Julie Schizophrenia Case Study

I chose to write my research paper over Schizophrenia. It is a psychological disorder that I have always found fascinating. It is a serious disorder that consumes a person's life and is nearly impossible to control. In this paper, I will talk about the definition of Schizophrenia, the diagnosis of Schizophrenia, Schizophrenia in children, suicide, sexually related characteristics of the disease, sleep disorders caused by the disease, differences in the disease on different ethnicities, and insensitivity to pain.

My patient’s name is Nicole Glover. She is a young adult in college, and had shown no previous signs of illness. Nicole’s symptoms make it very clear what our diagnosis should be: Schizophrenia. By speaking to her parents, Lynn and Dave Glover, we were able to determine that Dave had an aunt that was mentally ill. His aunt is the likely source of the disorder because it is a disease that is usually passed through genetics.

The bizarre fact regarding people, is they can be given everything necessary to live: food, water, shelter yet the way a person interacts with the world is majorly influenced by numerous other factors. Intimate relationships, such as the consistent involvement of family, is one factor that has an immense impact on how humans respond to different situations in life. Melinda Sordino, a high school student at Merryweather high, had been raped, at a party a couple weeks before freshman year. She deeply felt that nobody cared leading her to have socially distant herself from everyone and no longer putting any mindfulness into her outward appearance. Just in the matter of a few weeks, an entirely new Melinda had been fashioned without even the slightest acknowledgment or concern from her parents causing a chain of followed reactions.

Betty Jo reluctantly made the decision to move to an assisted living community, due to high pressure from her healthcare providers and family. She is an 85 years old and a widow of 3 years from her beloved husband of over 50 years. Her husband made sure his financial affairs were in order before his death, and thus managed to provide financial comfort and security for Betty Jo. She has two children, both live out of state. Her daughter Karen, has two adolescent children, and visits her mother once a month. Her son, Adam, is a recovering alcoholic who has trouble keeping a job and frequently seeks financial assistance from his mother, yet rarely visits her at Sunrise Pines. Betty Jo often has to sit down for a minute, due to “dizzy” spells and becomes fatigued at a greater frequency than she did before her husband passed away. Her decision to move came after falling twice in her home, upon having hip replacement surgery. She had trouble keeping her physical therapy appointments, and managing her pain medication. Prior to her move, Betty Jo was active in her church and in the Red Hat Society. Now that she is living in Sunrise Pines, she has become more withdrawn and rarely eats her meals in the main dining area. When she does participate in social activities, she acts out and becomes hostile with her fellow residents. The community director received word that she is refusing to take her antidepressant and blood pressure medication. The director reached out to the local

(Salinger 173). Holden has molded his life around this fantasy and fails to realize that

She was sexually abused as a child by her father. She rationalized his abuse as a desire to be closer to his only daughter. However, Tracy failed to realize that if her father was lonely and frustrated, he had alternatives to molesting his own daughter. Tracy attributed his sexual abuse to him being lonely and frustrated. Another example is Louise as she was spending her life waiting for her idealized father to come back. Unable to face how callous and irresponsible he had been she used extensive rationalization to keep him godlike. Her rationalization enabled her to deny her rage at him for abandoning her. These two examples show how victims can make the unacceptable acceptable with even the worst

Mr. Scott is a 34 year old male who presented to the ED via LEO. Mr. Scott reported to nursing staff he has not been taking medication for schizophrenia for the past 8 days because he believes the medication has not helping him with his hallucinations. Mr. Scott reports cocaine use yesterday to nurse staff. At the time of the assessment Mr. Scott is found pacing the floor of his room, However he is calm and cooperative. Mr. Scott reports he was released from a mental health facility in Chatham county. Mr. Scott mention previous hospitalization at Coastal Plains and Holly Hill. He reports a history of Bipolar, PTSD, and manic depression. Mr. Scott reports currently having suicidal thoughts of overdosing on unknown medication he has at his place of residence. Mr. Scott appears guarded and very anxious when talking to this clinician. He reports poor sleep (2-3 hours daily), experiencing flash backs of past traumas from growing up in his previous community, and visual hallucinations. Mr. Scott reports recently he would see dead bodies in the room and doors opening when he knows they are closed. Mr. Scott reports a history of suicidal ideation and attempts, the last being a month ago

She would take Ritalin to help her stay up at night to finish papers, and the first she did was in college to help her relax and focus. She knew she was addicted to drugs in college, but still graduated with from a top university, with a dual Masters. She secured a great job after graduation, and moved in with her boyfriend. It was around a year later she found out she was pregnant. Her boyfriend was also using drugs and was controlling. He insisted that she have an abortion, because “what was he going to do with a child”. She mentioned, “killing her baby” was the hardest thing she has ever had to do.

