Perception is reality. This explicates the difficulties and struggles a patient with schizophrenia encounters. Patients diagnosed with schizophrenia often experience an altered reality; schizophrenic patients can be faced with the devastating effects of determining if events are a part of reality or their imagination. Behaviors, thoughts, and feelings are influential factors in how a person perceives and processes reality. Their altered reality can be characterized by hallucinations, altered thinking, and delusions. According to Gater et al., (2014),this can have adverse consequences on their families, careers, and self-esteem; many patients with schizophrenia report social stigma and societal prejudice. Without adequate treatment, …show more content…
Signs and symptoms of schizophrenia are classified by positive, negative and cognitive symptoms. Because of the impact on diagnoses and treatment, symptoms have been grouped into two categories; positive and negative. When referring to positive symptoms it can be a reflection of an excess function or distortion of normal functions. Positive behaviors are clinical manifestations of psychotic behaviors not displayed in healthy people without mental illness. Examples of positive symptoms would be hallucinations and delusions. A hallucination would be defined as an experience involving the apparent perception of something not present. Negative symptoms are hard to asses because they are not as abnormal as positive symptoms and can be caused by many other factors. Some negative symptoms such as: disturbance in sleep and eating, dysphonic mood, and difficulty concentrating make it difficult to diagnose schizophrenia. Symptoms such as difficulty with concentration and memory are commonly referred to and categorized as cognitive symptoms. These may be characterized by disorganized thinking, slow thought process, difficulty understanding, poor concentration, poor memory, …show more content…
During times of severe symptoms hospitalization may be necessary to guarantee safety, proper nutrition, adequate sleep, and basic hygiene. A psychiatrist experienced in treating schizophrenia usually guides treatment. Treatments include a psychologist, social worker, psychiatric nurse and possibly a case manager to coordinate care.
Some of the medication for schizophrenia may cause serious but rare side effects which may make people with schizophrenia hesitant to take the medication. The most commonly prescribed drugs for treating schizophrenia is antipsychotic medications. For people who are willing to cooperate with treatment may affect the choice of medication. For patients who are resistant to taking medications may need to take injection and for patients who get agitated, they should be given a medication to calm them down before given any other