates do not possess the education and knowledge to make complicated decisions about their health. The average person might feel that they are sick, but beyond such feelings, they cannot diagnose the cause. This is supported by statistics that thirty four percent of the population has a high school diploma and thirty percent have a four year college degree. Putting these numbers into perspective reveals that a majority of the population has little or no background in the studies of chemistry or biology, much less graduate work in these fields. Without possessing the necessary foundation from general chemistry and biology, people cannot be expected to understand the intricacies of a neurological disease such as schizophrenia.
Problems begin to arise when people develop slight delusions of grandeur where they believe they can feel around the terminology on clinical websites. Many times, it is believed that if they can grasp the general underlying concepts of the disease, the technical jargon can be overlooked. Alternatively, they develop an interpolated definition of the words based on their usage in a sentence. It is usually that very jargon in which the most pertinent information about the disease is presented. It wouldn’t be a smart idea to skim over or discount big words as inconsequential to the overall picture, especially when your health is in question. Imagine if everyone began self-diagnosing disorders online and rushed to the hospital when they believe symptoms they’re feeling may be related to a certain disease. The doctors would be overwhelmed with questions and unnecessary visits; wasting time, resources and money.
The notion of self-diagnosing disorders via online resources to hypochondriacs is a great idea. They can research and look up diseases and eventually become so fascinated with what they are reading that they in turn believe they may have that particular ailment. Hypochondriacs may have many troubles when it comes to diagnostic screenings of disorders. Potentially their interest in the disorder leads them to believe they have the ailment and therefore respond to questions on the test as to guarantee a positive result. In reality, they are suffering, not from any disease, but by their own delusions and fallacies. Self-diagnosing disorders online for a hypochondriac only perpetuates their discourse in life. It is a terrible idea for them, only to waste the resources of private hospitals.
Not only is there a knowledge barrier, but for some there is a language barrier when considering self-diagnosis. Many American websites featuring clinical data about diseases are very negative in nature. They intend to put forward the worst-case scenario of the disorder due to the fear of legal repercussions. Doom and gloom is a term associated with such sources as they usually provide very little hope for chronic disorders. For instance many sites claim that after undergoing a serious operation such as kidney dialysis that the patient is unlikely to live a full life. Instilling such fear into people seems to propagate from America’s reputation of following negative mass media.
The art of self-diagnosing any medical condition via online medical websites or Wikipedia is a slippery slope. Time and money can easily be wasted on the unnecessary visits to private hospitals, not to mention the emotional implications. Untrained individuals with no professional background in chemistry and biology should not take the risk of using self-diagnosis as a replacement for any physician’s opinion.
Journal Entry
4.9.2006 Schizophrenic Fascination
Dear diary,
Today in English 101, I was assigned a multi genre research paper where the topic and focus of the paper was left to the imagination. From the classroom discussion I had gained tremendous insight into why Academic papers should not use online resources such as Wikipedia. I had always felt that Wikipedia would have very little merit in a research paper, but I didn’t understand the underlying principles. As I gathered from the lecture, Wikipedia’s content tends to be subjective because anyone has an opportunity to submit their ideas with very little revision. I did not realize the importance of this and how it would impact my paper until after class.
While walking over to the library class, somehow the idea of wanting to focus my paper on finding out if I suffered from any symptoms of schizophrenia popped into my head. I’m not really certain of how I arrived at such a notion, but it was quite fascinating to me. I struggled with the idea of finding an appropriate way to implement the topic into a research paper. In my mind I was waging a war between the focus of determining if I had schizophrenia or the idea of self-diagnosing being uneducated and abrupt.
At the library I began my research with looking for the symptoms of a specific disorder, schizophrenia fit the bill. Reading down the list of the symptoms I began to get excited as many of them described my experiences in life. For instance I have been considered by a lot of friends to be the most random individual they have ever met. This lends a hand to idea of disorganized thought processes and incoherency. I figured that a list of symptoms would provide for a nice and specific genre, as well. Eventually my searches lead me to schizophrenia.com’s diagnostic screening test and this is where I began to discover the focus of my paper. Problems with the principle behind the test came out immediately. I wanted to answer many questions that I felt had an impact on the results, untruthfully. I had many problems answering questions in a manner that was true to reality. For instance the statement, “I have thought that it might be possible that other people can read my mind, or that I can read others minds.” Now, as a little child I had always believed that my father or grandmother knew if I was thinking of being ornery. I tried to always think of positive things and worried that they knew my thoughts. So for that question I answered “Somewhat Agree.” Looking back at my decision, I can only shake my head, as I know whole-heartedly that my father and grandmother cannot read my mind. Clearly, I was under the influence of wanting to receive a positive indicator for schizophrenia.
