Schizophrenia NU5403 1 .pptx - Working with a person with...

Working with a person with
schizophrenia / psychosis.
NU5403.
Mental Health Nursing 1.

Schizophrenia and psychosis.
Schizophrenia is characterized
by experiences of psychosis.
This means that people have
experiences where they are
‘out of touch with reality’.
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DSM 5 Diagnosis.
The presence of 2 (or more) of the
following, each present for a significant
portion of time during a 1-month period
(or less if successfully treated), with at
least 1 of them being (1), (2), or (3):
(1) delusions ,
(2) hallucinations ,
(3) disorganized speech ,
(4) grossly disorganized or catatonic
behavior ,
(5) negative symptoms .
(American Psychiatric Association, 2013)
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Delusions
• Delusions are defined as beliefs that conflict with
reality. Delusions are one of the most common
symptoms of schizophrenia. These beliefs might
include:
•
Persecutory delusions : When a person believes a
person, group, or organization is mistreating or harming
them despite contradictory evidence.
•
Somatic delusions : When a person believes they have
an illness or their body is affected by a strange
condition, despite contradictory evidence.
• Grandiose delusions : When a person believes they
have superior abilities or qualities (i.e. talent, fame,
wealth) despite no evidence.
(Glatt et al., 2019)
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Hallucinations.
Hallucinations are defined as experiences and sensations that
are not comprehensible to others. To the person experiencing
them, however, they may seem real, urgent, and vivid. Roughly
70% of people with schizophrenia will experience hallucinations.
Auditory hallucinations are most commonly experienced by
people with schizophrenia and may include hearing voices—
sometimes multiple voices — or other sounds like whispering or
murmuring. Voices may seem angry or urgent and often make
demands on the hallucinating person.
Visual hallucinations involve seeing objects, people, lights, or
patterns that are not actually present. Visualizing dead loved
ones, friends or other people they knew can be particularly
distressing. Perception may be altered as well resulting in
difficulty judging distance
Olfactory hallucinations involve the sense of smell or taste,
both good or bad, that are not actually present.
Tactile hallucinations are feelings of movement or sensation on
your body that are not actually present such as hands on your
body or insects crawling around or inside you.
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Disorganised Speech.
Schizophrenia can cause people to have difficulty concentrating and maintaining a train
of thought , which manifests in the way they speak. People with disorganized speech
might speak incoherently, respond to questions with unrelated answers, say illogical
things, or shift topics frequently. Signs of disorganized speech involve the following:
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Loose associations : Rapidly
shifting between topics with no
connections between topics
Perseveration : Repeating the same
things over and over again
Made up words that only have
meaning to the speaker
Use of rhyming words without
meaning
When cognitive disorganization is
severe, it can be nearly impossible
to understand what the person is
saying.