Schizophrenia Disorders Case Study

The True Life episode, I have Schizophrenia, documented the struggles of three adults who suffer from Schizophrenia and Schizoaffective disorder. This paper will focus around Josh and whether he actually has Schizophrenia.

From a sociocultural viewpoint would suggest that maybe his race, as well as his country, and social environment could play a role in his schizophrenia also people labeling him as not normal could have played a role in a self fulfilling prophecy. Sociocultural views may also suggest that family stresses may have been a contribution to his schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia is a disorder that is characterized by a broken thought process and poor emotional responses. Typical symptoms of this disorder include delusions, paranoia, hallucinations, social dysfunctions,

Schizophrenia is a severe, disabling and chronic disorder that affects people. Schizophrenia is diagnosed as a psychotic disorder. This is because a person suffering from schizophrenia cannot tell their own thoughts, perceptions, ideas, and imaginations from the reality. There is continuing debate and research as to whether schizophrenia is one condition or a combination of more than one syndrome that have related features. People suffering from schizophrenia may seem perfectly fine until the time they talk actually talk about they are thinking. People with schizophrenia rely on others for help since they cannot care for themselves of hold a job. There is no cure for schizophrenia, but there is treatment that relieves some of the symptoms. People having the disorder will cope with the symptoms all their lives. There have been cases of people suffering from schizophrenia leading meaningful and rewarding lives. There are five types of schizophrenia namely paranoid, disorganized, residual, undifferentiated, and catatonic schizophrenia. This paper will discuss paranoid schizophrenia.

Therapy for psychosis often works best when combined with medication, although this is not always

S: Jani describes having imaginary friends that are good and bad and her names are related to numbers. The good ones are her friends and she talks with them constantly. The bad ones tell her to do “bad things” that she feels must do if not they will hit her until she does. Her father explain how difficult it has been for the whole family and the difficult decision of separation Jani and her brother because they were scared she will hurt the baby. Living apart has made life difficult for the family and a big financial stressor.

In order to be diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder one must meet specific criteria that the DSM-5 clearly outlines. In order to be diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder one must meet a number of negative and positive symptoms associated with schizophrenia, these negative symptoms include: false beliefs that are not based in reality, alteration in sensory perceptions, alteration in thought processes, abnormal motor behavior, and a range of symptoms that reduce the person’s ability to function properly (American Psychiatric Association, 2013; National Alliance on Mental Illness, 2016; National Library of Medicine, 2014). In addition to the negative and positive symptoms, the alterations in thought processes and sensory perceptions must not occur concurrently with a mood episode for more than two weeks in the course of the disturbance (APA, 2013). It is crucial that the mood occurrence exists for the entire disturbance including when the symptoms are active and when the symptoms are less prominent (APA, 2013). Lastly, the symptoms experienced must not be caused by substance induced psychosis or any other external factors (APA, 2013). According to the American Psychiatric Association (2013) the disorder must include either a manic or a depressive type specifier. Also, in writing out the diagnosis the health care professional must include if the disturbance is the initial episode or one of numerous episodes (APA, 2013). Health care professionals must also identify if the

1. I do not believe John is responsible due to his intellectual disability. He probably has never seen or even touched a gun before and was curious to what it would actually do. Obviously, John did not know what he was doing.

Schizoaffective disorder is a disorder that is exhibited similarly to schizophrenia and mood disorders. Schizoaffective disorders characteristics consist of both auditory and visual hallucinations, delusions, mania, and depression. According to Pagel, “This seems all the more plausible because SAD (schizoaffective disorder), by definition, is characterized by criteria of two disorders (Pagel, 2014, p.239).” Many people have difficulty understanding the differences between schizoaffective disorder and schizophrenia, and the difference simply is that schizoaffective disorder also exhibits the symptoms of an affective disorder, along with hallucinations. Affective disorders consist of anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder. The affective disorder that will be exhibited with schizoaffective disorder is either bipolar disorder or major depressive disorder. The bipolar type of schizoaffective disorder will exhibit episodes of hypomania and mania, whereas the major depressive disorder type will exhibit only depression. Other symptoms that can occur with schizoaffective disorder are paranoia, impaired socialization skills, lack of proper hygiene, and inability to perform ADL’s properly. There can be many contributing causes of schizoaffective disorder such as, genetics, substance abuse, brain chemistry, and stress. Schizoaffective disorder can be related to brain chemistry, by chemical and hormone imbalances, delayed development, and exposure

Developmental factors – schizophrenics are more likely to be born in spring or winter months may be due to increased risk of viral infections. Factors such as hypoxia, malnutrition, stress, and infection in mother during fetal development have high incidence of schizophrenia.

Etiology1: The exact cause of the disease is not exactly know. However, researchers believe that

Depression is common in patients who have heart disease. It has been found that 25% of patients who have heart disease have depressive symptoms (Lesperance, 2002). Depression is associated with a three fold to four-fold increase in the risk of dying in patients who have heart disease and depression versus patients who have heart disease and no depression (Lesperance, 2002). The prevalence of major depressive disorder has been a growing concern and it has led the American Heart Association to issue a recommendation that patients with CHD should be screened for depressive symptoms. However, this issue has been controversial due to lack of evidence that directly ties CHD with major depressive disorder (Blumenthal et al., 2011). In addition, the

Throughout psychology today there are six different theoretical models that seek to explain and treat abnormal functioning or behavior. These different models have been a result of different ideas and beliefs over the course of history. As psychology began to grow so did the improvements in research techniques. As a result psychologists are able to explain a variety of disorders in terms of the six different theoretical models. In the movie A Beautiful Mind it follows the mathematician John Nash as he struggles with schizophrenia. It an attempt to explain John Nash’s disorder the six different theoretical models will be looked at, they include biological model, psychodynamic model, behavioral model, cognitive model, humanistic model,

           The patient M. is a 26 year old married female who was brought to the ER by her husband after increased anxiety and depression worsened after a “spiritual attack” that lasted for over four days.  While in the ER the patient admitted to hearing multiple distant male and female voices all around her head and outside of her head.  She states not being able to make out the message but interprets them to be negative in nature. She told the ER Doc she felt people were trying to harm her and that “people in her life have used things against her.”  She felt her extended family may have used witchcraft and “chakra dolls” to cast spells on her.  She is cognizant of the strangeness of her claims but believes them to be real

The two diagnosis I considered after my first session with Caleb were Autism Spectrum Disorder and Schizophreniform Disorder. Caleb clearly displayed deficits in both social communication and social interaction during our session. Caleb was so socially withdrawn, that his mother, Nina, was the person I communicated with throughout the entirety of our session. Caleb occasionally mumbled responses to some of the questions; his answers ranged from “yes”, “no” to “I don’t know”, although he mumbled thank you to one of my compliments, Caleb definitely displayed deficits in social-emotional reciprocity. Caleb also exhibited deficits in nonverbal communication, avoiding eye contact throughout our entire session, he even avoided eye contact with his