Schizophrenia

Psychopathology

• Schizophrenia
• Signs & symptoms
• Possible Causes
• Nursing Diagnoses
• Treatment & care Plans
• Teaching plans

Psychopathology

• Prevalence - 20% (12 months period)
• Anxiety disorder - most prevalent
• Mood disorder (collectively)
• Alcohol disorders
• Major depression
• Comorbidity - 17%
• Help seeking - 60-80%

Understanding Psychopathology

• Organized knowledge - understand
• Operational definition - communicate
• Criteria for diagnosis - DSM IV
• Behavior - subjective/ objective
• Etiology - nature/nurture

Schizophrenia

• the most debilitating mental illnesses
• Greek terms - "splitting of the mind”
• do not have more than one distinct personality
• distortions in their perceptions, feelings, and relationships with the world around them.
• 1% of the population suffer (in 12 m period)

• The mental health continuum for schizophrenia

• Mild

• Moderate

• Severe

• Psychosis

• Anxiety

• Anxiety
• Cause
• Physical
• conditions

• Anxiety disorder
• Somatoform disorders
• Dissociative disorders

• Personality
• disorders

• Grief

• Major depression

Epidemiology

• 95% of sufferers – lasts a lifetime
• 1/3 of homeless suffer from Schizo
• 15% no respond to med;
• 75% partial effective
• 20-50% attempt suicide
• 10% kill themselves
• 20% shorter life expectancy
• 25% experience secondary depression

Causes of Schizophrenia

• Genetic factors
• Chemical imbalance & physical abnormalities – neurotransmitters, brain structures
• Biological factors – age, virus, …
• Environmental factors – chr. Life stressors, changes, …