Schizophrenia

What is Schizophrenia?

• A mental illness which affects the way you think.
• The symptoms may affect how you cope with day to day life.
• It is normally when a person cannot distinguish their own thoughts and ideas from reality.

Symptoms of Schizophrenia

• Expressing incorrect emotions in social situations
• Hallucinations
• Delusions
• Lack of emotions
• Becoming socially withdrawn
• Lack of interest in regular activities
• Changes in sleeping patterns
• Unpredictable behaviour
• Confused thoughts
• Lack of care in appearance/hygiene

Causes of Schizophrenia

• Exact causes of schizophrenia are unknown but research suggests that causes of schizophrenia are;
• Genetics
• Brain development
• Neurotransmitters
• Pregnancy and birth complications

Treatment for Schizophrenia

• Anti-psychotic drugs
• Neuroleptic drugs
• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
• Arts Therapy
• Family Therapy
• Counselling

Lifestyle Changes

• improved
• nutrition
• through fish oil
• rich foods
• adopt/maintain a
• generally healthy lifestyle
• reduce hours at
• work
• reference to
• lowering stress levels
• take regular
• exercise
• maintaining
• exercise
• avoiding
• (illegal) drugs
• avoiding alcohol
• adequate sleep
• adopt a routine
• to help with medication administration

Physical Impacts

• On patient - lack energy for everyday tasks such as not looking after family, may have a risk of suicide or harm themselves when behaving irrationally, will have to watch for signs of relapse
• On family - may not be able to sleep because they are worried, will have to watch for signs of relapse

Intellectual Impacts

• On patient - may be unable to concentrate at work at school, may perform worse than peers
• On family - children may find it difficult, parents may be unable to concentrate at work

Emotional Impacts

• On patient - could become upset/angry because their brain is telling them something different, may become suspicious of those around them, could become agitated
• On family - may find it difficult to stay calm or relaxed, may find it hard to support the client with their illness, could become concerned with the health and well-being of the patient

Social Impacts

• On patient - family/friends may not want to interact with them, may find it difficult to keep close relationships, could become withdrawn/isolated, majority of contact will be with health care professionals, may feel uncomfortable around others.
• On family - may not be able to go to work so will have a loss in their salary and might have to claim benefits

Patient Centred Approach

• putting
• the patient at the centre of the process
• enabling
• the
• patient to make informed choices,
• give informed
• consent and
• be empowered to
• access health
• care services.
• enabling
• the
• patient to make informed choices,
• give informed
• consent and
• be empowered to
• access health
• care services.
• respecting
• the patient’s
• views
• making
• the patient
• an equal
• partner in decision making
• recognising
• ways
• in which the patient can take
• responsibility for
• their own health care
• supporting
• the patient to make health and/or lifestyle changes

Patient Care Pathway

• Starts at GP where patient is referred to CMHT.
• Will receive psychological treatment by community psychiatric nurse
• Could have outpatient care at hospital where the patient is treated with medication or psychological treatment
• May be sectioned at hospital or to a mental health hospital (when patient is on the verge of self harming)
• If GP thinks that it is an emergency then they will be transferred to hospital ASAP to receive emergency inpatient care
• Overall, patient will be learn how to manage with living with Schizophrenia.
• Will have to make appropriate lifestyle changes e.g - regular exercise, avoiding alcohol.
• Patient will have continuous hospital appointments and support