Mental Illness

        As the film Deranged revolves around mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and dementia, I want to make sure that the symptoms Christina experiences are accurate. Beginning with how Christina obtained these symptoms, while she was cleaning up her husbands new medication he was working on for mentally ill patients, a bit of the medicine reached her bloodstream. This caused her to now obtain such an illness. While in certain cases this is a possibility in real life, it is a bit unlikely that a medicine meant to cure such an illness will actually cause it. As this film will have certain science fiction characteristics, I found this appropriate for the story.

Schizophrenia
"Schizophrenia is a chronic and severe mental disorder that affects how a person thinks, feels, and behaves," according to the National Institute of Mental Health. This mental illness, although not as common as others, can be quite disturbing. Some of the symptoms may include hallucinations, delusions, abnormal thoughts, as well as abnormal body movements. Schizophrenia may be caused by exposure to a virus, birth defects, as well as psychosocial factors. The illness is also known to run in family genes. While Schizophrenia is very serious, the exact cause is still not known. To reduce symptoms, doctors provide antipsychotic medication, coordinated specialty care, as well as various other forms of therapy. Throughout Deranged, certain characteristics of Schizophrenia may be observed however the film is not limited to just this mental illness.

Dementia
"Dementia is a general term for loss of memory and other mental abilities severe enough to interfere with daily life," according to Alzheimer's Association. Dementia can come in various forms including but not limited to: Alzheimer's Disease, Vascular Dementia, Parkinson's Disease, as well as Mixed Dementia. Alzheimer's Disease is the most common form of Dementia. Some symptoms may include having trouble remembering names or events or even recent conversations. Vascular Dementia is associated with loss of judgement and decision making. Parkinson's Disease affect mainly movement, especially in the hands. Mixed Dementia refers to the brain containing more than one type of Dementia. While these mental illnesses are being understood through new technology as damage to brain cells, there is no full cure. The only thing family members can do for patients suffering from dementia is give them drugs that do not stop, but improve various symptoms. While Christina does not have full on dementia throughout the film, she does show various symptoms periodically.

Sources:

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/schizophrenia/index.shtml

http://www.alz.org/dementia/types-of-dementia.asp

http://www.alz.org/what-is-dementia.asp