Schizophrenia is a chronic mental disorder in which fundamental disturbances in perception, thinking, and emotional reactions develop, which is considered to be one of the most common and complex mental illnesses (Spaulding, 2017). In my personal experience, I was acquainted with a schizophrenic patient and had an opportunity to study his medical history in sufficient detail. He is a sixty-year-old man who had been under the care of psychiatrists for more than thirty years. For many years, he has been living alone in a village house. His social contacts are limited to one school friend and his niece, with whom he kept in touch only by telephone. The first signs of the disease began to appear at the age of 28, which, according to his friend, coincided with the patient’s loss of a loved one.
Based on the man’s medical history, the negative symptoms can be noted as a decrease in social activity, difficulties in communicating with familiar people, and the manifestation of shyness that was not typical before. Positive symptoms can include periodic delirium and hallucinations. Against the background of these manifestations of schizophrenia, the patient experiences severe difficulties communicating with people, including his neighbors, who refuse to help him in everyday matters. Because of the lack of sufficient involvement, the man begins to experience domestic difficulties due to his age, as he lacks adequate communication skills to negotiate for help.
According to the symptoms studied, a paranoid form of schizophrenia was diagnosed. Doctors suggested the antipsychotic drug risperidone, which repeatedly helped the patient emerge from an exacerbation. Electroconvulsive therapy was used as a non-drug method, but it did not have the proper effect. The man frequently took courses in group classes. According to the doctors’ feedback, he took an active part in the discussions, but his level of social activity in everyday life continued to decrease.
If I were the patient, I would first talk about the need to overcome the difficulties in dealing with people, which made it impossible for me to deal with many everyday issues. I would also ask for help in mastering computer technology, which would allow me to maintain closer contact with my niece. My experience with patients with hallucinations has shown that the latter have often begun to deliberately harm their possessions, fearing their theft or destruction by imaginary beings. Based on these data, I can conclude that the problems in this man’s daily life may be aggravated by the patient’s distorted view of the living conditions around him. For this reason, I would make every effort to ensure that the patient has active communication with a female relative who can control his everyday life.
References
Spaulding, W. D. (2017). The Schizophrenia Spectrum (Advances in Psychotherapy: Evidence-based Practice) (2nd ed.). Hogrefe Publishing.