Assignment on Delusional Thought Process

Running Head: DELUSIONAL THOUGHT PROCESS
DELUSIONAL THOUGHT PROCESS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

DELUSIONAL THOUGHT PROCESS1
Introduction
Delusional thought process is a delusional disorder, which is also known as paranoid
disorder. It is a mental disorder that is included in psychotic disorders and people suffering from
it cannot distinguish between real and imagination. The major symptom of this disorder is
delusions, which is a strong believe in something that is not true. However, the delusions are not
bizarre and it can happen in real life such as being followed, deceived, being loved from a
distance or being poisoned. These delusions involve perceptions and experiences that are not true
but they socialize and interact with people how a normal person does. This can get affected when
they come across another episode of delusion. The types of delusions in delusional disorders are
erotomanic, grandiose, jealous, persecutory somatic and mixed. This paper will discuss the
treatment of a Pakistani woman with delusional thought process and three medications given to
her (Asif et al., 2018).
Discussion
Decision 1: conventional antipsychotics
These medications are also known as neuroleptics and is used to treat mental disorders since the
beginning of time. These class of drugs are used for blocking dopamine receptors in the brain
and dopamine is a neurotransmitter that increases delusions in the brain. The medicine used will
be Fluphenazine and its generic name is Prolixin.
This medicine was selected because it is a conventional antipsychotic drug that is used for
symptomatic management of psychosis in patients with delusional disorders and schizophrenia.
This medicine acts through the antipathy of post synaptic dopamine-2 receptors in nigrostriatal,
mesolimbic and tuberoinfundibular neural pathways (Muñoz-Negro & Cervilla, 2016). The

DELUSIONAL THOUGHT PROCESS2
postsynaptic dopamine-2 receptors gets blocked in the mesolimbic pathway that aims towards
the symptoms such as delusion. This is a first generation anti-psychotic medicine that should be
the first hand treatment for patients with delusional disorders. It is a member of phenothiazine-
derived neuroleptic antipsychotics and that includes medications such as chlorpromazine and
thioridazine, but fluphenazine is considered to be the most efficient drug treatment for this
mental illness. It is available in oral form as well as in the form of injections, which can be easily
used by the patient. This medicine has the half-life of 14 to 16 hours. The pharmacokinetics of
this drug suggests that the bioavailability of this medicine is 2.7% by mouth and it is eliminated
through feces and urine. The metabolism of this medicine is still unclear as the studies are still
being conducted (Matar, Almerie & Sampson, 2018).
This decision was taken because it is a conventional anti-psychotic drug, which is prescribed for
several mental disorders such schizophrenia and depression. It was expected that the woman who
was given this medicine will show less symptoms of delusions because this medication blocks
the receptors that are behind the mechanism (Rajab et al., 2017).
The result of the decision was mixed because the symptoms were decreasing but it had few side
effects that was also becoming visible such as sedation, constipation, dry mouth, dizziness and
hypotension. The expectation regarding the treatment of the disease was met but the issues was
the side effects that came with it.
Decision 2: atypical antipsychotic drugs
These medicines work similarly like conventional antipsychotic drugs but it also blocks the
receptors of serotonin that is another neurotransmitter linked with delusional disorders. The class
of drug is known as Risperidone and the generic name is Risperdal, and it is used for similar