Schizophrenia Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Schizophrenia - Research Paper Example hink that schizophrenia may be caused by genetic predisposition, environment, and different brain chemistry and structure; thus, exact cause is unknown and anti-psychotic treatments are usually designed to alleviate the symptoms (National Institute of Mental Health, 2009, p. 6-8). The patient is a 42-year old, single, and black female. Psychiatric assessment of the patient revealed a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, a condition characterized by persecutory or grandiose delusions and hallucinations and excessive religiosity. The patient stated that every night, Oprah Winfrey was climbing through her 5th floor apartment window, trying to force her to write letters so that Oprah could get into her mind and take all the information in her mind such as bank accounts and family history. This assessment illustrates persecutory hallucinations (a positive symptom) characterized by seeing or hearing things that orders that orders the person to do something (National Institute of Mental Health, 2009, p. 4). The patient also believed that she’s a prophet from God that was sent to the world to pray day and night for the people. Again, this is also a positive symptom, particularly a false belief or delusion of persecution of a schizophrenic person, believing tha t they are someone else, such as a prophet or any famous historical figures (National Institute of Mental Health, 2009, p. 4). Another psychiatric assessment that would support the diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia is extreme religiosity which is also evident in the patient’s condition. The patient verbalized a lot about high heel shoes and missing being in church. In addition, patients with paranoid schizophrenia often have thought disorders (National Institute of Mental Health, 2009, p. 5). For instance, the nurse questioned the patient about relapse prevention and the patient’s answer is illogical to the question and hard to understand stating that her sister will going to take care of her and that she