SCHIZOPHRENIA- WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW BY CATHY CYWINSKI, MSW LCSW SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF SCHIZOPHRENIA • Hallucinations- false perception • Delusions –fixed false belief • Grossly Disorganized Speech and Behavior • Tend to dress and act in odd ways • Flat Affect SYMPTOMS • Hallucinations-can occur with any of the five senses: • Auditory hallucinations • Visual hallucinations • Tactile hallucinations • Olfactory hallucinations • Gustatory hallucinations SYMPTOMS • Bizarre delusion – this simply translated means a delusion regarding something that CANNOT possibly happen. • Nonbizarre delusion – this is a delusion regarding something that CAN possibly happen. COMMON TYPES OF DELUSIONS • Grandiose • Erotomanic • Religious • Delusions of Control • Persecutory • Referential SYMPTOMS • Disorganized Speech • Loose associations- may go from one topic to another with no clear logic • Tangentiality- answers to questions may be obliquely related or completely unrelated • Incoherence or word salad- speech may be so severely disorganized that it is nearly incomprehensible SYMPTOMS • Grossly disorganized behavior • A person may appear disheveled, may dress in an unusual manner (many layers of clothes on a hot day), or may display inappropriate sexual behavior. • Alogia-poverty of speech- brief, empty replies • Avolition- inability to initiate and persist in goal directed activates. The person may sit for long periods of time and show little interest in participating in work or social activities. • Catatonic motor behaviors- a marked decrease in reactivity to the environments. SYMPTOMS • Negative Symptoms • Affect flattening- a person’s face appearing immobile and unresponsive, with poor eye contact and reduced body language IS THERE SOMETHING TO FEAR • Myth: People with a severe mental illness are violent and unpredictable. • Fact: The vast majority of people with mental health problems are no more likely to be violent than anyone else. Most people with mental illness are not violent and only 3%-5% of violent acts can be attributed to individuals living with a serious mental illness. In fact, people with severe mental illnesses are over 10 times more likely to be victims of violent crime than the general population. (Survey from mentalhealth.gov) • If a person talks about Command Hallucinations- a voice commanding them to do something i.e. – hurt themselves or someone else, get help immediately. TREATMENT • Schizophrenia is associated with high levels of dopamine and unknown irregularities of glutamate. • Medications used to treat schizophrenia aim to decrease the amount of dopamine being processed by the brain. • Many of the medications used to treat schizophrenia have a high occurrence of unpleasant side effects that must be concurrently treated. WAYS TO MANAGE THOUGHT DISORDER • Redirection • Reflect back to a reality based topic • When there is doubt • Reality checking • Stay on track • Don’t feed into the delusion • Questions? • Comments?.