Additionally, the existence of a disorder called Schizotypal personality disorder means that it is sometimes difficult to decide if a person has schizophrenia or schizotypal personality disorder further reducing the reliability with which schizophrenia is diagnosed. Furthermore, issues of reliability are further caused by using the DSM – IV’s five main types of schizophrenia; Disorganised schizophrenia, Catatonic Schizophrenia, Paranoid Schizophrenia, Undifferentiated schizophrenia and Residual Schizophrenia. Patients with catatonic schizophrenia and paranoid schizophrenia often have symptoms in common, therefore it can be seen as the same disorder and it is harder to distinguish between the two. Also, if a diagnosis is reliable, then why is there a category identified as ‘undifferentiated’ which makes it seem to be a ‘not sure category’. Moreover, why is a person diagnosed as having
In the acute phase patients will experience psychotic episodes and have no perception of reality. In the stabilization phase a patient’s psychotic episodes are managed but they can relapse at any time. In the last and final stage, maintenance phase, the patient is stable but they have to take antipsychotic medicine in order to control their symptoms. The behavioral changes that the schizophrenic experiences can be categorized as positive or negative. Positive symptoms are hallucinations, delusions, hearing voices, thought insertion and thought removal, and somatic hallucinations.
Living With Bipolar Disorder Bipolar Disorder, or Manic-depression as it used to be referred to, affects those that have it in very different ways. Therefore it is important to treat patients, and their disease, as individualized rather than lumping them together by the standards of textbook care. Kay Redfield Jamison is a professor of psychiatry and psychiatric disorders at John Hopkins School of Medicine. She was also diagnosed with bipolar disorder, in which people exhibit polarized behaviors ( wild swings in emotion), in the 70’s. In her memoir An Unquiet Mind, she shares some of her own experiences dealing with this disease, and she teaches that it is impossible to live a balanced life without medication and therapy if you are suffering
(Gerald C. Davidson, John M. Neale, 1998)Family therapy, aimed at reducing high levels of expressed emotion, has been shown to be valuable in preventing relapse. More recently, behavioural treatments such as social skills training have helped patients, who have been discharged from the mental hospitals meet the inevitable stresses of family and community living. The most effective treatments for schizpophrenia are likely to involve both biological and psychological components, because schizophrenia is thought to be one of the most serious forms of mental disorder, along
Often clients and their family, seek help from providers that are not qualified or lack the experience to be effective in dual diagnoses. The client’s family and the client should be carefully interviewed by the dual diagnoses team. The more information about the client could be helpful in determining what types of drugs the client used. This initial assessment is critical; this information will reveal underlying issues that may have been over looked by the previous providers. Chemical dependency, which includes illegal narcotics, alcohol, and drugs prescribed by doctors, can be disguised as symptoms of mental illness.
There are different means of introduction as well from relative use to experimenting. No matter what age or how someone began using, becoming clean, or detox, is just as bad as having the addiction in the first place. Cleaning up from any addiction can be a challenge. The author tells her experiences working in a detox clinic as well as stories she got from her interview with addicts. She also explains the characteristics of kinship, melancholy subjectivity, depression, and life.
She has been diagnosed as having Schizophrenia, which she feels has stigmatised her making it more difficult for her to see an optimistic future for herself. She suffers with the positive symptoms; of her illness this means that something is added to the person’s usual behaviour, such as hearing voices or delusional ideation (Powell 2000). Emma is due to move into a forensic hostel. I am interested to see how staff can assess what interventions are needed to be put in place to help with the process. These assessments can create a dilemma for
Psychological therapies were first brought about for patients who were having trouble adhering to medication due to the intolerable side effects that the biological therapies bring with them. They therefore needed a therapy that would have been more effective and appropriate for them to sustain their improvement. Two of the most common psychological therapies are Behavioral Therapy and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Behaviorist psychologists see schizophrenia as a maladaptive behavior gained through learning experiences, which behavioral therapies can ‘correct’ and change into adaptive behaviors. The most successful form of behavioral therapy is the use of token economies.
It is the responsibility of the clinician to interview the patient and determine a correct diagnosis and treatment. Although, we know that Marla has underlying issues, which require therapy, the first objective is to treat the symptoms she has currently. Dysthymia is a particularly insidious disorder, some people may recover, but some continue to suffer their entire life (Faces of Abnormal Psychology, 2007). Psychological disorders do not discriminate they are equal opportunist
Drastic changes in behaviour may occur, and the person can become upset, anxious, confused, angry or suspicious of those around them. They may not think they need help, and it can be hard to persuade them to visit a doctor. Changes in thinking and behaviour are the most obvious signs of schizophrenia, but people can experience symptoms in different ways. The symptoms of schizophrenia are usually classified into one of two categories: positive or negative. * Positive symptoms represent a change in behaviour or thoughts, such as hallucinations or delusions.