Having completed that diagnostic screening, I ventured back up to the dormitory to share my new fangled results to my friends. The unfortunate idea behind this is I knew that I was going to bring attention to myself, but the result was more understanding. I came to the simple realization that my thought process is not disorganized in my head, but many times what I say has no context. In my mind, I am actively thinking during a conversation and at certain times, I will make a comment that is perceived as completely random. In reality there is very logical reasoning behind it, I just usually forget to put my statement into context. I knew then what the focus of my paper should be. The problems with being true to who I am and being reasonable with my observations proved a point about attempting self-diagnosis. Self-diagnosing any medical condition is difficult on a multitude of levels, ranging from emotional to basic knowledge of terminology. I began to respect the idea that subjective online resources such as Wikipedia or clinical medical repositories cannot replace a physician’s opinion.
Detailed Symptoms
There are six categories of symptoms that are characteristic of schizophrenia and many sub-categories providing for a very complicated disorder. With there being so many aspects to schizophrenia it is easy to understand why even medical professionals misdiagnose it, let a lone the average individual. Provided here is a grouped listing of the numerous symptoms known to be signs of schizophrenia.
Delusions - false beliefs strongly held in spite of invalidating evidence, especially as a symptom of mental illness: for example,
1. Paranoid delusions, or delusions of persecution, for example believing that people are "out to get" you, or the thought that people are doing things when there is no external evidence that such things are taking place.
2. Delusions of reference - when things in the environment seem to be directly related to you even though they are not. For example it may seem as if people are talking about you or special personal messages are being communicated to you through the TV, radio, or other media.
3. Somatic Delusions are false beliefs about your body - for example that a terrible physical illness exists or that something foreign is inside or passing through your body.
4. Delusions of grandeur - for example when you believe that you are very special or have special powers or abilities. An example of a grandiouse delusion is thinking you are a famous rock star.
Hallucinations - Hallucinations can take a number of different forms - they can be:
1. Visual (seeing things that are not there or that other people cannot see),
2. Auditory (hearing voices that other people can't hear,
3. Tactile (feeling things that other people don't feel or something touching your skin that isn't there.)
4. Olfactory (smelling things that other people cannot smell, or not smelling the same thing that other people do smell)
5. Gustatory experiences (tasting things that isn't there)
Disorganized speech (e.g., frequent derailment or incoherence) - these are also called "word salads".
Grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior (An abnormal condition variously characterized by stupor/inactivity, mania, and either rigidity or extreme flexibility of the limbs).
Negative symptoms, these are the lack of important abilities. Some of these include:
1. lack of emotion - the inability to enjoy acitivities as much as before
2. Low energy - the person sits around and sleeps much more than normal
3. lack of interest in life, low motivation
4. Affective flattening - a blank, blunted facial experession or less lively facial movements or physical movements.
5. Alogia (difficulty or inability to speak)
6. Inappropriate social skills or lack of interest or ability to socialize with other people
7. Inability to make friends or keep friends, or not caring to have friends
8. Social isolation - person spends most of the day alone or only with close family
Cognitive Symptoms of Schizophrenia
Cognitive symptoms refer to the difficulties with concentration and memory. These can include:
1. disorganized thinking
2. slow thinking
3. difficulty understanding
4. poor concentration
5. poor memory
6. difficulty expressing thoughts
7. difficulty integrating thoughts, feelings and behavior
Useful Definitions
Hypochondriac Function: noun
: one affected by hypochondria
Hypochondria Function: noun
: extreme depression of mind or spirits often centered on imaginary physical ailments
Schizophrenia Function: noun
1 : a psychotic disorder characterized by loss of contact with the environment, by noticeable deterioration in the level of functioning in everyday life, and by disintegration of personality expressed as disorder of feeling, thought (as in hallucinations and delusions), and conduct -- called also dementia praecox
Clinical Function: adjective
1 : of, relating to, or conducted in or as if in a clinic : as a : involving direct observation of the patient b : diagnosable by or based on clinical observation
Psychosis Function: noun
: fundamental mental derangement (as schizophrenia) characterized by defective or lost contact with reality
Conclusion
The use of internet based resources such as Wikipedia or WebMD for self-diagnosing medical conditions is not a replacement for a physician’s opinion. The notion is not entirely bad as it is useful for creating awareness of tell tale signs that would lead a person to seek medical advice. Although caution should be taken as to not become overly obsessed with ones health, the problem hypochondriacs face. This concession to the idea of self-diagnosis does not weaken the argument that self-diagnosis is not a replacement. The concession simply suggests a more intelligent approach to the problem and strengthens the argument. Research and first hand attempts at self-diagnosis demonstrate that many misconceptions can be made. For example, the idea of random thought processes was rationalized when the statements were put into context. Only the statements seemed random while the thought processes were completely logical. For these reasons self-diagnosis of any medical condition is not a suitable replacement for a medical doctor’s opinion.
