Schizophrenia Caregiving Strategies

This assignment delves into the multifaceted challenges and rewards of caregiving for individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia. It emphasizes the importance of a multidisciplinary approach involving healthcare professionals, therapists, and support groups. The text stresses evidence-based care practices and cultural sensitivity in meeting the unique needs of each patient. Additionally, it explores the emotional impact of caregiving and highlights resources available to caregivers seeking support and guidance.

Running head: CASE STUDY OF A SCHIZOPHRENIA PATIENT AND CAREGIVING
Case study of a schizophrenia patient and caregiving
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1CASE STUDY OF A SCHIZOPHRENIA PATIENT AND CAREGIVING
Executive summary:
The aim of the report was to study a case of schizophrenia and deduce the care process that
needs to be implemented for the patient. The report also discusses the need to coordinate and
treat mental illness patients. The discussion also elaborates the process of caregiving for the
patients of schizophrenia.

2CASE STUDY OF A SCHIZOPHRENIA PATIENT AND CAREGIVING
Table of Contents
Introduction:...................................................................................................................3
The case of Alison Fernandes:...................................................................................3
Development of care coordination process for the patients of schizophrenia:..........4
Importance of presence the of multidisciplinary practitioner and clinicians in the
caregiving process:.................................................................................................................5
Caregiving to Alison by the professionals:................................................................5
Alcohol and other drug crisis (AOD) of mental health patient and resolving the
problem:.................................................................................................................................6
Attending the schizophrenic patients with complex needs:.......................................6
Conclusion:....................................................................................................................7
References:.....................................................................................................................8

3CASE STUDY OF A SCHIZOPHRENIA PATIENT AND CAREGIVING
Introduction:
Schizophrenia is a severe and chronic mental disorder that has a debilitating and
severe effect on a person’s psychology. It detaches the person suffering from the disorder
from people in the surrounding and makes the person mentally vulnerable to the environment.
The patients of this disorder, have an abnormal psychotic behavior that is, they see things
which are non- existing, they have high levels of delusion and varied thought disorders like
dysfunctional thinking process, they have lessened levels of feelings and stop communicating
with even the near and dear ones (Warner, 2013). The condition is yet under research and
total recovery from the ailment is yet not possible.
The discussion under report emphasizes on studying the case of a patient named
Alison Fernandes, he suffered the condition of schizophrenia at the age of 19 years.
The discussion also elaborates the measures that have to be taken by the caregivers
and the family members of the patient to have a smooth recovery process. It also deduces the
ways in which such mental health conditions should be handled by the professionals.
The case of Alison Fernandes:
Alison was a teenager boy who was 19 years old, he has been suffering from several
mental ailments since. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia after a long time since the
occurrence of the disorders. Several symptoms that Alison was suffering from, lead to the
diagnosis of the condition. Alison had a medical history of prolonged depression, it started
when he was in the high school and prevailed after the initiation. In the University, he started
to get an insight about his mental disorder after attending a counselling session with a
psychiatrist in the University. The additive symptoms that he had include suicidal tendency,
high anxiety levels, day dreaming and sleeping for all day long. The depression that he was
suffering from a long time prevailed but was under control by the administration of certain

4CASE STUDY OF A SCHIZOPHRENIA PATIENT AND CAREGIVING
moderate drugs and supplements. The condition started relapsing after he graduated, the state
of his mind worsened during this period a he started witnessing figures in front of him, he
was always agitated by the presence unknown noises around his vicinity. These reasons made
him visit a psychiatrist, several neurological tests and counselling sessions on him lead to the
diagnosis of the mental disorder of schizophrenia.
Development of care coordination process for the patients of schizophrenia:
The patients of schizophrenia as can be seen in the case of Alison, have high levels of
delusion and hallucination. They need to be handled with more sophistication and patience
than the patients suffering from physical ailments. The need to assist them for betterment of
their conditions requires a long period of time (Searles, 2012). The care giving process are
generally intricate as the patients dwell in a non- existing world.
Development of a framework to assist the patient of serious mental disorders, lessens
the time required in the coordination process, the framework should have the involvement of
the practitioners, caregivers and other related clinicians. The process has to be assisted by
senior practitioners, to avoid redundancy in the scenario.
The coordination process requires positive interactions between the clinicians, the
patient and the family members. Different patients have different behavioral aspects, while
interacting the caregivers should be patient enough to handle all circumstances irrespective of
the behavioral attributes of the sufferer (Boyle, 2014). The families of the patient should also
be briefed about the patient’s condition and how the situation can be managed at home
because the members of the family are the ones who are going to take care of the patient
when discharged.

