- Remember that the client’s remarks are not
directed at you personally but are a byprod-
uct of the disordered and confused thinking
that schizophrenia causes. - Discuss these issues with a more experi-
enced nurse for suggestions on how to deal
with your feelings and actions toward these
clients. You are not expected to have all the
answers.
➤ KEY POINTS
- Schizophrenia is a chronic illness requiring
long-term management strategies and coping
skills. Schizophrenia is a disease of the
brain, a clinical syndrome that involves a
person’s thoughts, perceptions, emotions,
movements, and behaviors. - The effects of schizophrenia on the client
may be profound, involving all aspects of the
client’s life: social interactions, emotional
health, and ability to work and function in
the community. - Schizophrenia is conceptualized in terms of
positive signs, such as delusions, hallucina-
tions, and disordered thought process, and
negative signs such as social isolation, apa-
thy, anhedonia, and lack of motivation and
volition. - The clinical picture, prognosis, and out-
comes for clients with schizophrenia vary
widely. Therefore it is important that each
client is carefully and individually assessed
with appropriate needs and interventions
determined.- Careful assessment of each client as an in-
dividual is essential to planning an effective
plan of care. - Families of clients with schizophrenia may
experience fear, embarrassment, and guilt in
response to their family member’s illness.
Families must be educated about the dis-
order, the course of the disorder, and how it
can be controlled. - Failure to comply with treatment and the
medication regimen and the use of alcohol
and other drugs are associated with poorer
outcomes in the treatment of schizophrenia. - For clients with psychotic symptoms, key
nursing interventions include helping to
protect the client’s safety and right to
privacy and dignity, dealing with socially
inappropriate behaviors in a nonjudgmen-
tal and matter-of-fact manner, helping
present and maintain reality for the client
by frequent contact and communication,
and ensuring appropriate medication
administration. - For the client whose condition is stabilized
with medication, key nursing interventions
include continuing to offer a supportive, non-
confrontational approach; maintaining the
therapeutic relationship by establishing
trust and trying to clarify the client’s feelings
14 SCHIZOPHRENIA 323
I NTERNET R ESOURCES
Resource Internet Address
◗Internet Mental Health http://www.mentalhealth.com
◗Mental Health InfoSource http://www.mhsource.com/
◗Mental Health Net http://schizophrenia.mentalhelp.net/
◗National Alliance for the Mentally Ill http://www.nami.org
◗Health Center—Schizophrenia http://www.health-center.com/mentalhealth/schizophrenia
◗Manitoba Schizophrenia Society http://www.mss.mb.ca
◗Schizophrenia Digest http://www.vaxxine.com/schizophrenia
◗Schizophrenics Anonymous http://www.SAnonymous.org