Heather+Schmidtlein's+Project+Page

This is Heather Schmidtlein's project page

This article reviews the symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia. If you remember watching //A Beautiful Mind//, John Nash shows several of these symptoms. However, it wasn't until later in John's life that it was noticed he had a mental disability. It was simply thought John was a little different, or that him talking to himself was due to the stress of his job. This article does a good job of describing the symptoms and signs of a person with paranoid schizophrenia.

-Hallucinations -Hearing voices -Delusions -Anger or Anxiety -Violence towards self or others -Attempting suicide or having suicidal thoughts -Having self-importance [|Symptoms of Paranoid Schizophrenia]
 * __Symptoms Include:__**

This article is about a patient with schizophrenia that died in a mental hospital. The mental hospital, Menninger, is found in my hometown in Topeka, KS. Menninger Clinic was a psychiatric hospital to a variety of patients with different mental disorders. This specific patient was on a trial for a new medicine which ended up in his death.

[|Menninger Patient]



I was able to find an article about the interview of a paranoid schizophrenic patient. The interview of "Mike" was by a young medical student that had been asked to interview this man to gain some experience in the medical field. The end of the article, it turns out that one of the things "Mike" was so paranoid about was actually true. However, despite the fact that "Mike" was correct about his paranoia, there were other things that landed him in a mental hospital. Like setting his neighbors car on fire, persistently calling the police, and thinking people were spying on him.

[|"Mike" Interview]

Most children focus their attention on playing games and having fun. However, that's not the case for 9-year-old Becca Stancil, who has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. She has been interviewed many times and has been said to be unusual to find this level a paranoid schizophrenia in someone at her age. Becca has hillucinations of wolves, scary shadows that wander around her room at night, people with faces, but the worst is a hallucination called "The Man". "The Man" can be good or bad, but is always there according to Becca. He has held a gun to her head and told her to run away before. The first link is an article over Becca and living with paranoid schizophrenia. The second link is a video done by ABC filming Becca along with her family.

[|9-year-old Schizophrenic]

[|ABC News Girl Suffers from Paranoid Schizophrenia]

This following video is about Becca along with a girl she met when she was in the mental hospital, Jani, who suffers from childhood schizophrenia. They became best friends because they both understand what the other is going through. It is interesting to see the two interact as if they are both completely normal. After listening to both girls talk you can get a brief understanding about the differences in their schizophrenia and behaviors.

[|Jani and Becca Video]



The television series //True Life// does documentaries over several different kinds of people. One episode was called //True Life: I Have Schizophrenia//, where all 3 people featured in the episode show signs of having delusions or hallucinations. One girl, Amber, has actually been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. This episode allows you to look into the life of a girl with paranoid schizophrenia and how she tries to continue with being a college student while taking medications.

[|True Life: I Have Schizophrenia]

There is hope for patients with paranoid schizophrenia. The most successful cases involve different medications and therapy. The following link is about a young man describing going through college with paranoid schizophrenia. He did have a couple relapses and ended up back in the hospital, but with help and determination he made it through college with a degree in economics. It wasn't an easy road, but he is proud to say that he did it.

[|College with Paranoid Schizophrenia]

There are many ways to help someone with paranoid schizophrenia. There can be a variety of medications and different types of therapies available. Some medications include different types of antipsychotics in correlation with antidepressants or anti-anxiety medications. However, taking these medications can have side effects that could cause other health problems. Non-medicated help include types of psychotherapy such as individual therapy, family therapy, and in some extreme cases electroconvulsive therapy. Doing some form of therapy should be done along with taking medication for the best results. The following link gives information going into further detail about the medications and how they help, along with the benefits of different types of therapy.

__**Medications Include:**__ - Antipsychotics (typical)- This medication is meant to affect neurotransmitters and have been very effective in controlling hallucinations and delusions. The downside of this medication is the side affects of frequent jerking, and can occasionally lead to more severe neurological side effects. - Antipsychotics (atypical)- This is the newer version of antipsychotics which still aid in the control of hallucinations and delusions, but also help control the loss of emotion and motivation. However, there are still side effects but these are less severe and usually affect a person's metabolism causing weight gain, high cholesterol, and diabetes. - Antidepressants- It is common for paranoid schizophrenic patients to be in a state of depression, anxiety, or anger. Taking antidepressants, mood-stabilizing medications, or anti-anxiety medications along with other medications can help reduce more symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia.

__**Types of Therapy Include:**__ - Individual therapy- The most commonly used type of individual therapy is called cognitive therapy. It involves time with a psychiatrist and helping you recognize and change your harmful behaviors or dangerous thoughts. This type of therapy can help you improve you relationships with your friends and family while helping you cope with accepting paranoid schizophrenia. Understanding the symptoms of this disorder can help the healing process and reduce the other symptoms. - Family therapy- This type of therapy not only benefits the person with paranoid schizophrenia, but also their family members. This helps the family to understand what the patients is going through and what to expect to happen with their symptoms. This also helps family members communicate better and can help with their relationships in general. Paranoid schizophrenia is not only stressful for the patient, but can be very hard on their family members as well. Family therapy helps everyone deal and adjust to the stress of helping someone with paranoid schizophrenia - Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)- This form of therapy is not as common as individual and family therapy. ECT involves electric currents being sent throughout the brain causing a seizure. It's supposed to reduce symptoms by causes changes in the brain chemistry. This generally shows improvement sooner than medications or therapy and is sometimes used as the first source of healing in some extreme cases. However, some people do choose to do it later after trying medications but it can be a difficult process trying to decide if it's really the best treatment option and when it should be used.

[|Treatment for Paranoid Schizophrenia]