5CASE STUDY OF A SCHIZOPHRENIA PATIENT AND CAREGIVING
Importance of presence the of multidisciplinary practitioner and clinicians in the
caregiving process:
The mental health patients like Alison need the presence of the physicians from
different genres. The patients require the presence of psychiatrist, psychologist and general
physicians. The presence of a psychiatrist is the primary requirement for the patients of
mental illnesses, the treatment has to be prescribed by the psychiatrist. The involvement of a
psychologist is also necessary for making the patient attend the counselling sessions that are
required for making them undergo therapies that are beneficial for them. General physicians
are also involved in such cases as the sufferers of schizophrenia deal with physical ailments
as a side effect of the mental condition (Lieberman & Murray, 2016).
Caregiving to Alison by the professionals:
The patients with schizophrenia like Alison are prescribed and administered
neurological drugs for their treatment by the psychiatrists, the consumption of the medicines
and drugs at the right time should be taken under consideration majorly, by the caregivers of
the patient, as the patients have a tendency of skipping the intake of drugs (Smith et al.,
2013). The neurological drugs have severe side effects associated with them, if not
administered as the prescribed dosages, hence the primary duty of the caregiver includes
keeping the medications under check (Dixon et al., 2015).
Involving the patients in the recovery process by encouraging them to have a better
life, minimizes the work of the caregivers (Bentall, 2013). Orientation process in case of
schizophrenia patients is essential, the frequent hallucination that occur, disorient the
sufferers, they should be reoriented by making them understand that the visuals and screams
that they encounter are unreal but can be corrected.

6CASE STUDY OF A SCHIZOPHRENIA PATIENT AND CAREGIVING
Attendance of the patients to the therapy and counselling sessions is also essential for
the improvement of the patient’s condition (Vancampfort et al., 2012). The caregivers should
pay heed to the necessity of the patient’s attendance to the sessions and work according in
giving the patients enthusiasm to be present in such sessions.
Alcohol and other drug crisis (AOD) of mental health patient and resolving the
problem:
The patients who are under the influence of drugs and alcohols are much more
vulnerable to deterioration of their situation. The caregivers of such patients have an
additional crisis to take care of. The situation should be analyzed by the professional and
checked if the patient is in immediate risk (Wiltlink et al., 2015). The rehabilitation process
should be assisted of the caregivers by keeping track on the behavior of the patient, the
patients dealing such crisis have higher levels of symptoms than the other patients, they
indulge themselves in self harm, suicidal tendency is higher and elevated levels of the other
symptoms. With the decrease in the crisis, patient should also visit psychologist to eradicate
the crisis in totality.
Attending the schizophrenic patients with complex needs:
Attending the patients of any mental illness is in itself a huge challenge to the
caregivers, the addition of complexity based on the cultural and ethnic aspects of the patients,
create intricate situation in front of the caregivers (Betancourt et al., 2016). In the present
day, the population of people of different ethnicity is increasing as a consequence of
globalization, it needs the caregivers to be culturally competent and attend to the patients
according to their necessity. Cultural competency minimizes the coordination problems faced
by the nurses because of communication problems. The healthcare centers should incorporate
several seminars and training sessions for the clinicians involved in the set ups to
commemorate the cultural needs of the patients of different background.

7CASE STUDY OF A SCHIZOPHRENIA PATIENT AND CAREGIVING
Conclusion:
Therefore, from the above discussion it can be concluded that schizophrenia is a
major mental illness and the recovery process is a crucial one. The involvement of the health
professionals, requires proper coordination between them. Inculcation of frameworks in the
setups decreases the problem associated with dealing with a mental illness patient. The
involvement of multidisciplinary practitioners in a planned manner helps the patient to cope
up with the situation. The caregiving process for the patients of schizophrenia should be
planned and culminated by the caregiver by caring on the basis of evidences.

8CASE STUDY OF A SCHIZOPHRENIA PATIENT AND CAREGIVING
References:
Bentall, R. P. (Ed.). (2013). Reconstructing schizophrenia. Routledge.
Betancourt, J. R., Green, A. R., Carrillo, J. E., & Owusu Ananeh-Firempong, I. I. (2016).
Defining cultural competence: a practical framework for addressing racial/ethnic
disparities in health and health care. Public health reports.
Boyle, M. (2014). Schizophrenia: A scientific delusion?. Routledge.
Dixon, L. B., Goldman, H. H., Bennett, M. E., Wang, Y., McNamara, K. A., Mendon, S.
J., ... & Essock, S. M. (2015). Implementing coordinated specialty care for early
psychosis: the RAISE Connection Program. Psychiatric Services, 66(7), 691-698.
Lieberman, J. A., & Murray, R. M. (Eds.). (2012). Comprehensive care of schizophrenia: A
textbook of clinical management. Oxford University Press.
Searles, H. F. (2012). Collected papers on schizophrenia and related subjects. Karnac Books.
Smith, D. J., Langan, J., McLean, G., Guthrie, B., & Mercer, S. W. (2013). Schizophrenia is
associated with excess multiple physical-health comorbidities but low levels of
recorded cardiovascular disease in primary care: cross-sectional study. BMJ
open, 3(4), e002808.
Vancampfort, D., Probst, M., Helvik Skjaerven, L., Catalán-Matamoros, D., Lundvik-
Gyllensten, A., Gómez-Conesa, A., ... & De Hert, M. (2012). Systematic review of
the benefits of physical therapy within a multidisciplinary care approach for people
with schizophrenia. Physical therapy, 92(1), 11-23.
Warner, R. (2013). Recovery from schizophrenia: Psychiatry and political economy.
Routledge.

9CASE STUDY OF A SCHIZOPHRENIA PATIENT AND CAREGIVING
Wiltink, S., Velthorst, E., Nelson, B., McGorry, P. M., & Yung, A. R. (2015). Declining
transition rates to psychosis: the contribution of potential changes in referral pathways
to an ultra–high‐risk service. Early intervention in psychiatry, 9(3), 200-206.