Today was the first day of my daughter’s therapy for Schizoid PD. It will be a lengthy process but it’s worth it. I don’t know if she is nervous to start therapy, since she interacts with me very little. My daughter, Charlotte, is now thirteen years old, and I still feel like she is a stranger to me. I didn't even know how Charlotte developed this disorder, but characteristics of Schizoid PD became clear a couple of years ago. She was more focused on her self, didn't talk to many people, and never liked social outings. We went to her doctor to see if he could explain why she was not like other kids. He then ran lots of tests and discovered that my daughter had been diagnosed with Schizoid PD. I was speechless after the doctor told me she was diagnosed. I kept thinking to myself how do you raise a child with Schizoid PD? What do I watch for? How do I act towards her? I had a long discussion with the doctor about how Charlotte can cope with this disorder, and how our family can help her as much as possible.
It’s hard trying to help Charlotte be herself with this disorder. She's always alone, and rarely, if ever participates in group activities. She doesn't talk to her siblings, her father, or me. She usually spends most of her time in her room either watching television, or reading. Even at the dinner table she just sits there, without talking, and acts like she isn't there. Becoming a teenager is a big step in her life and I want to help her through it, but I don’t know how to help her. She has friends at school, but I don’t think she is that close to them. In the group, she is definitely the shy one because I never see her talking to them. When I pick her up from school she is usually sitting on t...
... middle of paper ...
... wise advice, it’s a learning process, and advice about how to raise one child with Schizoid, cannot translate to another because each child is an individual and that each child will have different severities in different areas of this disorder. There will be rough patches, but just like I have, you can get through them. Today, I thought that dropping her off at her therapist’s office would be easy. It wasn’t easy because it’s killing me that there’s an opportunity that my daughter will be more open with her life and she won’t be sharing that with me, but instead a therapist. I’ve tried to not think about that, but this situation is for the best. I love Charlotte with all my heart, and all I want for her is to be happy. If she’s happy, I’m happy. All I have to do is take it one day at a time, because everyday might be an opportunity for something new.
In 1978, Susan Sheehan took an interest in Sylvia Frumkin, a schizophrenic who spent most of her life in and out of mental hospitals. For more than two years, Sheehan followed Sylvia around, observing when Sylvia talked to herself, sitting in on sessions with Sylvia’s doctors, and at times, sleeping in the same bed as Sylvia during her stay at the psychiatric centers. Through Sheehan’s intensive report on Sylvia’s life, readers are able to obtain useful information on what it’s like to live with this disorder, how impairing it can be for them, and the symptoms and causes to look out for; likewise, readers can get an inside look of how some mental hospitals are run and how a misdiagnosis can negatively impact someone’s life.
Introduction “This experience is much harder, and weirder, to describe than extreme fear or terror, most people know what it is like to be seriously afraid. If they haven’t felt it themselves, they’ve at least seen a movie, or read a book, or talked to a frightened friend – they can at least imagine it. But explaining what I’ve come to call ‘disorganization’ is a different challenge altogether. Consciousness gradually loses its coherence, one’s center gives away. The center cannot hold.
Major current stressors in patient H’s life are normal for a girl of her age; attending college at a prestigious university, a new puppy, and friends. Patient H also is suffering from a variety of mental illnesses (this will be discussed later), and her family majorly stresses her. Patient H is an only child and therefore has had her parents
In the case of Marjorie, she is a 24-year-old, single Caribbean American female who lives in the home with her mother and her two younger sisters. When she was 15 years old Marjorie’s father died. Marjorie is unmarried, has no children, and is employed part time. (Plummer, 2013). Since she had already received a definitive diagnosis of OCD by a psychiatrist, and had been initially prescribed Zoloft, (Plummer, 2013) I would begin by educating her about OCD, explaining that OCD is often shared with other disorders usually treated by mental health counselors such as depression or substance abuse; and explain that its onset usually occurs in the adolescent or college years (Noshirvani, Kasvikis, Marks, & Tsakirvis, 1991). (Spengler, n.d). Marjorie’s onset begun when she was a teenager and escalated once her father passed. As the worker being assigned to her case I would use Exposure theory as well as cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Marjorie is fearful of germs; through exposure therapy Marjorie could face her fears of germs by being exposed in a systematic and secure way to certain objects that she feels carries germs (Spengler, n.d) She could then safely address, dispell and face those fears. Allowing her to slowly move at a pace that is comfortable for her, by
Although my aunt is not a psychology professional, her hands-on experience with my cousin exemplifies her knowledge of his disorder and ability to care for him. Her strength and aptitude accompanied by my cousin’s optimism inspired me to learn more about the human mind and how it works. Along with my involvement in “Best Buddies” in high school, I frequently was exposed to other types of mentally challenged students that had autism, Fragile X syndrome (FXS), cerebral palsy and ADD/ADHD. Best Buddies is an international organization that creates one-to-one friendships between individuals with or without intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD); that offers social mentoring and provides an improvement in the quality of life to the special needs population (Best Buddies International, 2017). Our organization would sponsor activities such as dances, after school activities, and provide tutoring.
