Schizophrenia And Medication Adherence And Health Care Utilization

By taking the time and educating ourselves, we are eliminating possible misconceptions about the illness. Working with people that have a mental disorder is the best way to understand how and why they act the way they do. While the cause of schizophrenia is still unknown, it is believed that both genetics and environmental factors play a role. Schizophrenia consists of five subtypes; paranoid, disorganized, catatonic, undifferentiated, and residual. Symptoms can range from hallucinations to delusions, and disorganized thinking. Since there is no cure for schizophrenia, treatment is aimed at controlling the positive, negative, and cognitive symptoms. By starting with a single antipsychotic medication and evaluating the efficacy in four to six weeks, they are able to determine if that medication will work or if they need to try a different one. Once they find out what works, they must adhere to it. Through improved public awareness society can break the pervasive stigma and discrimination surrounding mental illnesses that stand in the way of finding cures and help people with schizophrenia lead full lives they

Although schizophrenia may come off as an interesting and unique disorder, it also relates to the Emotional, Social, and Intellectual dimensions of Health and Wellness. Schizophrenia is an disorder that affects a person’s ability to think, feel and behave clearly. The emotional dimension of the wellness wheel is described as the ability to understand ourselves and cope with the challenges life can bring. Also, the ability to acknowledge and share feelings of fear, sadness or stress; hope, love, joy and happiness in a productive manner contributes to our emotional wellness. This connects to schizophrenia because when you have this disorder it perceives you to imagine situations that aren’t actually happening. Usually people diagnosed with this

Every day, schizophrenia not only disrupts the lives of hundreds of thousands of Canadians, but it also places a significant strain on our society. This disorder affects approximately 300,000 Canadians, and places a burden on not only the patient, but their families, the clinicians and other health care professionals. Deinstitutionalization, importance on legal rights, ineffective policy, and community based treatment all contribute to the way services for schizophrenia are delivered in Canada. Symptoms of Schizophrenia can affect daily functions of which people rely on. These symptoms can vary in severity which creates obstacles such as being able to maintain employment, relationships, and engage in social network; which results in a lower standard of living among these individuals.

In NURS 279, I had the privilege of caring for a patient in his late 20’s who had newly been diagnosed with schizophreniform disorder, after having a “break down”. The main symptoms he had experienced over the few months pre-hospitalization included delusions of religious grandiosity and audio/visual hallucinations and the reason it took months before hospitalization is because he was living out of province, away from his family and mostly in social isolation, though his parents noticed a change in behaviour over the phone calls they shared. He became my patient 2 weeks after his admission, at a point where he had accepted his diagnosis and had control over his symptoms in a controlled environment, however, was med noncompliant, as he

There are many reasons for this medical dilemma, not the least of these, the disease process itself. Even in the most severe episode the schizophrenic patient doesn’t truly understand their need for treatment or their illness because 97% of schizophrenia patients suffer from extreme lack of insight. This symptom, in and of

As we have seen, treatment of schizophrenia with antipsychotic drugs can have impressive results in terms of decreasing active symptoms, although it does nothing to alleviate negative symptoms or to improve cognitive functioning. Unfortunately, this kind of treatment has the drawback of extremely serious and even fatal side-effects. Newer generation atypical antipsychotics offer more hope, as they can treat both active and negative symptoms, and also improve cognitive functioning. Moreover, they have fewer side-effects. However, treatment is complicated by the fact that results are unpredictable; and in addition the side-effects that they do have can be very serious, such as diabetes, which in itself is life-threatening. However, as the potential side-effects are known, the physician has leeway to choose a drug which is a good match for the patient’s clinical profile. Then, once the patient’s symptoms have been much alleviated with an appropriate newer generation atypical antipsychotic, the patient should be able to also benefit from a range of psychotherapeutic interventions. It is argued that this is the best treatment regime to choose, as it is likely to result in the greatest improvement in quality of life, coupled with the lowest risk of potentially devastating side-effects, or of death. This is likely to be better than utilizing cognitive behavioral therapy, the results of which are not reliably known – although research has certainly shown that it is less efficacious

The management of schizophrenia is complex and requires an “all-encompassing approach” which should be individualized to meet the needs of a particular patient (Schizophrenia Society of Canada, 2016, para. 5).

