Schizophrenia

This week, in our Discovering Mental Health series, we will be looking at Schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia is a thought disorder that is often accompanied by delusions and/or hallucinations. It is typically diagnosed in the early 20's but it can happen later in life as well. Schizophrenia is a lifelong disorder requiring consistent treatment. 

The Merriam-Webster website defines schizophrenia as a very serious mental illness in which someone cannot think or behavior normally and often experiences delusions; a psychotic disorder characterized by loss of contact with the environment, by noticeable deterioration in the level of functioning in everyday life, and by disintegration of personality expressed as disorder of feeling, thought (as delusion), perception (as hallucinations), and behavior. 

According to the Mayo Clinic, Schizophrenia is a severe brain disorder in which people interpret reality abnormally. Schizophrenia may result in some combination of hallucinations, delusions, and extremely disordered thinking and behavior.

Schizophrenia was first defined as a discrete mental illness in the late 1880s by Dr. Emile Kraepelin. It was in/about 1911 that Swiss psychiatrist, Eugen Blueler coined the term "schizophrenia" with Greek roots meaning "split mind." Schizophrenia is not linked to split personality or multiple personality disorder, despite the frequent misconception. "Split mind" refers to the fragmented thinking or disruption of the typical balance of emotions and thinking often experienced by those with the disorder.

In the past, with the DSM IV-TR, schizophrenia was diagnosed with a sub-type such as disorganized, catatonic, paranoid, residual or undifferentiated. The DSM V does not include those sub-types anymore. 

There are many symptoms that accompany schizophrenia. They could be positive or negative symptoms. Positive symptoms include hallucinations, delusions, difficulty in thought process and movement issues. Negative symptoms include lack of motivation, flat affect, difficult socially. The common symptoms of schizophrenia can include hallucinations, delusions, disorganized speech, thinking and/or behavior. The most common symptoms are hallucinations and delusional thinking. People who are diagnosed with schizophrenia can struggle in all aspects of their life depending on how severe the disorder is. 

Schizophrenia has many different treatments. While there is no cure for the disease, there are ways to treat the symptoms that arise from having schizophrenia. There are many medications that can be used to treat the symptoms and can help control some of the symptoms. Anti-psychotics are used to help decrease the psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations like seeing things or hearing voices. They can also help decrease the break with reality. As with any medications, there can be side effects so providers and doctors should ALWAYS be consulted before making any changes. Medications can be given orally or even as an injection to reduce the circumstances of forgetting or refusing to take medications.

Another treatment for schizophrenia is psycho-social treatments. This includes programs such as CBRS or different types of psychotherapy. In these treatments, skills are taught to help those who struggle find ways to cope with their symptoms and behaviors and learn ways to better function in their everyday lives. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy has been found to be helpful as well as self-help groups, family therapies/education, rehabilitation, and co-occurring substance abuse classes.

Schizophrenia affects about 3 million people world wide. It is a very difficult disease but is definitely treatable and manageable. Schizophrenia is probably one of the major mental illness that is highly discriminated against. People with schizophrenia can live full, active and fulfilling lives. If you struggle with these symptoms and need assistance in getting help, please feel free to contact us and we are here to help!

www.rhscares.com              208-523-5319           questions@rhscares.com 

This video is a short, less than one minute clip of mental illness discrimination and how to raise awareness. Check out Upworthy for the great video!

http://www.upworthy.com/a-preview-from-a-terrifying-horror-film-that-will-not-scare-you-even-a-little-bit?c=ufb1

The above information was found in the following sources. 

National Institute of Mental Health

Schizophrenia.com

The Mayo Clinic

National Association of Mental Illness (NAMI)

Meet Our Staff - Rachel Adams

Rachel Adams-Director of Clinic Operations

We want the community to be familiar with the employees in our office so we are going to begin some staff introductions. We will jump start this series with our Director of Clinic Operations. We are very pleased to introduce...

Rachel Adams

 DNP, PMHNP-BC, NP-C

Rachel has worked for RHS since 2010 and has experience in the mental health field since 1996. She obtained her bachelor's degree from Brigham Young University Provo, a master's degree in Nursing from Idaho State and a post-masters from Oregon Health and Services University as well as a doctorate degree from there as well. Rachel provides psychiatric medication management to our clients at RHS working with both adults and children. 

To help get to know Rachel a little better, here are some fun interview questions she graciously answered for this post.

What is one of your favorite quotes? 

“What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing. It also depends on what sort of person you are.”  I also really like "Never lift more than you can eat." -Miss Piggy.

What chore do you absolutely hate doing? 

Wiping the kitchen counters, it is messy and the crumbs can get on the floor and then it has to be cleaned up too. 

What is your favorite form of exercise? 

Walking to the fridge, followed shortly by lifting the remote and pushing buttons.

What’s your least favorite mode of transportation? 

Motorcycle, they scare me.

If you could choose to stay a certain age forever, what age would it be? 

32, It is a nice round number. I miss it :)

If you could witness any event past, present or future, what would it be? 

The signing of the declaration of independence and then the ratification of the constitution. 

If you were reincarnated as an animal/drink/ice cream flavor, what would it be?  

I wasn't sure so I found some quizzes online and they said I would be a dog, orange juice , and cookies and cream ice cream. However, I don't even like orange juice much.

If you were immortal for a day, what would you do? 

I would leap around the world and see all the beautiful places that I have never seen. 

If you could only have one food for the rest of your life, what would it be? 

Burnt almond fudge ice cream. (It is well balanced protein, fat, and carbs. Most well rounded food you will ever have). This is assuming of course that I have a rapid metabolism.

If you could meet anyone, living or dead, who would you meet? 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He was an amazingly courageous individual. He stood for principle and right under great adversity and it eventually cost him his life.

Rachel is such an asset to our team. She provides a great and important service to our clients and does it very well. We definitely appreciate all that Rachel brings to our company and thank her for all of her excellent work and faithful service to our clients, employees, and community.