ASD individuals may find it hard to communicate and socialize with others around them. However, because each child is unique, they have their own unique abilities and ways of responding to new experiences. Other issues children with ASD have include; anxiety, sleeping problems, and learning disabilities. Those who are diagnosed with ASD or any other disability are usually judged and bullied. In the documentary Violet’s mother says she is afraid of her child being labeled and underestimated because she is diagnosed with autism. A child’s disability can also affect their family members. Family members may have a difficult time understanding and getting to know the autistic child in order to provide for them. They struggle to find interventions such as treatment and therapy for them, the right medical care, and trying learn to cope with all this. At times parents and caregivers can also feel stressed or irritated knowing they have to fulfill all of the child’s needs. Siblings on the other hand, may find it unfair that the autistic child gets the most attention and
VR is a vibrant, beautiful, fun loving 17 year old. She is witty, creative and has a deep passion for dance. Over the last couple of years however, there are many times when she becomes so sad that it is difficult for her to function. She will go to sleep immediately after school and still have a hard time getting up in the morning. My parents have received numerous phone calls from her teachers advising us that she will fall asleep in class and this is after having slept 12 hours the prior night. During these times of sadness, VR refuses to talk with her friends. In fact, she refuses to talk to anyone or do any of the activities she so thoroughly enjoys. VR also has times when she is extremely full of energy and nothing stops her. Although this doesn’t happen as often, this excess energy is much more extreme than normal adolescent behavior. When she experiences these bouts of excess energy, VR talks non-stop. She talks so fast that people have a hard time comprehending what she is saying. It is during these episodes that she will go nights without any sleep and still function normally. In addition to days of complete sadness or excessive energy she also has to deal with erratic menstrual cycles. During these times, she gets extremely bad headaches, throws up, and bleeds qui...
More research is constantly being conducted on the safety and efficacy of psychotropic medication use by children. Nevertheless, time will indeed show if these kinds of medications will prove to be entirely beneficial for those that have taken them, or if they will end up hindering healthy development and causing irreparable, long time damage. If parents take the time to research the findings of studies that have already been conducted about these medications they, along with their child’s doctor, can make better informed decisions as to what may be the best approach for helping their child who may be experiencing psychological issues. Through the use of alternative treatments such as behavioral training or psychological counseling parents may realize that medications are not the only way to alleviate symptoms of a child’s psychological disorder.
Cognitive challenges also exist when counseling children with ASD as they have difficulty distinguishing their own mind from somebody else’s, this is known as theory of mind (Woods et al., 2013). Counselors should address deficiencies in theory of mind as the lack of knowledge in others feelings and empathy causes challenges across all social contexts for children. While there are a numerous factors to consider when providing therapy for children with ASD, therapeutic interventions are crucial to the development of social skills as well as adaptive emotional and behavioral responses in social settings.
Mental illness have been part of humans for many years. Some mental illness can be hidden, while others can be seen a mile away. Schizophrenia for example, is a mental illness that can be easy to conceal. "Schizophrenia is a chronic, disabling mental illness whose symptoms can include hallucinations, delusions and cognitive problems, the illness afflicts about 1 percent of the human population...." (Shnabel). It means that there are people around the world that hear things and see things that not many people can, not knowing what the difference between real and fake is. "Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders are among the most debilitating mental illnesses because multiple facets of functioning are impaired"(Compton). Seeing and hearing
Families with a member suffering from any illness may be stressful enough but families with members diagnosed with schizophrenia are often faced with additional challenges such as the “external stressors of social stigma, isolation, and emotional frustration”. Many times, family conflicts arise as members attempt to provide care on an everyday basis (Chien, 2010, pg. xi). “A Beautiful Mind” is a brilliant motion picture directed by Ron Howard that chronicles the life of one John Nash, a prominent mathematician and the challenges he endures throughout his adult life afflicted with a chronic mental illness. “A Beautiful Mind” allows us to gain insight into the stressors that many families undergo when faced with living with a person with schizophrenia. This paper will explore the impact of schizophrenia on the lives of the Nash family as depicted in the aforementioned movie. Exploring the impact of the disease on the Nash family’s life will be followed with a discussion regarding an assessment conducted of the family, through the use of the Calgary Family Assessment model. Conducting the assessment allowed us to determine two nursing priorities, and nursing interventions in relation to them through the use of the Calgary intervention model. Essentially it becomes evident that the challenges faced by the Nash family are in the functional domain. The families inability to effectively communicate and problem solve becomes evident, which is negatively impacting the families ability to function effectively. Our nursing interventions guided by the Calgary Nursing Intervention Model will focus on providing the Nash family with the support needed to bring about change in the affective domain in foster effective communication with the famil...
She is not so eager to please others as she used to. She has moved onto wanting to please herself more. She is more concerned with boys, what her interests are and exhibiting defiance by continuing some inappropriate behavior.
child who was not expected to live, take her first steps after weeks of therapy. The journey to reach my
At some point a human might have a relative, or heard of someone, or even experienced itself of suffering from Schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness that affects many humans throughout the world. People living with this mental disorder may depend on a family member or someone close to take care of him/her. Certain individuals have a good chance of inheriting schizophrenia if a family member appears to show a history of this mental disorder. Unlike others can develop this psychotic disorder while growing up. For instance, a young woman or man may begin to show some signs or symptoms within his/her teen years. Well unfortunately, I have a brother who inherited Schizophrenia and it is extremely difficult to cope with him at certain times.
Most people gather what they know about mental illnesses from television and film. Unfortunately these media portrayals are inaccurate and create stigma. They depict people suffering from mental illnesses as different, dangerous and laughable. Characters are often addicted to drugs or alcohol, are violent, dangerous, or out of control. Horror film characters like Norman Bates in Psycho, Jack Torrance in the Shining, or Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs associate the typical 'psycho- killer' with people who suffer from a mental illness. But dramas and horror films are not the only film genres that create stigma. Comedies like What About Bob and many others not only stigmatize, they also make fun of mental illnesses and the people who suffer from them. This paper will discuss how the film Me, Myself & Irene is an inaccurate, offensive and stigmatizing portrayal of an individual suffering from schizophrenia. It also discusses what can be done to counteract the stigma created by these types of films.