Black Swan and Schizophrenia Schizophrenia and Nursing Process Schizophrenia is a disabling mental illness characterized by having two or more of the present disturbing symptoms: delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thinking, catatonic behavior, and negative symptoms that impair functioning as determined by the DSM-V (American Psychiatric Association, 2014). Delusions are false beliefs, hallucinations involve seeing or hearing things that do not actually exist, disorganized thinking impairs communication, catatonic behavior includes resistance to instructions, inappropriate posture, lack of response, or excessive movement, and negative symptoms with the highest prevalence are diminished emotional expression and avolition. Decreased participation in daily activities, difficulty concentrating, and …show more content…
There is no physical or lab test that can diagnose schizophrenia and most people who are diagnosed with it lack awareness and do not believe they have it. To ensure diagnosis, a health care provider evaluates the symptoms over a six-month course of time of the person’s illness. They must first rule out other possible medical conditions, other psychiatric diagnoses, and drug-induced psychosis before diagnosed with schizophrenia. When a patient is diagnosed with schizophrenia, the nurse needs to establish trust and rapport, assess positive and negative symptoms, medical history, and evaluate their support system prior to other nursing interventions. There is no cure for schizophrenia, the goal is to reach a maximum level of functioning through lifelong treatment. Treatment and care include prescribed antipsychotic medications, psychosocial therapy, and specialty care services for self-management strategies and education. The outcomes for the patient are to reduce symptoms and demonstrate techniques that help distract from the disturbing symptoms of schizophrenia. Those who have schizophrenia usually have