Schizophrenia Essays (1525 words) - Psychiatric Diagnosis

Schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental illness, characterized by a range of symptoms. Most common symptoms include delusions and hallucinations. Additional symptoms of schizophrenia found in humans include: bizarre behavior, loss of contact with reality, disorganized thinking and speaking, decreased emotional expressiveness, social withdrawal and memory loss. When a person smiles at another person, the usual response is to smile back. When a schizophrenic person sees one`s smile, he/she wonders, Why are they laughing at me? Schizophrenics think that everyone is against them, causing everything to be rarely funny. Unlike other mental illnesses, schizophrenia has a fading effect on the person`s life. They soon lose the ability to distinguish the difference between real and unreal experiences, also called delusions. Lori recalling how she killed her dog, beating it to death, is an example of delusion. It actually happened in her head, and only in her head. The illness takes over and shuts them down until they cannot operate, causing a both a high number of suicides and attempted suicides. People with schizophrenia usually exhibit short attention spans and abstract thinking. Also, they are more likely to abuse and/or become dependent on drugs and alcohol. To describe the suffers of schizophrenia, common terms like mad and insane are used by the outside world Erikson formulated many different, but sequential stages in human development. The first is the trust versus mistrust stage. This occurs in the first year of child`s life, with the infant gaining a sense of trust. Responsive and sensitive caregivers meet their basic needs. Lori was treated well by her parents as an infant. She also developed within the following stages successfully. Stage two is autonomy versus shame & doubt, which occurs in the second year of infancy. Infants start to find that they can complete small without the caregiver`s assistance. This stage takes place during early childhood between the ages of three and five. Infants are likely to gain a sense of shame and doubt, resulting from encounters with the social world and new responsibilities. Stage four, is the industry versus inferiority. Children go through this stage between the ages of six years old until reaching puberty. The child is enthusiastic during this time, and focuses their energy towards learning, but problems can happen. Some children can feel incompetent and non-productive. Lori developed through this stage successfully by participating in activities and even being the class clown. Stage five is called identity versus identity confusion. Starting at adolescence (ages 10 to 20), everyone is faced with finding the true self and direction for the future. This is where Lori begins to feel different. Lori began to hear voices and felt different from other people. She kept it hidden for a long time. She went to college and tried to push aside the voices in her head. This brings us to the sixth stage, intimacy versus isolation, occurring in early adulthood. We are faced with intimate relationships with others. Loris voices affected her ability during this stage of her life. She often dated, but had to stop because of her schizophrenic outbreaks. Driving Lori to attempt suicide, and driving her roommate to fear Lori. Loris problems began to snowball. The seventh and is generatively versus stagnation, occurring between the ages of 40 and 50, the average age when raising children. This final stage is where we find Lori in today. 3. Doctors used a number of different treatments in an attempt to treat Lori. The doctors used medication, shock therapy treatment, cold-wet-packing, and the quiet room to try to help Lori and her illness. Medication was used both in the beginning and end of her treatment. The drugs used, are called anti-psychotic drugs, and they include: haloperidol, risperidone, olanzapine, and thioridazine. Anti-psychotic drugs are used to control the hallucinations and delusions. Loris doctors believed drugs were the right choice, but her mom did not agree with it, because of the side affects that the drugs have. When Lori went to the hospital, she received drugs and spent her time walking around in a daze. Specific effects include: dry mouth, blurred vision, dizziness and drowsiness. ECT (Electro Convulsive Therapy) can often relieve severe depression in people who fail to respond to antidepressant medication and psychotherapy. A low-voltage electric current is passed through the brain for one or two second to produce a controlled seizure. Six to ten ECT treatments are given to patients over several weeks. ECT remains controversial because it can cause disorientation and memory loss. Nevertheless, research has found it highly effective in alleviating ever depression. Lori did not like the shock treatment because