Alanna Morton Malcolm Campbell English 1103 Extended Inquiry Topic Proposal: Schizophrenia vs Genius

Introduction/overview

The topic that interests me is schizophrenia, specifically the fine line between

schizophrenia and genius. I like to think of diseases in general not only as having defects,

but instead to think and understand in depth both the pros and cons of a particular

sickness, such as schizophrenia. I really enjoy defining the disease and most definitely

looking into the biology of it and the effects on the brain. With this in mind, I will be

doing my project on what is the connection between schizophrenia and Genius.

This is a major debate that takes into consideration the biology of the brain, the

creative aspects of thinking, and the personality and actions of a person. Whether we

consider schizophrenia to be a disease or a blessing will affect the population of those

who have schizophrenia. Placing people with schizophrenia in categories of either:

should be treated or should not be treated plays a huge factor on how they will behave

and therefore be affected altogether by schizophrenia. Research on those with

schizophrenia has been done for decades and the word schizophrenia itself is less than

100 years old. (Porter, Schneider R.) It has been labeled as many different things, but

usually comes down to two completely different subcategories: a blessing and a curse.

People have believed schizophrenia to be a side effect of being possessed or haunted by

evil spirits or to be a blessing because they are given immaculately diverse and fast

functioning brains in some circumstances. Amazingly, schizophrenia has been thought of

to be treated many different ways and has been claimed to be caused for many different

reasons.

In order to gather information for my initial research I read a lot of information

from articles online and even looked back through my psychology notes from AP Psych

from high school. I tended to think back to the movie that I saw in that class, Beautiful

Mind, a movie based on a true story about John Forbes Nash, a mathematical genius

who struggles with his journey through life after being diagnosed with Schizophrenia, but

eventually triumphs over his difficulties he faces and even wins a Nobel Prize.

Specifically, the resources I looked into online were Medical Daily,

PersonalityResearch.org, and MentalHealthAmerica.net. When it comes to schizophrenia

there are many different beliefs on the subject. Some people believe that they are

mentally ill and must be treated with therapy and high intensity medications while others

believe that it is manageable and providing them with any kind of medications that will

limit their brains capacity to think is cruel and an unusual thing to do to anyone with such

a creative and wide span of brain capacity to think. Scientists tend to believe that the

cause of schizophrenia is hereditary, due to enlarged ventricles in the brain, or even

because of childhood abuse. And whatever the cause may be there has been proof of both

positive and negative effects of schizophrenia. The most controversial debate of all

involving schizophrenia is whether it be more harmful or good on the affected person and

that leads us to the question: is there a difference between schizophrenia and genius?

How do you determine the severity of schizophrenia a person is coping with?

Initial Inquiry Question(s)

Is there a connection between schizophrenia and genius? Is schizophrenia shown

to have more negative or positive effects on a person? Which treatment is most effective

for people with schizophrenia? Are schizotypal individuals more susceptible to thinking

creatively more so than an individual without schizophrenia? What are the percentages of

people with schizophrenia capable of ignoring the altered reality that they see? If

schizophrenics have several cognitive impairments why are they so gifted in the area of

creativity? How do the medications prevent hallucinations and why can they sometimes

not? What are the most common schizotypal traits?

My Interest in this Topic

I am interested in schizophrenia in general because my very good friend, Kayley,

has an uncle with schizophrenia. When I was younger (about 12 years old) we would go

to visit her uncle in his assisted facility and he would sometimes begin to start talking

about the many other people in the room. Even if it were just Kayley, her mother, and I

he would insist on other people being in the room following and watching him. Black

figures. Dark faces. Black eyes. And then we would leave the room. I never really

understood his paranoia, especially of things that I could not see were there. I find it very

interesting that a schizophrenics perception on reality is altered compared to those

without it. Then when I was a senior in high school I took AP psych and learned more

about schizophrenia. I mentioned earlier the movie, Beautiful Mind, which brought to

sight a lot of the typical happenings and effects of what a schizophrenic experiences. I

always wanted to better understand reality and the way it is seen through a

schizophrenics eyes. I want to narrow down the line between schizophrenia and genius

to understand schizophrenia more as a whole. So, I plan to research further into this topic

to see where it takes me.

Next Steps

During my research I will use the reference librarians at UNC Charlottes library

to obtain some extra information that I know will be reliable. These will include, Science

Daily, Scientific American, and any other magazine that includes the information I find

useful. I will also be making use of any reliable website that I find with current events,

studies, or any feedback from people with schizophrenia. I will also make references to

any scholarly articles that I find have the appropriate information to my overall topic. I

believe that I will find that scholarly articles and scientific and or medical websites will

provide me with the best information for my research. These will be the most reliable up-

to-date references that I find. Citations Porter, Schneider R. The History of Schizophrenia. Abstract: In: Clinical

Psychology Rev 1999, 19, 8, 917-33