CASE ANALYSI S:

Schizophrenia

Sareno, Ma. Elisa G.

SUMMARY

Johnny is an 18-year old admitted to an acute psychiatric unit with a diagnosis of schizophrenia - acute, paranoid type. His parents reported that his grades have dropped from As to Cs, and he has been getting failing grades in school the past 12 months. He has also increasingly withdrawn, agitated, and irritable during this period. He has been overheard talking and arguing in his room during the day and night. Initially his parents thought he was taking drugs and they sought medical treatment. His physical examination and drug screening were negative. During the past 2 weeks, Johnny has refused to eat and has expressed fears that his mother has been trying to poison him. Additionally, he has refused to attend school or to come out of his room. His parents became concerned about his deteriorating mental and physical condition and brought him to the emergency department. His appearance was disheveled his hair was uncombed and his clothes wrinkled. Johnny was pacing, and his mood was irritable and agitated. His eye contact was poor and his thoughts were irrelevant, incoherent and illogical. He was thinly built, 6 feet tall and weighed about 137 pounds. He was easily distracted and his responses were inappropriate. His parents were the chief informant.

REACTION

According to epidemiological studies, approximately 1% of the worlds population will develop schizophrenia at some point during their lifetime. This severe, disabling neurological disease is chronic and there is no cure. Although it affects both men and women equally, men are usually diagnosed earlier, in their late teens or early twenties. Schizophrenia symptoms are complex and the disorder can be difficult to diagnose, particularly in its early stages. People who have schizophrenia often have terrifying psychotic symptoms such as hearing voices in their heads, or believing that others are controlling their thoughts, reading their minds, or plotting against them. These symptoms often leave them afraid and withdrawn, so people living with schizophrenia can be incomprehensible or scary to other people because their speech patterns and behavior are disorganized and bizarre. What would you feel if you woke up this point of your life having this kind of disease? Well, you may feel hopeless, depressed or unfortunate. Having a disease was already a great burden. What more if you have these certainly dignity-degrading one? As was presented over and over again on different psychiatric lectures of Director Neil G. Cabbo and Elective Course, being healthy means having homeostasis between the different facets of individuality which mainly are physical, social, spiritual and psychological aspects. Any disturbance may lead to illness. In patients with schizophrenia psychological state is at risk. A person with this disease develops signs and symptoms which may result to irreversible conditions and even death. As was taught, schizophrenia patients, particularly paranoid (the most crucial) experiences hallucinations

that may be emerge as controlling in some point. One possible complication of this is obeying what the hallucination may tell you. Because of delusions, a person with schizophrenia may also jeopardize his physical state. He may not be able to receive the appropriate dietary needs that his body requires to be capable of protecting and nourishing the body. This in turn may result to decreased resistance and increased susceptibility to harbor organisms and possible a disease. Another area that is at stake is the persons social aspect in life. Schizophrenic patients experience extreme fear and anxiety to interact with other people. They may feel indifference seeing everyone behaving against his thoughts. Social aspect can also appear as an irreversible circumstance of paranoid delusions. At this point of a persons troubled times, patients support system plays an important role in encompassing treatment and care. Family is always the immediate person that may be needed by this patient. Although acceptance is always hard, viewing this as part of life positively, unconditional love and care may induce the feeling of worth and will be crucial for early treatment. Without support systems, patients may unable to achieve treatment and care they need most.