Schizophrenia: Diagnosis, Treatment, Legal and Ethical Issues

INTRODUCTION
The case study is about a patient who is suffering from a
mental disorder named schizophrenia. This is a serious mental
health disorder that confuses the person from the reality and
delusional worlds. They can be hallucinating, showing extreme
behaviours and thinking disorders. It weakens their daily
functioning and decision making process. The patients require a
lifelong treatment for this disorder and they cannot stop the
treatment even when the symptoms are decreased or reduced to
very little. The condition of the patient is described. The
pharmacological treatments that can be done on the patients are
discussed. The legal and the ethical issues related to the
condition are discussed. The nursing intervention and rationale is
provided. The role of multidisciplinary team (MDT) in the caring
of the patient suffering from the mental disorder is discussed.

Condition
• Rachael Tomkins is a 55 years old lady who is a certified
practising accountant. She has regular appointment with her
general practitioner (GP) for the medical condition of Diabetes
Type 2.
• .Rachael is also suffering from a serious mental disorder called
schizophrenia and for which she is going to psychiatrist Dr
Lianne Yu for the treatment.
• She is admitted to the hospital for two reasons:
First where she was yelling and threatening the neighbour
across the fence for spying on her with a ‘track manometer’.
Second where she was shouting on her family members to get
out of the house as they can be bombed any time and she said she
was informed about this by the news reporter on the TV.

Pharmacological treatment
• Diagnosis
The diagnosis consists of the ruling out of the mental disorders and
making sure that the symptoms are not due to the substance abuse,
medical condition or medication. The diagnosis takes place in four
steps.
• Treatment
The patient suffering from schizophrenia has to take lifelong
treatment even after the reduction of the symptoms. The condition
can be managed by the medication and psychosocial therapy. In some
cases hospitalization is needed.
• Medications
Antipsychotic medications are the most commonly prescribed drugs
as they are able to control the symptoms of the disorder by acting on
the neurotransmitter dopamine of the brain.