Role of General Practitioners in Patient Support

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Recommended: The effects of schizophrenia upon the individual and their carers and/or families

The GP is the first point of contact for a patient with any sort of condition, such as a physical condition or a medical condition. Alex accessed the GP when her “mother urged her to make an appointment at the doctors”. The GP is a general practitioner who will have knowledge and understanding of a wide range of issues. The GP will help to provide Alex with some support in order to help her cope with her condition; they can do this in a number of ways. For example, a GP could help Alex cope through listening to her explaining how she is feeling. Her mother would be with her in order to provide Alex with extra support. She will be able to talk about what she has been seeing, hearing and her overall experience with the condition. She will be …show more content…

This is when the real support and coping mechanisms are implemented. This is because she is accessing professionals who have an in-depth knowledge and understanding of schizophrenia and other mental health illness. These professionals will be able to properly assess Alex and carry out a detailed assessment on her mental health and well-being as this is what they have been trained to do. This detailed assessment supports Alex because it brings her closer to a definitive diagnosis. Once the assessment has taken place this will give the specialist time to see what is wrong with Alex. They will use the assessment to help them to rule out conditions until they find the one which matches most of her signs and symptoms. They will then be able to tell her if she has schizophrenia by their assessment …show more content…

She will know for definite what is actually wrong with her so she will be able to get the help which she needs. The diagnosis of Alex’s condition will also bring her family closer together as the diagnosis explains why Alex has been experiencing these things. For example, they will understand why Alex believed that the mother was trying to poison her. Alex and her family will finally realise that she was not going crazy but it was an effect of a serious mental health condition. This will help Alex cope as she will know what is wrong with her and she will become accepting of her condition as she learns to deal with it. It puts her in a position to be able to access needed treatment and things which she will need in order to help her cope. Professional treatment is a key coping mechanism for Alex; it is also a key aspect of support for her. The trial and error process of the medication will begin for Alex at this stage. The prescription of medication will help her cope with her condition as he will help to keep her signs and symptoms under condition. However, some certain treatment doesn’t always work for a certain individual, it all depends. We can see in Alex’s case that “after another week of Haloperidol, a typical anti-psychotic drug, Alex had some severe hallucinations and complained of voices in her head.” In this case it is clear to see that Haloperidol did not work for Alex and in fact it made

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