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In the last post, we saw how:

• Some electrophysiological studies include those done on patients with complex partial seizures and evoked potential.
• The word association test was progressed by Carl Jung and was used in pscyhciatry and psychology cases.
• Dialectical Behavior Therapy is a combination of cognitive and behavioural therapy.

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Welcome to Medic Vibes, where we discuss mental health disorders and make sense of them. Dr Ebingo Kigigha is a medical doctor (aspiring psychiatrist) and creative person (illustration and music). This has been our routine for three consecutive months. This month will be dedicated to Schizophrenia. In the first month, we discussed Depression, and in the subsequent month, anxiety. We just finished with Bipolar affective disorder. We are done looking at research work done in Nigeria on schizophrenia.

In this post, we are looking at a Tik Tok. To learn more just keep scrolling down. You can also skip to the key point of the post if you which or go to the conclusion to get the summary.

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Family Dynamics

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A study was done in Britain on 4 year old who did not have a good relationship with their mother. They found that there was a greater chance that they would be schizophrenic (up to 6 fold increase). They also found that those who had a parent who was schizophrenic would stand a higher chance of having it if they were adopted into a home where they were not cared for. There is still no concrete evidence that family dynamics is determining factor. There are many patients with dysfunctional families but in the same vein their many people who are not ill with dysfunctional families.

Double-blind
This was a concept developed by 2 psychiatrists about a non-existent family where the children were getting mixed information for parents about the way they act, their efforts and their emotions. They believed that children may go into psychotic thinking to avoid mixed feelings. The studies are done to confirm these findings were not very productive at the end of the day.

Schisms and Skewed Families
Another psychiatrist described another family structure where there was one parent is close to a child of the opposite gender and the other where there is a power tussle between the parent and one parent turns out dominant. This would add to stress for a patient with schizophrenia.

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Schizophrenia and Hearing Voices

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Source

These are 2 different terms that are usually used in mental health. Because psychosis is a feature of schizophrenia, they may be used when describing the same patient.

People can also have psychosis without necessarily having schizophrenia.

Psychosis entails that there is a disconnect from reality and it is caused by mental disorders like schizophrenia, substance use and other medical conditions.

Schizophrenia is one of the many psychiatric illnesses. Some of these disorders present with psychosis. There are other features like disorganized thoughts, abnormal speech and behaviour.

Psychosis
The symptoms of psychosis usually mean that the patient does not have a grip on reality. The two main features seen in psychosis are hallucination and delusion.

There are two main symptoms of psychosis:
Hallucinations are abnormal sights of things that are not there to hearing things that are not there while delusions are false beliefs in things that are wrong within every realistic view of things.

When a person is having these features they may present with difficulty concentrating, poor school or work performance, paranoia, distancing themselves from people, bad personal care and they may be fixated on their imaginations at times.

Psychosis happens in schizophrenia, Schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, depression with psychosis, drug abuse and sleep abnormalities.

Some medical conditions like dementia, Parkinson's, lupus, epilepsy and brain injuries.

Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is one of the mental health conditions. There are three categories of symptoms seen in schizophrenia. The psychotic symptoms are either positive or negative symptoms. The positive symptoms are hallucination and delusions while the negative symptoms are low mood, and lack of emotion as seen with flat facial affect. The third class of symptoms are cognitive symptoms and this is shown by reduced memory, reduced attention and inability to focus.

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Treatment

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Treating psychosis
Treatment for psychosis will depend on the cause, especially if it is due to substance use or other medical conditions. It may include stopping the medication or using medication to treat the underlying cause.

For causes that are due to psychiatric conditions, the use of antipsychotics may be warranted. Some cases may be treated with cognitive behavioural therapy. Family therapy may be very important to bring the family up to speed with the patient's diagnosis and treatment.

Treating Schizophrenia
Because schizophrenia has no cure and treatment is for life, the therapy is more focused on building resilience and coping skills while placing the patient in pharmacotherapy. Antipsychotics are usually prescribed for schizophrenia for the acute causes and then the patient is placed on long-term therapy to help the patient cope over a long period.

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Questions

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• What did you learn about Schizophrenia?

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Conclusion

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• It is possible that family dynamics may play a role in the evolution of schizophrenia.
• Psychosis is a symptom of schizophrenia and can be seen in other conditions while schizophrenia may present with different symptoms.
• Treatment for psychosis depends on the cause while that of schizophrenia is a combination of drug and talk therapy.

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References

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• Kaplan-Sadocks-Comprehensive-Textbook-Psychiatry
• Page demarcations made with Inkscape.org
• Encyclopedia