Psychotic disorders are the result of complex and diverse violations of activities of the various systems of the human body with a primary lesion of the brain (Goldberg). One of the most popular psychotic disorders is schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a mental disorder manifested by typical personality changes. In the clinical picture of schizophrenia it is possible to identify structural disturbances of thinking (for example, autistic thinking and delusions), emotional abnormalities, the phenomena of depersonalization, deceptions of perception (hallucinations), and a number of other violations (Goldberg).
Schizophrenia is more than one disease, this is a group of psychoses united by one term, which may have different strength, duration of the pathological manifestations and may vary by the type of flow (Goldberg).
How do People Get Psychotic Disorders?
The causes of mental disorders are diverse. Among them are the following:
- Pathological heredity. Clinical experience and special studies show a doubtless value of the hereditary factor in having psychotic disorders.
- The impact of various forms of abuse on the developing brain of the fetus during the prenatal period. Usually, the results of such influences are different variants of mental retardation.
- Acute or chronic poisoning and infectious diseases. Among the poisonings which cause mental disorders the first place by frequency occupies the alcohol abuse which can lead to the appearance of alcoholic psychoses. Mental disorders, including psychoses, are also caused by the use of narcotic drugs. Mental disorders can develop in cases of the inhalation of industrial poisons or incorrect use of certain medications.
- Self-poisoning of an organism by the products of the disturbed metabolism (autointoxication), produced in the body during the violation of the activity of its organs and systems.
- Traumatic brain injury or a stroke as a result of cerebral arteriosclerosis and cerebral hemorrhage.
- Serious mental traumas, which can be sudden, acute, shocking, prolonged and chronic. A prolonged psychic trauma usually influences the most serious for a personality sides (honor, dignity and social prestige) (Quebec).
For the development and occurrence of mental disorders it is necessary to have certain conditions, such as weakening of the body due to physical illness, poisoning, insomnia, mental shocks. Peculiarities of the external and internal environment of the body, depending on the specific circumstances, may promote or hinder the development of mental illness (Quebec).
The Impact of Psychotic Disorders on a Person
Psychotic disorders and experiences in varying degrees affect and disrupt the functions in the key areas of the human activity (how he feels and expresses his feelings, thoughts and behavior). Mental disorders also influence the somatic feelings and perception. So, there are four main fields in which the symptoms may appear: emotions, thinking, behavior, somatic processes and sensations (PsychGuides).
Emotions
In response to the ordinary life events everyone from time to time feels unhappy, nervous, confused, fearful, or, conversely, extremely happy. “The fever of expectations” before the performance with the report is as normal as a deep sorrow during the loss of a loved one or the loss of a sense of time in periods of life changes, or the fear of a real danger. During mental disorders these extreme degrees of the expression of feelings are manifested especially vigorously and / or disproportionately. The absence of adequate feelings can also indicate the presence of psychological problems (PsychGuides).
Thinking
People usually think in terms of logical relationships, even when it seems from the outside that their thoughts spontaneously jump from one subject to another. During mental disorders, these chains of thoughts are often destroyed. During manic episodes, the thoughts can dissolve so rapidly on one another, that it is impossible to follow them (PsychGuides).
The content of thoughts during mental disorders is also often disturbed. Affective disorders are expressed, as a rule, by the way how a patient judges about himself, about others, about the world, namely: either immensely negative or unrealistically positive. Persons with schizophrenia during the acute episode usually cannot distinguish what is going on inside them and what happens in the reality. At the same time they often have delusions. Violation of an ability to critically assess can also be a manifestation of a mental disorder (PsychGuides).
Behavior
Under certain mental disorders the behavior can be so fundamentally broken that it may cause massive detrimental personal and social consequences. These abnormalities of behavior include, for example, repeated meaningless movements and actions. Such features can also be manifested in the construction of the speech. A regular choice of clothing which does not correspond to the weather conditions can also be a sign of mental problems. The inability to control cash expenditures, sexual activity, drug use and other risky behaviors can be the signs of obvious problems (PsychGuides).
Mental and emotional abnormalities among children are usually manifested at home or at school by excessive motor activity, aggressiveness, lack of friends or drug use (PsychGuides).
Somatic Functions and Feelings
Spiritual life is expressed in the somatic functions in many different ways. Without realizing that people suffer from a mental disorder, they seek for help of the family doctor: for example, when they experience severe fatigue, when they have difficulties with sleeping or appetite disorders; when they have a variety of somatic complaints; when they suffer from cardiac arrhythmia. These and other symptoms may point to the somatic diseases, but may also be the manifestations of psychic disorders such as depression, anxiety, eating disorder or schizophrenia (PsychGuides).
Treatment of Psychotic Disorders
Despite the fact that psychoses are a complex group which includes the states of various origins, treatment principles for them are the same. The most effective and reliable method for the treatment of any psychotic disorder is considered to be medical therapy. During its implementation there is a strictly individual approach to each patient, considering age, gender and presence of other diseases. One of the main tasks of the specialist is to establish a productive cooperation with the patient. It is necessary to make a patient believe in the opportunity of recovery and overcome his prejudice against the “harm” caused by psychotropic drugs, to make him believe in the effectiveness of the treatment on the condition of the systematic adherence to the prescribed medicaments. Otherwise, there is a possibility of the breach of medical recommendations regarding the dosage and drug administration regime. The relationship between the doctor and the patient must be based on mutual trust, which is guaranteed by the observance of the principles of non-disclosure of the information and the anonymity of the treatment. The patient, in turn, should not hide from the doctor some valuable information such as the fact of the use of drugs or alcohol, medicines and other important points. A woman must make the doctor aware of her pregnancy or the period of breast feeding. Often, relatives or the patients themselves, having carefully studied the annotations to the drugs recommended to them, wonder, why the particular drug which refers for the treatment of schizophrenia was assigned to the patient if he has a completely different diagnosis. The explanation is that almost all drugs used in psychiatry are non-specific, i.e., help in the wide range of disease states (neurotic, affective, psychotic) - the thing is in the prescribed dose and in the art of a doctor to select the optimal treatment regimen (Carey).
Undoubtedly, the administration of drugs should be combined with the programs of social rehabilitation and, if necessary, with the psychotherapeutic work.
Social rehabilitation is a set of training programs of the methods of rational behavior in a hospital setting and in everyday life for the patients with psychotic disorders. Rehabilitation is aimed at teaching social skills of interaction with other people and the skills needed in everyday life. Supporting psychotherapy is also often used to help during the mental illness. Psychotherapy helps patients feel better about themselves, especially those who have a sense of inferiority due to their disease and those who try to deny the existence of the disease. Psychotherapy helps the patient to master the ways of solving everyday problems.
All of these methods at a reasonable use can enhance the effectiveness of the medical therapy, but cannot fully replace the drugs. Unfortunately, the methods of healing spiritual ailments forever are still unknown, psychoses often have a tendency to recur, which requires long-term preventive medication use (Carey).
Works Cited
Carey, E. “Psychosis”. Healthline. 19 May 2016. Web. 19 July 2016
Goldberg, J. “What Is a Psychotic Disorder?” 27 February 2016. Web. 19 July 2016
PsychGuides. “Psychosis Symptoms, Causes and Effects”. Psychguides. N.d. Web. 19 July 2016
Quebec. “Psychotic Disorders”. Sante. 17 February 2016. Web. 19 July 2016