Works Cited
Goldberg, Martin. A guide to psychiatric diagnosis and understanding for the helping professions. Chicago, Nelson-Hall Co., 1973.
Goldberg, Richard J. Diagnosing disorders of mood, thought, and behavior : 50 clinical case studies : a guide for the interdisciplinary and interspeciality management of patients with behavioral disturbances. Garden City, N.Y : Medical Examination Pub. Co., 1980.
Goodwin, Donald W. Psychiatric diagnosis. New York : Oxford University Press, 1989.
“Should we use the internet to self-diagnose medical conditions?” AOL /discuss. Feb 20 2006. AOL .
Vinsonhaler, John. Diagnosing children with educational problems : characteristics of reading and learning disabilities specialists and classroom teachers. East Lansing, Mich. : Institute for Research on Teaching, Michigan State University, 1982.
“Psychosis” Wikipedia. Apr 10 2006. Wikipedia .
Abstract
Use of online, internet based medical resources and open encyclopedias for self-diagnosing health problems is a growing trend. While it could be said that sources such as Wikipedia can provide a broad and general overview of the symptoms associated with many illnesses, they are not reliable. Wikipedia’s inherent nature allows anyone to submit unbiased definitions to their site. The determination of bias is based on a system of language checks built into Wikipedia’s site; professional peer editors rarely revise these entries. The lack of editors and authorities on the subjects in Wikipedia provide for very subjective observations. However, there are professional medical websites such as WebMD, which provide objective material on illnesses. The problem associated with the material on these medical sites is not the content, but the reader’s ability to comprehend the content in its entirety. This paper is meant to expose the danger and risk involved with using self-diagnosis as a replacement for a medical doctor’s opinion.
Goldberg, Martin. A guide to psychiatric diagnosis and understanding for the helping professions. Chicago, Nelson-Hall Co., 1973.
This resource provides a repository of many clinical facts and assessments within psychiatric diagnoses. The text contains many papers that are a survey of a wide variety of relevant perspectives in the psychiatric community. Being that many disorders are intrinsically complicated, this text helps validate my thesis.
Goldberg, Richard J. Diagnosing disorders of mood, thought, and behavior : 50 clinical case studies : a guide for the interdisciplinary and interspeciality management of patients with behavioral disturbances. Garden City, N.Y : Medical Examination Pub. Co., 1980.
This text provides a more succinct and specific investigation of diagnosing disorders. On a scientific level this text brings forth even more complexity to the scene with the involvement of many different neurological factors. Providing not only strong factual information it also brings with it a sample population of case studies.
Goodwin, Donald W. Psychiatric diagnosis. New York : Oxford University Press, 1989.
This is a general overview of MD psychiatric diagnosis from one of the world’s most renowned universities, Oxford. This will provide a strong base for understanding into the knowledge and care required to properly diagnose any mental disorder. This could set the groundwork for most of my paper.
“Should we use the internet to self-diagnose medical conditions?” AOL /discuss. Feb 20 2006. AOL .
This is an invaluable source of information that hits the point of the nail of my research topic. AOL /discuss provides the question and numerous responses to interpreted answers by regular users. This resource culminates both supporting and not supporting of self-diagnosis with extended user discussions and comments.
Vinsonhaler, John. Diagnosing children with educational problems : characteristics of reading and learning disabilities specialists and classroom teachers. East Lansing, Mich. : Institute for Research on Teaching, Michigan State University, 1982.
This text provides very specific information in terms of diagnosing a disorder that has more easily seen symptoms that actually support self-diagnosis. Although self-diagnosis is an interesting tool for personal investigation it should never be sought out as a replacement to a Medical Doctor’s Diagnosis. This document will help pave a path for more productive use of self-diagnosis.
the professor stated that i wrote a concise and well researched paper and it is very evident that my writing has improved. we were able to make clear connections with my genres and she said that it made her think about a situation in her past. she was impressed.
(looks like i'm heading in the right direction for that A I deserve.)