Introduction
Greta had lost her grip on reality at the age of 22. It had begun when she had been let go from her paralegal job because the company was downsizing. Her boss worded it in a way that made her feel as if being let go was her fault and that she could have avoided it. After adding the trauma of her husband informing her that he had had two affairs in the last year, her father dying, and her never-ending search for gainful employment, it was easy to see why Greta had experienced some difficulty. Over the next six months, she began to act suspicious of her family. She increasingly showed signs of paranoia, hiding food and belongings, and refusing to come out of her room. After an acute episode that involved her accusing her mother of being a member of the Russian Mafia and threatening her with a gun, Greta was hospitalized for a short time and then placed on antipsychotic medication. She was unable to work full-time due to the side-effects of the drug, but after a short …show more content…
All the disorders within the group contain certain defined features within five areas: hallucinations, disorganized thinking (as evidenced in speech), delusions, grossly disorganized motor behavior (specifically catatonia, a state of reduced motor skills or extreme manic physical activity), and negative symptoms (APA, 2013). The hallmark of the disorder is hallucinations and delusions and are the factor that often delineates schizophrenia from other mental illnesses. Oltmanns and Emery describe schizophrenia for the longest time as being incredibly diverse, consisting of many different subtypes (2015). However, the APA recently dropped the subtypes of schizophrenia from the DSM-5 because the basis for the subtypes was weak. It is now believed that schizophrenia is a highly diverse disorder and may present with a variety of symptoms (Oltmanns & Emery,
Greta had lost her grip on reality at the age of 22. It had begun when she had been let go from her paralegal job because the company was downsizing. Her boss worded it in a way that made her feel as if being let go was her fault and that she could have avoided it. After adding the trauma of her husband informing her that he had had two affairs in the last year, her father dying, and her never-ending search for gainful employment, it was easy to see why Greta had experienced some difficulty. Over the next six months, she began to act suspicious of her family. She increasingly showed signs of paranoia, hiding food and belongings, and refusing to come out of her room. After an acute episode that involved her accusing her mother of being a member of the Russian Mafia and threatening her with a gun, Greta was hospitalized for a short time and then placed on antipsychotic medication. She was unable to work full-time due to the side-effects of the drug, but after a short …show more content…
All the disorders within the group contain certain defined features within five areas: hallucinations, disorganized thinking (as evidenced in speech), delusions, grossly disorganized motor behavior (specifically catatonia, a state of reduced motor skills or extreme manic physical activity), and negative symptoms (APA, 2013). The hallmark of the disorder is hallucinations and delusions and are the factor that often delineates schizophrenia from other mental illnesses. Oltmanns and Emery describe schizophrenia for the longest time as being incredibly diverse, consisting of many different subtypes (2015). However, the APA recently dropped the subtypes of schizophrenia from the DSM-5 because the basis for the subtypes was weak. It is now believed that schizophrenia is a highly diverse disorder and may present with a variety of symptoms (Oltmanns & Emery,