Schizophrenia: Treatment and The Role of The Social Worker Essay

I would recommend atypical antipsychotic drugs such as clozapine because they “appear to be more effective than conventional drugs” (Comer, 2015).

Amy Standen wrote an article on multiple people dealing with schizophrenia, as well as doctors’ opinions on treatments. In her article, “Halting Schizophrenia Before It Starts,” Standen underlined Dr. McFarlane’s low tech interventions help reduce symptoms. He believes stress can increase the problems of schizophrenia, so he created a multifamily group therapy to resolve problems at home, and find solutions to make a stress free environment. Many times doctors prescribe antipsychotic drugs, but do not recommend them for younger individuals because of negative side effects. Instead, doctors would rather see them being outside and getting support from friend and family. It can be hard to diagnose schizophrenia as the developing symptoms can resemble depression (Standen np). This makes it harder for doctors to make a diagnosis and decide what treatments they should prescribe. There are many other treatments to help the brain with schizophrenia. Amy Standen wrote another article where she describes a new therapy they use at the Citywide Mental Health Center in San Francisco. In her article, “Brain Training May Help Calm The Storms Of Schizophrenia,” Standen states how doctor Vinogradov is doing an experiment to see if the brain can be retaught. He uses computer games to train his patients to tune out distractions and focus on one thing at a time. The hallucinations and voices being heard can be

A treatment plan must be developed for each individual, which may consist of anti-schizophrenia medication, a strong support system (family, friends, groups) and appropriate therapy.

Treatment helps relieve many symptoms of schizophrenia, but most people who have the disorder cope with symptoms throughout their lives. However, many people with schizophrenia can lead rewarding and meaningful lives in their communities. Researchers are developing more effective medications and

Drug treatment is by far the most effective treatment of schizophrenia. This treatment had reduced many symptoms of the disease (Grohol). The future development will also be prevented. Future drug treatment of schizophrenia will follow a more rational and sensible course, one based on better of how drug will be acting based on how the brain functions. Direct inquiries

Schizophrenia is commonly viewed as a hopeless disease where people who have it never recover. While there is no cure for schizophrenia, there are effective treatments that have been proven successful. Medications, recovery-oriented psychosocial treatments and rehabilitation practices are increasingly helping people with

The treatments for schizophrenia vary and usually use a combination of treatments for the individual. The treatment involves several professionals for examples physicians, psychologist, therapists, and social workers. The reason for involving multidisciplinary is because schizophrenia has many dynamics.

Antipsychotics are a type of treatment. They’re taken daily as a pill or a liquid. However, they can also sometimes come in the form of an injection that you have twice a month. Some patients may experience side effects, however these usually go away after a matter of a few days. The medication and the dosage depend on the patient as everyone is different. Patients can work with their doctors to find the correct medication and dosage which is perfect for them. Another type of treatment is psychosocial treatment. These treatments are helpful after patients and their doctor find a medication that works. After finding the perfect medication and dosage with the doctor, psychosocial treatment teaches and aids patients to address the everyday challenges they may face with schizophrenia. This helps people to pursue their life goals and eventually be treated by following a normal routine, such as attending school or work. Patients who participate in regular psychosocial treatment have a smaller chance of having relapses or being hospitalized. Lastly, there is coordinated specialty care. This type of treatment combines medication, psychosocial therapy, case management, family involvement, and supported education and employment services, which are all aimed at reducing symptoms and improving quality of life

“Please hear this: There are not ‘Schizophrenics’ There are people with Schizophrenia.” (Elyn Saks). How much do you actually know about Schizophrenia and the people who have it? You may know that it is a mental disorder in your brain that affects function and fragmentation. What so many of you do not know is the way it is diagnosed, how it is treated, the different types of Schizophrenia, and of course so much more. What I will be covering in this paper will be the different types, the process of the diagnosis, treatment you can receive, causes, possible complications, history and a variety of different topics you most likely did not know were involved with Schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a mental disorder in your brain that can be both fascinating and frightening.

