My friend is a student who is in my abnormal psychology class. She is fears that she is developing schizophrenia after being robbed at gunpoint. Every time she walks down the street where the robbery occurred, she thinks that she sees the man who robbed her. Additionally once these images disappears, psychotic behavior sets in that causes fear, stress, and not being able to function normally in her life.
I would suggest that she speak with a professional counselor concerning her overwhelming experience of being robbed at gunpoint. Since the incident occurred, I can only imagine being in her shoes and feeling the way she feels. In speaking with her, I would be very careful to allow her to feel safe in sharing her inner most feelings around
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(2014), I would defiantly stress the importance of her not prolonging seeking treatment even small delays seriously can affect the possibility of not being able to live and function independently again. I would tell her that because of the robbery she is having a hard time distinguishing between a psychotic experience and psychotic disorder, such as schizophrenia. Every time she walks down the street where the robbery occurred, she thinks she is reliving the moment because she sees disappearing images of the traumatic incident, called a stressor, and is a symptom of a brief psychotic experience.
I would remind her that she is having the same symptoms associated with a brief psychotic experience. I would explain to her that her traumatic incident is an obvious stressor causing a brief reactive psychosis. Further, I would help her to think about what has caused her to feel like she may be losing her mind suddenly or feeling like she is afraid that she is developing schizophrenia. I would tell her what she has experienced is a single event that involves a loss of contact with reality around hallucinations when she sees the person who robbed her whenever she passes the areas where she was