Schizophrenia

SCHIZOPHRENIA

Case History

Patient’s mother was an avid smoker, consuming approximately two packs of cigarettes daily before and during pregnancy. Furthermore, patient’s mother suffered from a very severe case of the flue during her fifth month of pregnancy. As a child, the patient showed signs of slower developmental skills, and was diagnosed as suffering from hyperactivity in early childhood. Patient experienced an unsettled home life because of ongoing conflicts between her parents that resulted in separation, and reconciliation. Because of her apparent developmental disabilities, her parents devoted time to the patient however, the patient did receive criticism from her father for her behavioral dysfunctions.

As the patient matured, she displayed signs of being socially awkward and isolated from her peers, and in early adulthood started to display worsening symptoms like talking to herself, and displaying unusual behavior like stating at the floor for long periods. Her first documented schizophrenia episode requiring hospitalization occurred shortly after the additional symptoms started to be displayed. After the initial hospitalization, the patient was returned home to facilitate a quicker recovery. That was short lived because the patient failed to follow the prescribed treatment which resulted in a secondary episode shortly after her return to college. Further home-based treatments proved unsuccessful as the patient slowly declined, resulting in unresponsiveness, and displaying symptoms like senseless giggling, and rocking movements.

The patient’s second hospitalization and treatments started to show positive results, and she was taken back to her home environment. She was able to obtain a part-time position at work, and maintain daily household chores. However, the patient failed to follow the prescribed treatment regimen. Following the death of her father, and additional stressors resulting from her mother’s added dependency, the patient suffered from a third regression of the illness. Her third hospitalization resulted from local law officials discovering her walking in a local pond while unconsciously talking to herself.

Conclusion

Because illnesses like schizophrenia relate to various and different factors, each person effected by the illness will show differences in ability to function in a normal environment. The various classifications of schizophrenia, ability to receive treatments, and the consideration of various influences and base-line factors help researchers determine what classification a patient falls into. In this particular case, the patient displays symptoms of catatonic schizophrenia. She is able to function in environments that do not produce high levels of demand or stress on the individual. However, the underlying assumptions would indicate that the combination of outlined biological, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral were in-place, and waiting for the appropriate stressor to trigger her symptoms.

Recommendation

The patient is encouraging to adopt a healthy lifestyle such as to take regularly exercise and eat healthy foods. In addition, social and community support is very important. The patient’s family and friends can be major sources of help. The patient is also recommend to undergo in Family Intervention. This may be offered a sessions for relatives of patients. It has been found to reduce hospital admissions and the severity of symptoms for up to two years after treatment.

EATING DISORDER

Case History

The client was 23 and working at his first job. His love life was in disarray, his work was boring, and his boss was a misandry. And him, having been raised to associate love and happiness with food, turned to eating for solace.

The client found himself unable to stop eating once he had started, he resolved not to eat during the day. Then, after work and out of sight, the bingeing began. He learned where the few all-night Carinderia or fast food were located so he could pick up the evening’s supply on his way home from work. Then he would spend the night eating nonstop, first something sweet, then something salty, then back to sweet, and so on. A half-gallon of ice cream was only the beginning. He was capable of consuming 3,000 calories at a sitting. Many mornings he awakened to find partly chewed food still in his mouth. And, as might expect, because he didn’t purge, the client got fatter and fatter until he had gained a third more than his normal body weight, even though he was physically active.

Conclusion

His despair was profound, and one night in the midst of a binge he became suicidal. He had lost control of his eating; it was controlling him, and he couldn’t go on living that way. Just talking about his behavior and learning some from the interviewer that he was not the only person with this problem helped relieve his despair. Still, it was not able to help him stop bingeing. That was something he would have to do on his own.

He finally reached the conclusion that if he kept eating that way, the dreadful foods would end up killing him. And he knew by then that diets were a disaster, something one goes on to go off, only to regain what one has lost. So he decided that if he was going to be fat, at least he was going to be healthy.