Monday, March 25, 2024

A Patient Has Disorganized Thinking Associated With Schizophrenia

Don't Miss

What Causes Disorganized Speech

3 Schizophrenia disorganized type

Disorganized speech is a symptom of schizophrenia and is particularly common with disorganized schizophrenia. Disorganized schizophrenia is characterized by disorganization in speech and daily behaviors. People with disorganized schizophrenia often struggle to care for themselves and engage in daily living activities and routines. Schizophrenia in general can interfere with a persons thought patterns, contribute to the belief in non-existent entities, cause hallucinations, and create strange or unusual behavior patterns; all of these factors can contribute to speech that appears disorganized to an observer but that might make sense to a person with schizophrenia.

Occasionally, anxiety and fear can contribute to temporary disorganization in speech. Hallucinations, psychosis, and some medications might also interfere with speech patterns. When disorganized speech persists in the absence of another medical cause, however, it is often a symptom of schizophrenia.

References:

  • Disorganized schizophrenic. . Schizophrenic.com. Retrieved from http://www.schizophrenic.com/content/schizophrenia/diagnosis/disorganized-schizophrenia
  • Mayo Clinic Staff. . Disorganized speech. Mayo Clinic. Retrieved from http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/disorganized-schizophrenia/DS00864/DSECTION=symptoms
  • Schizophrenia symptoms. . Schizophrenia Symptoms. Retrieved from Schizophrenia.com
  • Symptoms And Signs Of Schizophrenia

    Schizophrenia is a chronic illness that may progress through several phases, although duration and patterns of phases can vary. Patients with schizophrenia tend to have had psychotic symptoms an average of 12 to 24 months before presenting for medical care but the disorder is now often recognized earlier in its course.

    Symptoms of schizophrenia typically impair the ability to perform complex and difficult cognitive and motor functions; thus, symptoms often markedly interfere with work, social relationships, and self-care. Unemployment, isolation, deteriorated relationships, and diminished quality of life are common outcomes.

    Nurse Care For Schizophrenia Patients

    Schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental illness characterized by perceptional impairments and impairments in expression of reality manifesting as auditory hallucinations, paranoid delusions in the context of significant social or occupational dysfunction . Diagnosis is based on the patient’s self-reported experiences and observed behavior. An increase in dopaminergic activity in the mesolimbic pathway of the brain has been found to be associated with the disease . Treatment by pharmacotherapy is done with antipsychotic drugs that suppress dopamine activity. Schizophrenia patients usually show comorbid conditions, including clinical depression and anxiety disorders . Disorganized thinking, auditory hallucinations and delusions are common symptoms. Patients in advanced stages of schizophrenia exhibit frequent agitations and bizarre postures .

    Drug and psychosocial interventions for the symptoms of schizophrenic disorders contribute to a lower incidence and prevalence of schizophrenia. Nurses will be able to offer better care through the use of nursing models and theories in the care of Schizophrenics. Protocol for assessing standards of care for people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia have major implications for nursing practice . The theory-practice gap in psychiatric nurse care of Schizophrenics needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency.

    Reference;

    Also Check: Fear Of Spoons

    Rehabilitation And Community Support Services

    Psychosocial skill training and vocational rehabilitation programs help many patients work, shop, and care for themselves; manage a household; get along with others; and work with mental health care practitioners.

    Supported employment, in which patients are placed in a competitive work setting and provided with an on-site job coach to promote adaptation to work, may be particularly valuable. In time, the job coach acts only as a backup for problem solving or for communication with employers.

    Support services enable many patients with schizophrenia to reside in the community. Although most can live independently, some require supervised apartments where a staff member is present to ensure drug adherence. Programs provide a graded level of supervision in different residential settings, ranging from 24-hour support to periodic home visits. These programs help promote patient autonomy while providing sufficient care to minimize the likelihood of relapse and need for inpatient hospitalization. Assertive community treatment programs provide services in the patients home or other residence and are based on high staff-to-patient ratios; treatment teams directly provide all or nearly all required treatment services.

    Cognitive remediation therapy helps some patients. This therapy is designed to improve neurocognitive function and to help patients learn or relearn how to do tasks. This therapy may enable patients to function better.

