Schizophrenia Essays (962 words) - Psychiatry, Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness characterized by a variety of symptoms, including loss of contact with reality, bizarre behavior, disorganized thinking and speech, decreased emotional expressiveness, and social withdrawal. This illness affects those parts of the mind that are fundamental to a person's sense of self. It changes a person's perception of reality, through hallucinations and delusions. This mental illness is diagnosed in about one person in every 100. Schizophrenia has been categorized into two specific classes and has possible causes for each class. We will also focus on the roles of the nurse and the family and the importance of medication. (Anonymous, 1996a, 1996b, Fontaine & Fletcher, 1999). A psychiatrist's classical categories of schizophrenia once included undifferentiated, catatonic, paranoid, and disorganized subtypes. A new classifying system which is widely used has replaced the former categories. This system includes two categories which are positive characteristics and negative characteristics. There are five sub-characteristics which can be described as positive and negative. These are behavioral, affective, perceptual, cognitive and social (Fontaine & Fletcher, 1999). Positive characteristics are additional behaviors which are not usually found in normal adults. These patients experience delusions, hear voices, and have inappropriate emotional responses. These clients feel as if people are harassing them and they cannot do anything about it. They experience feelings of guilt and try to punish themselves and others with aggression (Fontaine & Fletcher, 1999). Negative characteristics can be described as the lack of behaviors, or "flat effect." Symptoms include anhedonia and attention deficits. Most of these clients forget about self-care and their appearance can be a signal of negative Schizophrenia. These patients often have feelings of worthlessness and some eventually commit suicide. Negative characteristics have been found more difficult to treat (Fontaine & Fletcher, 1999). There is a wide range of causes of Schizophrenia. Research has yet to come to a conclusive overall cause of Schizophrenia. There are a number of possible causes to this disorder. One determining factor is that the disorder may be a genetic problem that runs in the family. Another factor may be an imbalance in the brain that results in the client obtaining jumbled thought processes. Other factors may include birth complications, many stresses in life, and family structure. Any of these factors and many more can have a trigger action that leads to insane behavior (Anonymous, 1996a). The role of the nurse in treating someone diagnosed with Schizophrenia has to start with a trusting relationship. The nurse must first spend time with the patient to discover the problems the patient finds the most stressful and what the patient does to alleviate his or her symptoms. The nurse can set specific goals and preferred expectations with the client that will help build a one-to-one relationship with the client and will also help the client cope with regressive behaviors. Nurses should pay specific attention to all of the clients actions, verbal and nonverbal. Furthermore the clients are very aware and sensitive to our verbal and nonverbal actions. For example, a patient that is at high risk for violence, directed at others, related to suspiciousness, may be a result of a misunderstanding in communication. Therefore, these particular clients should never be underestimated. The client's assessment is an ever-changing evaluation of how treatments are working (Anonymous, 1996b). Antipsychotic medications are used to control the symptoms of Schizophrenia. Examples of these Antipsychotic medications include phenothiazines, thioxanthenes, butyrophenones, dibenzoxazepine, dihydroindolone, and diphenylbatylperidine. These medications are the most useful in helping intervention with these clients suffering from Schizophrenia. For the drug to be most effective it has to be taken consistently as a relapse of symptoms is common when medication is discontinued. It is usually prescribed on a long term basis and has serious side effects. Because of these side effects, the patient may discontinue the use of these drugs. This is when the nurse has a major role to educate these clients about the medication and it's importance. The clients should fully understand the effects of the drug. Also the nurse and the client should freely discuss what particular effects the drug has on the client and if necessary to help negotiate a change in medication with the client. The family should also help in dispensing doses to the patient therefore the nurse needs to educate the family about the drug as well (Fontaine & Fletcher, 1999, Anonymous, (1996b). Nurses need to focus on the importance of family members along with the individual with Schizophrenia. Not only do the clients suffer, but the family is involved also. The nurse should show equal compassion to the family as well as

Analysis of Intimacy and Terror essays

Analysis of Intimacy and Terror essays Andrei Stepanovich Arzhilovsky was accused of counter revolutionary agitation (Arzhilovsky p.112) as a result his diary was analyzed by the NKVD (Soviet Secret Police) which resulted in Arzhilovskys execution. According to the NKVD the parts of the diary which were underlined showed his counter-revolutionary activities. He writes about his life in jail, his life after his release and his views as well as his fears about the Russian Revolution and the Communist Party. One of the very first things that the NKVD underlined was when Arzhilovsky talked about Grandma Darya telling fairy tale stories to the kids. He states that it is important to treasure stories that are told by older people and that Grandma Darya is someone who should be prized because there arent many people who can remember life as it used to be.( Arzhilovsky p.114) One of the goals of the Socialist parties in Russia was to make people forget about how it used to be. Tradition wasnt as important as a new society with different institutions that revolved around the communist mind set. Arzhilovsky wants those stories to live on and to remind him of the past because he understood that the society was better off without the communists ruling. An important part of Arzhilovskys diary which was underlined and analyzed, was about Arzilovsky trying to get early released from jail. He disagreed with the courts and judges behavior in releasing murderers as well as thieves instead of releasing the people who committed the crime of being counter-revolutionary activists. He mentions that the judge and the prosecutors facial expression changed once they got to him and saw that it was about Article 58. This showed the NKVD that he was against the laws and against the judging of the Socialist Party. Andrei Stepanovich Arzhilovsky states When will they r ...

Role of IT in generating competitive advantage Coursework

Role of IT in generating competitive advantage - Coursework Example They serve as symbol towards achieving excellence and besides the symbol they are practical tool towards the tasks accomplishment. However yielding the best out of I.T setup requires thorough mechanism establishment that ensures maximum profits. This can be done through implementation of management strategies in alignment with information technology. The advantage served by information technology is the fact that activities that were done manually are being carried out with the help of this infrastructure which exists in the name of computer, internet and the field of information technology as a whole. Achieving competitive means surpassing the rivals, living up to the needs of modern day challenges and satisfying the customers’ needs. Companies strive hard for achieving this status and would invest in anything and everything to be competitively stronger than their rivals in the industry. In last two to three decades the use of information systems and relevant technology has b ecome one of the most essential tool towards achieving competitive advantage. ... Similarly people can fly between the continents in no time. The continents, oceans, mountains, and other barriers of past are no more obstacle to communication. This all has been made possible through technology and computer and information technology are the two major gifts of technology in it. with every individual possessing a cell phone or other form of digital device, the operations on non digital mode can hardly be imagined. Keeping up with the challenges and requirements of modern day, embracing the information technology is a must. It serves as that particular pre requisite that must be fulfilled in order to maximize the profits, gains, advantages and minimize the threats and losses(Schlemmer & Webb, 2008). No organization or government can think of living without the use and application of information technology. In fact it has equally penetrated into individual lives, even they cannot imagine life without cell phones, computers, and other digital devices which are part of o ur surroundings and have made our life far more comfortable than it was to the earlier generations. The slow pace of past generations and the modern day fast pace is the salient difference between the two and only one variable stands out in such cases and that is the information technology and computer dominance. Computer has dominated the world’s proceedings in every way. The competitive advantage can be in form of reducing the costs that would be otherwise incurred in the practices and completion of processes, increasing the company rating with reference to market standing, improving the company reputation through the eye of customers, improving the