Treating Psychotic Disorders: A Case Study

Medication or Therapy: Treating Psychotic Disorders The history of the concept of psychosis is traced from the time it was coined in 1845 to the present day. Originally, psychosis included the category of mental handicap, as well as certain other serious mental disorders. But within a year, this changed; psychiatric disorders became included under its umbrella heading amidst a confusing array of terminology. The term psychosis stems from the Greek ψύχωσις (psychosis), "a giving soul or life to, animating, quickening" and that from ψυχή (psyche), "soul" and the suffix -ωσις (-osis), in this case "abnormal condition. In ancient Hindu scripture, many various forms of insanity are referenced. This ancient scripture, Veda, also contains the
A substance may induce psychotic symptoms during intoxication (while the individual is under the influence of the drug) or during withdrawal (after an individual stops using the drug). The essential features of psychotic disorder due to a general medical condition are noticeable hallucinations or delusions that are judged to be due to the direct physiological effects of a general medical condition. The clinician must establish that the psychotic disturbance is related to the general medical condition through the use of a physiological
In recent years, two psychological approaches, cognitive behavioral therapy and family interventions have emerged. Cognitive behavioral therapy for psychosis draws on two main sources: stress-vulnerability models of psychosis and cognitive theory and therapy for emotional disorders. Family interventions also draw explicitly on the stress-vulnerability model of psychosis by altering one possible source of stress - the emotional climate of the family environment
Psychotic disorders are far from limited to just one specific group of people; though they can be characterized individually by the specific groups they mainly affect, such as age or gender. Most psychotic disorders tend to affect males and females in equal numbers, and psychotic disorders are actually quite common worldwide. About one percent (1%) of the population is thought to have some form of psychotic disorder; and, generally, the first signs of most psychotic disorders appear when a person is in his/her late teens, twenties, or