    What Risks And Complications Can Schizophrenia Cause

    Schizophrenia

    Physical health

    Research suggests that people with serious mental illness , such as schizophrenia, have a shorter life expectancy. People with mental illness may die 15 to 20 years earlier than the general population. This may because people who live with SMI are at higher risk of having a range of health issues. Such as being overweight, having heart disease, smoking and diabetes.

    Because of these issues, NICE recommends that when you start taking antipsychotic medication, your doctor should do a full range of physical health checks. This should include weight, blood pressure and other blood tests. These checks should be repeated regularly.

    Mental health professionals are responsible for doing these checks for the first year of treatment. Responsibility may then pass to your GP. Your doctor or mental health team should offer you a programme which combines healthy eating and physical health checks. You should be supported by a healthcare professional to help stop smoking.

    Suicide

    The risk of suicide is increased for people with schizophrenia. Research indicates that around 513% of people who live with with schizophrenia die by suicide.

    Research has found that the increased risk is not usually because of positive symptoms. The risk of suicide is associated more to affective symptoms, such as low mood.

    Key risk factors for suicide include:

    • previous suicide attempts,

    Don’t Miss: Depressed No Appetite

    Other Types Of Thought Disorder

    The Johns Hopkins Psychiatry Guide lists 20 types of thought disorder. These include:

    • Paraphasic error: constant word mispronunciation or slips of the tongue
    • Stilted speech: using unusual language thats overly formal or outdated
    • Perseveration: leads to a repetition of ideas and words
    • Loss of goal: trouble maintaining a topic and an inability to come to a point
    • Neologism: creating new words

    isnt a symptom of any particular disorder , but its commonly seen in people with schizophrenia and other mental health conditions.

    The cause of schizophrenia also isnt known, but its thought that biological, genetic, and environmental factors can all contribute.

    Thought disorder is loosely defined and the symptoms vary widely, so its difficult to find a single underlying cause. Researchers are still debating about what might lead to the symptoms of thought disorder.

    Some believe it might be caused by changes in language-related parts of the brain, while others think it could be caused by problems in more general parts of the brain.

    Thought disorder is one of the defining symptoms of schizophrenia and psychosis. People have a heightened risk of developing thought disorder if they also have:

    • mood disorders

    Symptoms Of Disorganized Schizophrenia:

    Disorganized SpeechSchizophrenia 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:

    • 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.

    Disorganized BehaviorSchizophrenia negatively impacts goal-directed behavior. A person with disorganized schizophrenia is likely to have difficulty beginning a specific task or difficulty finishing a task. Independent functioning is exceptionally difficult due to this gross disorganization.

    Disorganized behavior can manifest as the following:

    • A decline in overall daily functioning
    • Unpredictable or inappropriate emotional responses
    • Lack of impulse control
    • Behaviors that appear bizarre or lack purpose
    • Routine behaviors such as bathing, dressing, or brushing teeth can be severely impaired or lost.

    Don’t Miss: Fear Of Severe Weather

    What Is Disorganized Schizophrenia

    Disorganized schizophrenia, also known as hebephrenic schizophrenia, is one of the five types of schizophrenia. As the name suggests, it is characterized by disorganization in speech and in the way patients express their emotions.

    Disorganized schizophrenics are often told apart from other schizophrenics and from non-schizophrenic patients for having troubled speech patterns, being very emotionally unstableoscillating between emotions quite oftenand showing incoherent and confusing thought processes. They also have a difficult time communicating with others and may show inadequate social behaviors, which can lead to social exclusion.

    Disorganized schizophrenia is a chronic mental health disorder but there are treatments and medication out there that can improve the life of schizophrenic patient significantly. The help of family and friends is also crucial to attenuate the complications that hebephrenic schizophrenia brings, bettering the life of the patient.

    Derailment Or Loose Associations

    Abnormal psychology schizophrenia disorganized

    In cases of severely disordered thinking, thoughts lose almost all connections with one another and become disconnected and disjointed. This illogical thinking is called derailment or “loose” associations.