Ms. A reported she was exposed to domestic violence within the home. Reportedly, Ms. A’s said her father was physically, verbally, and emotionally abusive towards her mother and herself. The patient recalled being awakened at nights by her mother and being told they were going on “vacations”. According to Ms. A, as she grew older she understood the her family “vacations” her mother later explained that the “vacations” were merely an escape from her abusive father. The patient described her parent 's divorce as "messy". She opined that her parents’ divorce resulted in her “bouncing back and forth” between their homes. She reported living with her father for a brief period andbecause she was allowed to do "whatever she wanted". She further described her father as her “drinking buddy” during her adolescent years.

This style is also more likely to be the recipient of abuse. The fearful style also has an unlovable presentation of self and can show itself as either the perpetrator or recipient in partner violence. I believe that Jessica’s childhood directly impacted her inability to recognize her need to self-protect and understand that she does not “deserve” this type of behavior from her current boyfriend. She cannot recognize this because she feels she is undeserving, unlovable and “bad.” If Jessica had a secure attachment to her caregivers as a child, she would have the foundation for optimal mental health and resilience which is a protective factor against the development of trauma (Solomon & Siegel, 2003).

Elizabeth is now seventeen and finishing her junior years of high school; however, Elizabeth is in a juvenile corrections school instead of her usual public school. The past school years have been very rough on Anna and Elizabeth’s relationship. The problems began towards the end of her sophomore year. Elizabeth had a couple of teachers that did not communicate well with IEP team meetings and couldn’t quite understand Elizabeth’s struggle with depression. Elizabeth began falling through the crack of the public school system and felt forgotten so Elizabeth sought out attention another way. Elizabeth's grandparents also decided to buy an RV and travel the states, leaving behind Anna and Elizabeth. Elizabeth's grandparents try and be supportive from a distance, but her recent behavior has pushed them away. Mr. Phil has worked hard to keep Elizabeth on track but without the whole team working together, the planning process is falling apart. Because of this failure, Elizabeth began having trouble with underage drinking and smoking marijuana excessively.

Dr. Patricia Deegan started hearing voices when she was younger. At the time, the voices were friendly, and Deegan believed that everyone heard voices. However, when she turned seventeen, the voices became vicious. The voices were critical to the point of being unbearable, which lead to a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Now, as a psychologist, Deegan is focusing on educating other practitioners to work with patients with schizophrenia. Due to the fact that the pod cast was more focused on Deegan’s work to give the mental health community an in-depth understanding of schizophrenia rather than her own experiences, there was quite a bit of information missing that would be necessary to make a diagnosis. Information such as symptoms (other than hallucinations) would be extremely helpful, because with just the given information and nothing else, Deegan would not meet DSM-V diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia.

Lanesha is a 12 year old girl that has been having trouble with her temper and her anger in almost every aspect of her daily life. Her medicine and compliance to her treatment plan are no different. As a teenager, she does not want to continually be hassled and bothered. So to avoid this she constantly is telling the providers lies, or in her mind, “what they want to hear.” (http://support.mchtraining.net/national_ccce/case1/Flash/activity1.html). Lanesha has a sense of neglect from her grandmother because she states that she want to act like everything is fine as to appease her Grandmothers temperament. Marietta, also shares in frustration but also has a great deal of added stress as she also cares for her 10 year old grandchild and also her older ailing mother. Marietta exudes many of the qualities spoken by Dr. Horky in her presentation; her own age is taking a toll on her ability to care for Lanesha, she is worried about Lanesha. Due to Lanesha’s age and behavior however, Marietta is experiencing depression and grief. Almost portrays a sense that she has given up, like she has done all that she can. (Horky, n.d.). Other socioeconomic issues are in Marietta’s forefront.

Through analyzing John’s symptoms, the most accurate diagnoses for John is schizophrenia with no catatonia.

Her mother had addiction issues that contributed to volatility in her home life-- her sister had a different father and neither dad was consistently present for their upbringing. Trena experiences moderate feelings of ambivalence toward her mother, stating that if anything happened to her, she would prefer that her sister raise her son, Keith, rather than her mother, because her mother’s parenting style contributed to Trena’s own addiction issues (personal communication, 2016). She has, however, been recently engaged in rebuilding her relationship with her mother. Trena currently enjoys and deeply values a good relationship with her sister, to whom she looks up to, is sporadically engaged with her uncle (helping him—he has physical and mental health issues) and is very close with her son. Trena’s sister, Jennifer, recently had a new baby and is involved in a healthy relationship with a responsible and loving partner. Trena’s respect for her sister is considerable and is largely due to the fact that Jennifer has rebuilt her life after spending time in prison and losing her previous children. Jennifer is now very stable and is growing her skills with a goal of working in social