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

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that often appears in someone’s early adulthood stage, but it can emerge at any point of time in life. This disorder affects the brain and is considered as psychosis, which is a type of mental illness that makes people with it unable to differentiate between reality and imagination. The first person to identify schizophrenia as a mental illness was German physician Dr. Emile Kraepelin in 1887 and categorized it as dementia that occurs early in life. The term ‘schizophrenia’ was made by Swiss psychiatrist Paul Eugen Bleuler in 1910 because Kraepelin’s definition of schizophrenia is misleading – schizophrenia is not dementia happening in the early stage of life. It is a derivation from Greek words ‘schizo’ and ‘phren’, which means ‘split’ and ‘mind’. However, schizophrenia is not related to multiple personality disorder.

Later, other classes of typical antipsychotic drugs were used for treatment of schizophrenia, such as butyrophenones and thioxanthones. These drugs were effective methods that transformed the treatment of schizophrenia and decreased the number of hospitalized individuals suffering from the disorder by half. However, twenty-five percent of those suffering from the disorder were unresponsive to the antipsychotic drugs (Adams, C. E., Awad, G. A., Rathbone, J., Thornley, B., & Soares-Weiser, K., 2014). The typical antipsychotic drugs worked best at treating the positive symptoms of schizophrenia but did nothing to treat the negative symptoms of the disorder (which are the lack of motivation and deficit in interpersonal skills). If individuals with schizophrenia discontinue the medication, a total of seventy-eight percent will relapse within a year and ninety-six percent within two years (Gitlin, M., Nuechterlein, K., Subotnik, K. L., Ventura, J., Mintz, J., Fogelson, D. L., . . . Aravagiri, M., 2001). Side effects of typical antipsychotic drugs were significant and would cause many individuals to discontinue their use (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2014). Side effects include grogginess, dry mouth, weight

Treatment- There are many beneficial treatment methods for schizophrenia. Of the most common treatment methods is the antipsychotic drug therapy. “A study done in 2013 of 43,049 patients, they compared the effectiveness and tolerance of fifteen antipsychotic drugs. The study found that all fifteen antipsychotic drugs were significantly more effective than placebos.” (Cetin, 2015, p.97) It has also been a well-known fact that those diagnosed with schizophrenia and not taking any antipsychotic medications experience the symptoms of hallucination and delusions which are unable to be treated through therapy alone. This is why it is important that patients with schizophrenia not only use therapeutic treatment but antipsychotic medications as well. Another form of therapy that is important for schizophrenics is psychotherapy. Psychotherapy such as cognitive-behavior therapy can be beneficial because it provides the patient with education about the causes of their hallucinations, helps the patient learn when and how to expect their own symptoms and how to prepare for them, how to interpret those hallucinations, and then how to cope with the hallucinations and delusions with techniques such as breathing and relaxation techniques. This type of therapy helps the patient gain better control of their hallucinations and delusions. “Cognitive behavioral therapy, as a specific treatment in addition to routine pharmacological and supportive care, impacts acute and chronic positive and

     Psychosocial rehabilitation is a learning based approach using a token economy and social skill training to help patients with schizophrenia develop adaptive behaviors (Nevid, Rathus, & Green, 2003). To live successfully in the community, a variety of treatment approaches are available to people with schizophrenia. A few of the psychosocial rehabilitation options for people with schizophrenia include hospitalization, self-help clubs, family intervention programs, drug therapies and psychosocial treatments. Many treatments have been researched with the most effective being a combination of more than one treatment being implemented simultaneously with others.

It has been proven by many sources that adjuvant therapy for people with schizophrenia has been know to reduce the negative signs of schizophrenia. According to an article, “ These findings suggest the probable efficacy of pioglitazone as an augmentation therapy in reducing the negative symptoms of schizophrenia.” (“effects of adjuvant therapy”). A different type of therapy that is used is called individual psychotherapy.. This type of therapy helps the person to learn how to deal with their emotions (Kurebayashi). During their sessions, the person will learn about the illness and how it affects him. The affected person will also learn how to tell the difference between what is real and what is not. Lastly, some other types of effective therapies are cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and cognitive enhancement therapy (CET). These are only just a few examples of the types of therapy that affected people could be treated with. Thank you for letting tell