What are the salient historical features of the case?
The main historical features of this week’s case are the patient’s strange social behavior, delusions, auditory hallucinations, flat affect, tangenital thought process, and poor hygiene. Generally, the symptoms of schizophrenia can be divided into different 4 categories which include, positive, negative, cognitive, and mood symptoms. Positive symptoms are also known as psychotic changes such as, hallucinations, delusions, and disorganized behavior (Kurtz, 2015). Negative symptoms refer to changes in emotional range, anhedonia, and poverty of speech. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Editiom, a patient must have at least one positive symptom accompanied by a second positive or negative symptoms for at least 6 months to meet the criteria for the diagnosis of schizophrenia (Desousa, 2015).
What physical examination is appropriate to the diagnosis?
A thorough examination is important when examining patients with schizophrenia to rule out other medical conditions. For example, substance abuse disorders may cause symptoms that mimic the signs of schizophrenia. Furthermore, the evaluation …show more content…
The different types of psychosocial interventions for patients with schizophrenia include social skills training, cognitive-behavioral therapy, cognitive remediation, and social cognition training (Nakagome, 2015). On the other hand, some medications available for the treatment of schizophrenia are 1st and 2nd generation antipsychotics and serotonin-dopamine activity modulators. Antipsychotic medications have demonstrated a great efficacy in decreasing the positive symptoms of schizophrenia and prevent relapses (Kurtz, 2015). Nonetheless, the side effects of these medications are severe and need to be strictly