Schizophrenia Terrence Gault

Definition Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder or a group of disorders marked by severely impaired thinking, emotions, and behaviors.

Three Stages In the acute phase, the patient has an overt loss of contact with reality that requires intervention and treatment. In the second or stabilization phase, the initial psychotic symptoms have been brought under control but the patient is at risk for relapse if treatment is interrupted. In the third or maintenance phase, the patient is relatively stable and can be kept indefinitely on antipsychotic medications

Symptoms delusions somatic hallucinations hearing voices commenting on the patient's behavior thought insertion or thought withdrawal

Treatments The treatment of schizophrenia depends in part on the patient's stage or phase. Psychotic symptoms and behaviors are considered psychiatric emergencies, and persons showing signs of psychosis are frequently taken by family, friends, or the police to a hospital emergency room. A person diagnosed as psychotic can be legally hospitalized against his or her will, particularly if he or she is violent, threatening to commit suicide, or threatening to harm another person. A psychotic person may also be hospitalized if he or she has become malnourished or ill as a result of failure to feed, dress appropriately for the climate, or otherwise take care of him- or herself. A patient having a first psychotic episode should be given a CT or MRI scan to rule out structural brain disease.

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