    • For example: “I really enjoyed some communities and tried it, and the next day when Id be going out you know, um I took control like uh, I put, um, bleach on my hair in, in California. My roommate was from Chicago and she was going to the junior college. And we lived in the YMCA so she wanted to put it, um, peroxide on my hair”

    Also Check: Phobia Of Vomiting Treatment

    What Is Schizophrenia Or Paranoid Schizophrenia

    Schizophrenia is a challenging brain disorder that often makes it difficult to distinguish between what is real and unreal, to think clearly, manage emotions, relate to others, and function normally. It affects the way a person behaves, thinks, and sees the world.

    The most common form is paranoid schizophrenia, or schizophrenia with paranoia as its often called. People with paranoid schizophrenia have an altered perception of reality. They may see or hear things that dont exist, speak in confusing ways, believe that others are trying to harm them, or feel like theyre being constantly watched. This can cause relationship problems, disrupt normal daily activities like bathing, eating, or running errands, and lead to alcohol and drug abuse in an attempt to self-medicate.

    Many people with schizophrenia withdraw from the outside world, act out in confusion and fear, and are at an increased risk of attempting suicide, especially during psychotic episodes, periods of depression, and in the first six months after starting treatment.

    Take any suicidal thoughts or talk very seriously

    If you or someone you care about is suicidal, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline in the U.S. at 1-800-273-TALK, visit IASP;or;Suicide.org;to find a helpline in your country, or read;Suicide Prevention.

    Use Of Restraints And Involuntary Commitment

    Failure to talk down or intimidate with a show of force a severely agitated patient may require physical restraint of the patient, followed by chemical restraint with sedation.

    Proper physical restraints and individuals trained in their application should be available at all times. Documentation should include reasons for restraining a patient such as patient/staff safety and protection, the type of restraint used , the maximum duration of restraint, and reasons for involuntary commitment.

    Follow all Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act regulations when transferring patients to another facility for psychiatric care. Be familiar with hospital and ED specific regulations, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act rules, regional statutes, and Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act requirements regarding the use of medical screening exams, physical restraints, involuntary psychiatric commitment, and facility transfer.

    Recommended Reading: Celine Dion Health Problems

    Negative Symptoms Of Schizophrenia: Things That Might Stop Happening

    Negative symptoms refer to an absence or lack of normal mental function involving thinking, behavior, and perception. You might notice:

    • Lack of pleasure. The person may not seem to enjoy anything anymore. A doctor will call this anhedonia.
    • Trouble with speech. They might not talk much or show any feelings. Doctors call this alogia.
    • Flattening: The person with schizophrenia might seem like they have a terrible case of the blahs. When they talk, their voice can sound flat, like they have no emotions. They may not smile normally or show usual facial emotions in response to conversations or things happening around them. A doctor might call this affective flattening.
    • Withdrawal. This might include no longer making plans with friends or becoming a hermit. Talking to the person can feel like pulling teeth: If you want an answer, you have to really work to pry it out of them. Doctors call this apathy.
    • Struggling with the basics of daily life. They may stop bathing or taking care of themselves.
    • No follow-through. People with schizophrenia have trouble staying on schedule or finishing what they start. Sometimes they can’t get started at all. A doctor might call this avolition.

    Depression has some of the same symptoms, too. They can be hard to spot, especially in teens, because even healthy teens can have big emotional swings between highs and lows.

    Early Warning Signs Of Schizophrenia

    Schizophrenia

    In some people, schizophrenia appears suddenly and without warning. But for most, it comes on slowly, with subtle warning signs and a gradual decline in functioning, long before the first severe episode. Often, friends or family members will know early on that something is wrong, without knowing exactly what.

    In this early phase of schizophrenia, you may seem eccentric, unmotivated, emotionless, and reclusive to others. You may start to isolate yourself, begin neglecting your appearance, say peculiar things, and show a general indifference to life. You may abandon hobbies and activities, and your performance at work or school can deteriorate.

    Don’t Miss: How To Lose Weight If You Have Binge Eating Disorder

    The Complications Of Schizophrenia

    When left untreated, Schizophrenia symptoms can quickly degenerate into more complex issues that can affect every area of life. Suicide, suicide attempts, or thoughts of committing suicide are some of the complications of untreated Schizophrenia.

