Schizophrenia Mental Health Disorder: Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment

This report provides an overview of schizophrenia, a mental health disorder characterized by symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions, disorganized speech, and behavioral changes. It highlights the cognitive impacts of schizophrenia and the importance of effective doctor-patient communication. The report references the DSM-5 criteria for diagnosis, emphasizing the need for a comprehensive assessment to differentiate schizophrenia from other conditions. Various treatment options, including pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies, are discussed. Diagnostic methods involve physical exams, psychiatric evaluations, and adherence to DSM-5 guidelines. The report also touches on the heterogeneity of schizophrenia, the role of environmental factors, and potential prevention strategies, referencing sources like the Mayo Clinic, NCBI, Science the Earth, and the World Health Organization.

Running Head: SCHIZOPHRENIA MENTAL HEALTH DISORDER
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Schizophrenia Mental Health Disorder

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Schizophrenia Mental Health Disorder
Schizophrenia is a type of health disorder which is characterized by a set of symptoms. This
mental disorder is including hallucinations, behavior, delusions, and disorganized speech.
The disorder often outputs from both symptoms such as negative and cognitive symptoms.
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder in which a person feels delusions, hallucinations and
behavior change. There are various treatments for this disease like medication, hospitalization
and consulting with medical healthcare professionals. Schizophrenia affects the cognitive
abilities of a person. It creates various barriers for their treatment. Sometimes these barriers
can be from the doctor's side (National Center for Biotechnology Information, 2014). There
are certain ways through which these barriers can be avoided and a healthy and informative
relation between patient and doctor can be maintained. All this depends upon the
communication process of the doctor. The theory of schizophrenia includes the motion of
glutamate, neurotransmitter in the brain. Heterogeneity of this mental disorder has resulted in
an absence of consensus. Environmental and factors are also responsible for the development
of schizophrenia disorder (Mayo Clinic, 2018).
According to the DSM-5th edition, a diagnosis of this mental disorder can be reached by an
assessment of human signs and symptoms. According to the DSM-5, the criteria for the
diagnosis of schizophrenia can be the continuation of particular symptoms for a minimum
one month period. These symptoms are hallucination, delusions, speech disorientation and
isolated behavior. In which minimum one of the symptoms must be behavior, hallucination,
and delusions. For the diagnosis of schizophrenia disorder, a person must show a reduced
level of work, and self-care. A comprehensive diagnosis of this mental disorder is
compulsory to distinguish from other situations such as schizophrenia disorder, obsessive and
compulsive disorder, dimorphic, and depressive disorder. There are many treatment options
regarding schizophrenia disorder such as Non-pharmacological therapy, pharmacological
therapy, and augmentation therapy. A doctor may use diagnostic criteria of this disorder in
which DSM-5 can be used to diagnose schizophrenia. There are some steps can be used for
diagnosis of schizophrenia such as physical exam, tests and screening, psychiatric estimation,
and DSM-5 criteria (Science the earth, 2013). The person who suffers from schizophrenia
disorder will show symptoms can be up to one month, and some disturbance over 6 months.
There are two methods used for diagnosis of schizophrenia such as DSM-5, and ICD. DSM-5
is used in USA and ICD is generally used in UK and Europe. The diagnosis consists of four

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types of symptoms such as negative, hallucinations, delusions, and thought disorders.
Hallucinations can affect all body sensors such as auditory, visual, and gustatory (World
health organization, 2018). Hearing the voices of the other person is the common
hallucination, for example, voices of other persons. Negative symptoms occur due to many
reasons such as lack of motivation, slow movement, lack of eye contact, and poor grooming.
Delusion is a state in which a person believes in an idea despite he or she knows it is not true.
Delusions are very common in people suffering from schizophrenia (in more than 90%
patients). There are two methods can be used for prevention of schizophrenia such as
intensive intervention program, and genetic selective breeding.

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References
Mayo Clinic (2018) Diagnosis. [online] Available from:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/schizophrenia/diagnosis-treatment/drc-
20354449 [Accessed 10/07/18].
National Center for Biotechnology Information (2014) Schizophrenia: Overview and
Treatment Options. [online] Available from:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4159061/pdf/ptj3909638.pdf [Accessed
10/07/18].
Science the earth (2013) DIAGNOSTIC AND STATISTICAL MANUAL OF MENTAL
DISORDERS. [online] Available from:
https://www.sciencetheearth.com/uploads/2/4/6/5/24658156/dsm-v-manual_pg490.pdf
[Accessed 10/07/18].
World health organization (2018) towards earlier diagnosis and treatment of disorders of the
brain. [online] Available from: http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/96/5/17-206599/en/
[Accessed 10/07/18].