Paranoid Schizophreni The Mental Diagnosis Of Matthew Poe

My mental diagnosis of Matthew Poe is Schizophrenia. The main symptoms of Schizophrenia are delusions and hallucinations. More specifically, I believe the patient has Paranoid Schizophrenia, which main indication is a person feeling extremely suspicious. The patient shows extreme signs of paranoia and hallucinations. These hallucinations consist of hearing the heartbeat of the old man that the patient murdered. The sound of this heartbeat in his ears is causing the patient extreme paranoia, and the psychotic breakdown in which he confessed the murder. These problems arose when the patient began to feel guilty over killing the old man. Paranoia over the eye of the old man caused the patient to take the old man’s life. I believe that the patient’s
hallucination of the heartbeat is caused by the circumstance that he heard the old man’s heartbeat slow as he killed him. His guilt is now causing him to hallucinate this same heartbeat.
Observations
The following statement supports my conclusion that the reason the patient is hearing the old man’s heartbeat is because of how he had previously heard it.
The sound of the man’s heartbeat cause the patient great anxiety even before he killed him
• “But the beating of the heart grew louder, louder! I thought the heart must burst. And now an anxiety seized me” (Poe 305).
This statement also supports the previous deduction. The patient listened to the slowing heartbeat as he killed the man; therefore, the sound of the heartbeat began to represent the murder of the old man to the patient.
• “But, for many minutes, the heart beat on with a muffled sound. This, however, did not vex me; it would not be heard through the wall. At length it ceased. The old man was dead” (Poe 305).
This next statement demonstrates my evaluation that the patient suffered extreme paranoia and a mental breakdown because of the heartbeat sound.
• “It grew louder—louder—louder! And still the men chatted pleasantly, and smiled. Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God!—no, no! They heard!—They suspected!—They knew!” (Poe 306).
Management
Short-term Goals The patient should be put on conventional antipsychotic medication to treat his Schizophrenia. The goal of this would be to stop the patient from hearing the heartbeat in his
hallucinations.
Long-term goals The patient should undergo therapy or treatment to discuss the situation. I would like the patient to accept that he is mentally ill, as he keeps claiming he is not crazy.
Suggested Legal Consequences The patient should be tried for murder and placed in prison. However, the court should take into account his mental illness as they are trying him for prison. The patient should also receive treatment throughout the entirety of his prison sentence.