Schizophrenia Treatment Options

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

A combination of CBT and the social workers in a patient's life will help to integrate better the patient into the society and help the patient in dealing with and managing asocial skills. Patients can be taught vocational skills which can help them function in their normal life, get access to services makes them productive members of the society. There may also be fewer stigmas associated with schizophrenia. This is because the patient will be calmer, and due to CBT, their behavior will be modified to reduce the occurrence of delusions and hallucinations. Schizophrenics will also be able to engage in income generating activities, making them productive members of the

Talk therapy is a specific type of CBT therapy. This study was first conducted by scientists at the National Institute of Mental Health in 2009. Medications taken by those with Schizophrenia are known as anti-psychotics. These medications can produce strong and unpleasant side effects. Researchers under Dr. John M. Kane wanted to treat patients with a program that lowers Schizophrenic symptoms. Lower dosages of medication, talk therapy, and aid in work and school were the three components that created the foundation for the treatment

In the article Talking Back to Madness, states that of the patients who are diagnosed with Schizophrenia only 50% agree to take medication (Balter, 2014). The medication that is given to patients with Schizophrenia causes serious side effects. It is also mentioned that studies have shown that for some patients Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can replace antipsychotic medications, and be just as effective as drugs (Balter, 2014). In my opinion, I think it is always better if a patient can get better without the need of medication, using CBT as a replacement for antipsychotic medication can benefit the patient in a couple of ways. The patient will get better and they will not have to suffer through the side effects caused by the consumption of the

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

Schizophrenia is a chronic brain disorder that affects more than one percent of the population. When schizophrenia is active, symptoms can include delusions, hallucinations, trouble with thinking and concentration, and lack of motivation. However, when these symptoms are treated properly, a large portion of those diagnosed will greatly improve over time.

Medications used to treat symptoms of schizophrenia are often used when the individual is in a state of psychosis. These medications are commonly antipsychotics, but can also include atypical antipsychotics as well. Types of antipsychotics include phenothiazines, chlorpromazines, butyrophenones, and thioxanthenes. Phenothiazines work by blocking dopamine receptors in the brain, preventing excess stimulation and thus reduced symptoms. All antipsychotic medications do help reduce positive symptoms, but none reduce negative symptoms. However, they also result in many negative motor side effects. Atypical antipsychotics work by influencing serotonin receptors and typically have less motor side effects than antipsychotics. Some of these medications include clozapine, olanzapine, and risperdone.

There are perhaps two main prongs to the development of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy as an intervention for schizophrenia, the first being based upon the sizable research that centre on family interventions, which have been successful in reducing patient relapse in schizophrenic families (Pilling et al., 2002). Family interventions are important to consider as they became established treatments during a phase where drug treatments were the main focus of attention in this field and so opened the area of non biological treatment for schizophrenia. And as I will touch upon later drug therapies are frequently used to reduce psychotic symptoms and relapse but these treatments rarely provide the

To start there is not a cure for schizophrenia but some symptoms can be treated with antipsychotic medication. This type of medication is intended to significantly reduce and possibly stop hallucinations, delusions, paranoia and disordered thinking. There isn’t a specific antipsychotic medication recommended to try first but factors that come into play when deciding which one to pick are cost, availability, effectiveness, side effects and adherence likelihood. There are two types of medications that can be taken. Typical and Atypical. Typical is the oldest of the antipsychotic medications and the effectiveness of it really works but it comes with a number of side effects that could make the quality of life difficult. Some of the side effects are tremors, temporary paralysis, restlessness and pacing, extremely slow movements, muscle spasms and changes in breathing and heart rate. Atypical

Schizophrenia can be an overpowering load in someone’s life. As people struggle with schizophrenia consequences, they find themselves living a hopeless life or living in desolation due to this mental state. Although symptoms can vary from person to person, small amount of development has been made since the discovery of schizophrenia in defining its foundation in the human brain. A treatment plan for schizophrenia disorder will include different forms of psychotherapy for individuals such as cognitive-behavioral therapy, cognitive remediation, social skills training and social cognition training. The cognitive-behavioral therapy developed by Albert Ellis in the 1950’s helps when it comes to irrational thinking and how a person may feel, instead of irrational thoughts, the therapist will help the patient think of something that makes him or her happy. It is a multidisciplinary method that can help the patient with schizophrenia manage their symptoms in a better way and live a dynamic life. Cognitive-behavioral therapy isn’t only for mental illnesses, anyone can benefit from this. Cognitive remediation will lead to improving social functioning due to the fact that its design is to improve neurocognitive abilities such as, working memory, attention, and planning, problem solving. A better organization for the individual, and less frustration when trying to deal with a difficult task for example, if a person has a hard time studying for a test, but finds it hard to pay attention or focus on what’s in front of them, he or she would work on tasks that improve attention. Social skills training helps to get along better with others, schizophrenia causes isolation which can be prevented by this training. An individual will learn what is the right or the wrong behavior in public places, how to deal with frustration, their tone of

Cognitive-behavioural treatment (CBT) has rarely been applied as the primary treatment for the multiple, severe and persistent problems that characterize schizophrenia. This case study describes the process of CBT in the long-term outpatient care of a young woman with schizophrenia. The study highlights the adaptation of cognitive-behavioural strategies to the unique needs of schizophrenia and presents data regarding clinical outcomes in this case. Measures of psychosocial functioning, severity of symptoms, attainment of treatment goals and

Some of the medications given to treat schizophrenics are thorazine, haldol, prolixin, etrafon, or trilafon. These medications are some of the original medications used. They are considered the conventional or “typical” antipsychotic medications used to treat the illness. Drugs like risperdal, geodon, zyprexa, abilify, invega and seroquel are all newer medications used to treat the illness. These medications are

The present clinical treatment strategies (pharmacological, psychosocial, family intervention) for child onset schizophrenia (COS) are varied and abundant but very costly because of its rarity and the number of sites required to research the disease (Asarnow, Thompson & McGrath, 2004). Let it be noted that remission of COS is rare but it is the goal of research to accomplish. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry places emphasis on antipsychotic medication, psychoeducation, psychotherapy, and social educational programs (Asarnow et al., 2004). Antipsychotic medication falls into two categories “novel” and “conventional” (Remington, Martin, Jain, Baskys & Dickey, 1999, p. 55). The “novel” category contains risperidone, clozapine, quetiapine, and olanzapine. The “conventional” contains haloperidol, loxapine, molindone, pimozide chlorpromazine, and piperidine (Remington, Martin, Jain, Baskys & Dickey, 1999, p. 55). The in-depth discussion of all these is beyond the scope of this short paper and only contains a few of these medications.

With diagnosis of schizophrenia doesn’t mean immediate medication as there is no cure or special pill that will make it all go away. The development of antipsychotic drugs have been around since the 1950’s with the discovery of chlorpromazine which is a dopamine blocker and antipsychotic but as many of the other treatments, this has severe side effects and should not be taken long term. Other drug therapies include antipsychotic medication mixed with cognitive behavioral therapy that includes illness management education, rehabilitation and support groups. There is no cure for this life consuming illness but there is hope.

The differences between the pharmaceutical and the therapeutic way of treating patients with schizophrenia have different effects on the patient and they deserve to be revised.