Antipsychotic medications have become the most effective treatment for the positive symptoms of schizophrenia (Lieberman et al., 2005), but medication non-compliance tends to be a common issue among this population. Approximately one-third of people diagnosed with schizophrenia have been found to be non-compliant with their prescribed medications (West et al., 2005). Medication non-compliance is a very serious issue among this population, as it is associated with relapse, psychiatric hospitalization, and functional outcomes. However, very little is being done to address this issue. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy has recently been integrated into treatments for schizophrenia, and several studies have found it to be effective in

Antipsychotic medications are proven to help in treating acute psychosis and to reduce the risk of future psychotic events. People with severe symptoms require hospitalization to ensure safety, proper nutrition, adequate sleep, and proper hygiene. Some common medication used to treat schizophrenia are, trifluoperazine, flupenthixol, loxapine among others. There is a side effect from every medication we take, and there is no exception for antipsychotic medications. These medications may cause, drowsiness, dizziness, blurred vision, rapid heartbeat, sensitivity to the sun, rashes, and menstrual problems for women. People taking these medications should not operate machinery or drive a car until they adjust to all of their medications. However, people might need to try several medications until they find the appropriate medication for them. People should not stop taking any medication without the proper recommendation from their doctor. Not taking their medication adequately may cause a relapse and the symptoms come back or usually their symptoms get

There are numerous different types of medications that you can take with schizophrenia. There was “a 4-week of placebo-controlled trial in hospitalized patients with acute Schizophrenia.” “Risperidone was used as an active control in this study.” There are physiological treatments that include cognitive behavior therapy, family therapy and one-on-one therapy that contribute to help manage the schizophrenia. Anti-psychotic medicines are called “atypical”, it helps to contribute to improve and maintain symptoms. You can get them as injections, liquid form and also pills. You have to participate in a maintenance plan that helps to manage and prevent acute episodes from coming back

The mental health of individuals living with schizophrenia not only depends on the severity of their mental illness, it also depends on their inclusion within their community (Michael, 2012). Despite recent advances and treatment, individuals suffering from schizophrenia encounter a considerable stigma that creates barriers to them receiving adequate treatment which in turn hinders their full integration into society (Morgan, 2003). The conceptualization of stigma was explored (Goffman, 1963) as an attribute which is deeply socially discrediting and makes the person carrying the stigma different from others and of a less desirable kind (Goffman, 1963 pg 13). However, the individual experiencing schizophrenia is not solely the person affected by stigmatization. Stigma is also believed to affect the individual’s social network, including family, friends and mental health and social care professionals. However (Sayce, 2000), building on the work of Goffman’s theory, saw stigma as driving stereotypes or negative views, attributed to a person, marginalising the person from receiving adequate treatment. Much research has been conducted to aid understanding of stigma, through studying public attitudes and beliefs.

Schizophrenia is a life-long disorder that affects about one percent of the population (Mueser & McGurk, 2004). The cause of this mental illness is still unclear. Studies have suggested that Schizophrenia does not arise from one factor but from a combination of genetic, environmental, and social factors (Liddle, 1987). People diagnosed with Schizophrenia struggle to deal with a multitude of symptoms that make it difficult to function (Mueser & McGurk, 2004). Antipsychotic medications are a popular treatment of the symptoms of Schizophrenia (Mueser & McGurk, 2004). Research is constantly being done to develop these medications to enhance the quality of life of those diagnosed with Schizophrenia.

Treatment of schizophrenia may vary according to what clinicians believe to be its causes. For example, some believe (and this is backed by evidence) that the condition is caused by over activity of the dopamine system, so that the person experiences too much stimulation. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter, so that in effect too much activity is occurring in the brain. Clinicians who believe this is the case are likely to use drug therapies to correct this over activity, and will use antipsychotic drugs.

Emotional over-involvement is essentially a form of protectiveness which is displayed by caregivers. Studies carried out by Breitborde et al. (2007) illuminate the theory that high levels of emotional over-involvement could induce relapse, thus diminishing the probability of recovery. These results indicate that independence could be a vital component in the treatment of Schizophrenia suggesting that emotional over-involvement could only be of assistance until the point that it violates the patients privacy and autonomy (Breitborde et al. 2007). It is understandable that family members and primary caregivers are concerned about the patient, and therefore feel they must protect them, however, it is important to note that

Other medications are also used to assist with treating other symptoms of the disorder or side effects of the prescribed medication. Medications may be given to help alleviate or reduce anxiety, aggression, agitation, and other positive or negative symptoms associated with schizophrenia. Medications will not cure the disorder, but will assist the person with functioning better on a day to day basis. Once the symptoms begin to reduce or subside, the individual may become more open to other treatment options as well as increase the effectiveness of the other treatments (Preston, O'Neal & Talaga, 2010).