    Obsessive-compulsive disorder and some other anxiety-related disorders may also be complications from Schizophrenia. Similarly, abuse of alcohol, nicotine, and other drugs may also arise from the condition.

    Inability to concentrate at work or school may be a complication. In some cases, Schizophrenia may lead to a financial crisis, which may lead to homelessness. Social isolation from friends and family may occur, and so are other secondary medical conditions.

    Though aggressive behavior may be a complication of Schizophrenia, it is pretty uncommon. In many cases, a schizophrenia patient becomes victimized.

    How Is Schizophrenia Diagnosed

    If symptoms are present, your doctor will perform a complete medical history and physical examination. Although there are no laboratory tests to specifically diagnose schizophrenia, the doctor might use various diagnostic tests â such as MRI or CT scans or blood tests â to rule out physical illness as the cause of your symptoms.

    If the doctor finds no physical reason for the symptoms, he or she might refer the person to a psychiatrist or psychologist, healthcare professionals who are specially trained to diagnose and treat mental illnesses. Psychiatrists and psychologists use specially designed interview and assessment tools to evaluate a person for schizophrenia. The doctor or therapist bases his or her diagnosis on the personâs report of symptoms, and his or her observation of the personâs attitude and behavior.

    The doctor or therapist then determines if the personâs symptoms point to a specific disorder as outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders , which is published by the American Psychiatric Association and is the standard reference book for recognized mental illnesses. According to the DSM-5, a diagnosis of schizophrenia is made if a person has two or more core symptoms, one of which must be hallucinations, delusions, or disorganized speech for at least one month. The other core symptoms are gross disorganization and diminished emotional expression. Other DSM-5 criteria for a diagnosis of schizophrenia include:

    Don’t Miss: What Is A Depression On A Topographic Map

    What Can I Do To Manage Schizophrenia

    People deal with their experience in different ways. You might need to try different things before finding something that works.

    Support groups

    You could join a support group. A support group is where people come together to share information, experiences and give each other support. Hearing about the experiences of others can help you feel understood. This may help you feel less alone and boost your self-confidence.

    You might be able to find a local group by searching online. Rethink Mental Illness have support groups in some areas. You can find out what is available in your area, or get help to set up your own support group if you follow this link:

    Or you can call our advice service on 0808 801 0525 for more information.

    Recovery College

    Recovery colleges are part of the NHS. They offer free courses about mental health to help you manage your experiences. They can help you to take control of your life and become an expert in your own wellbeing and recovery. You can usually self-refer to a recovery college. But the college may tell your care team.

    Unfortunately, recovery colleges are not available in all areas. To see if there is a recovery college in your area you can use a search engine such as Google. Or you can call our advice service on 0808 801 0525 for more information.

    Peer support through the NHS

    • side effects,
    • recognising and coping with symptoms,
    • what to do in a crisis,
    • meeting other people who can support you, and recovery.

    Self-management techniques

    Does Schizophrenia Get Worse As You Age What You Should Know About Schizophrenia

    What Scattered Thoughts are Like with Schizophrenia

    Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that forces the victims to interpret reality abnormally. It is a condition that can result in a combination of symptoms, including hallucinations, extreme disorderly thinking, delusions, and diverse behaviors that will impair the daily functioning of the victim. Schizophrenia can be disabling when the victim doesnt get help, and people who suffer from the condition will require lifelong treatment. Schizophrenia is a condition that develops gradually, and that is why it can be stopped o its track before it gets worse.

    So, Does Schizophrenia Gets Worse as You Age?

    Yes, the symptoms of Schizophrenia and the functioning of the victim will worsen over time, though, on few occasions, some symptoms may remain stable.

    Don’t Miss: When Does Phobia Haunted House Open

    What Are Some Negative Symptoms

    • Flat affect/incongruence: absence of emotive expression
    • Alogia : very brief responses to questions, or the individual may not speak at all or only when prompted.
    • Avolition: inability to initiate activities
    • Anhedonia: inability to feel pleasure
    • Apathy: lack of concern or emotion to thinks typically considered important
    • Asociality: lack of engagement in social interaction

    More articles

    Popular Articles