Summary
I chose to study such a mental health problem as schizophrenia. Under the chosen illness emotional reactions and thought processes are disrupted. This disease was chosen as it has many different aspects and mechanisms that are important for study. Memory, attention, and perception may be disrupted under the prolonged course. However, schizophrenia does not provoke perturbations in consciousness or intellectual processes. Lack of treatment leads to a complete loss of a sense of one’s own “I” and the loss of the integrity of a person’s personality. In order to avoid this, it is necessary to diagnose the signs of schizophrenia in a timely manner and start treatment as soon as possible.
Schizophrenia has some similar symptoms among patients, which may be a signal to start an examination. These include isolation from society, unsociableness, indifference to oneself, friends, and family, emotional coldness, a gradual loss of interest in everything that worried one before, and sleep disturbances (Volkan, 2022). However, it is worth noting that adolescents often experience similar symptoms during the transition period. If one feels that the symptoms are getting worse, one needs to consult with a doctor.
As the disease progresses, common symptoms and signs of schizophrenia occur, which include positive and negative ones. The first group is characterized by hallucinations when the patient sees and hears something that does not exist (Crider, 2020). One experiences delusions, namely, illogical beliefs in which the patient cannot be persuaded. Disorderly thinking is when the patient either speaks too quickly, then stops in the middle of a thought, and at the same time names non-existent words. In addition, there may be unnatural movements when a patient with schizophrenia moves slowly and freezes in an abnormal position, or vice versa, moves too quickly and jerkily.
Cognitive Challenges
With the chosen health challenge, patients face particular cognitive challenges articulated by changes in thinking and judgment. Among cognitive impairments in patients with schizophrenia, attention, perception, and various types of memory, such as working, verbal, and autobiographical, are most often indicated. Moreover, there is a violation of executive functions and problem-solving behavior and reduced control of activity and its organization, especially in the sphere of thinking (Volkan, 2022). Furthermore, the association of neurocognitive impairment with schizophrenia is well established. Such disturbances may be present before the development of positive symptoms of schizophrenia and may continue during periods of remission. Certain deficits have been identified in the areas of attention, memory, processing speed, and executive function.
Physical Challenges
Under selected mental health problems, some physical changes are highlighted, which include the following items. The most pronounced are changes in the size of individual brain parts. For example, in patients with schizophrenia, there is a decrease in volume or flattening of the cerebral cortex involved in the processing of analytical information and logical thinking. Moreover, in patients, the work of some parts of the limbic system, which is responsible for emotional perception, is disrupted. These include the amygdala, hippocampus, thalamus, and parahippocampal gyrus. There is an asymmetry between the frontal, temporal, and occipital lobes of the brain.
Organic changes in the volume and structure of brain regions entail disturbances in their work, namely the processing and perception of information and cognitive functions. Although it is still impossible to influence the structure of the brain, it is possible to correct individual violations in its work due to the use of pharmacological agents (Crider, 2020). An imbalance of any substances in the body, in general, and the brain, in particular, is the cause of certain pathologies. For example, a lack of the same dopamine is a characteristic symptom of Parkinson’s disease. And some drugs that provoke its production can thereby cause manifestations of psychosis. Therefore, in the case of schizophrenia, impaired dopamine secretion remains a constant cause of psychotic states, which can and should be treated with medication.
Social Challenges
In the chosen mental health problem, social challenges are primarily formulated by the impossibility of continuing the former social activity in case of illness. It includes being unemployed, as the diagnosis affects the ability to perform one’s duties adequately. Unemployment is an urgent problem since one loses the opportunity to realize oneself in life and receive resources for subsistence (Volkan, 2022). Moreover, being at work, in one way or another, the person maintains social communication with colleagues or with superiors. The lack of any social activity can aggravate the condition of a schizophrenic patient, which also formulates the issue. Moreover, being hospitalized in severe stages of the disease, one does not have the opportunity to maintain relationships with friends or family, which also aggravates the condition.
In addition, people with schizophrenia commit serious crimes such as murder or serious bodily harm several times more often than healthy people. These crimes can be committed both under the influence of productive symptoms and due to an emotional-volitional defect that makes it difficult to regulate one’s behavior (Thompson, 2021). High-profile crimes of this kind, which are covered in the media, lead to the fact that society and even some doctors are afraid of people who have schizophrenia, trying to isolate or avoid them. Moreover, the knowledge that many doctors have left after the cycle of psychiatry relates primarily to the dangers of the mentally ill. As a result, having met these patients at the reception, many doctors consciously or unconsciously seek to get rid of them for some legal reason.
Emotional Challenges
With the chosen problem, serious emotional challenges arise, which include inadequate emotional reactions and changes. There is a progressive impoverishment of emotional reactions up to the development of states of emotional deficiency, as well as their inadequacy and paradox. The impoverishment of emotional responses occurs at the beginning of the disease and is steadily progressing (Thompson, 2021). First, higher emotions change, such as emotional responsiveness, compassion, and altruism, then the patients become cold and selfish.
People become less interested in events in the family, and at work, old friendly contacts are torn, and former feelings for loved ones are lost. In severe cases, progressive emotional devastation leads to everyday apathy. A paradox of emotional reactions appears in a significant part of patients against the background of the impoverishment of emotional life. Patients endure the misfortune in their family rather indifferently, while they show violent, inadequate reactions with insufficiently correctly expressed condolences or for a completely insignificant reason.
The Role of HCA
Finally, it is worth mentioning that the role of HCA for patients with schizophrenia is significant. It is formulated by the fact that with the current diagnosis, one may not be able to provide oneself with basic needs independently. There may be memory lapses or an inadequate assessment of the environment, which can provoke injury to the patient. At the same time, the nurse must show increased patience, attention, and return to the customer. HCA should compensate the patient for the inability to move independently, use the bathroom, eat, monitor their appearance, and maintain social activity.
References
Crider, A. (2020). Schizophrenia: A biopsychological perspective. Routledge.
Thompson, P. (2021). Schizophrenia: A workbook for healthcare professionals. CRC Press.
Volkan, K. (2022). Schizophrenia: Science, psychoanalysis, and culture. ISD LLC.