Anthony, thanks for taking a look at my sandbox! i found this quiet diffficult and am strugling with my citation! would really appreciate if you could let me know if im doing it right. Thanks, Oonagh.


Positive and negative symptoms of Schizophrenia Schizophrenia is often described in terms of positive and negative (or deficit) symptoms.[18] The term positive symptoms refers to symptoms that most individuals do not normally experience but are sometimes present in people with schizophrenia.[1] These symptoms gererally respond well to medication. they include delusions,disordered thoughts and speech and hallucinations such as tactile, auditory,visual,olfactory and gustatory and are typically regarded as manifestations of psychosis. [2] Hallucinations are also typically related to the content of the delusional theme.[3] Negative symptoms are symptoms that are altered or defect emotional responses that respond less successfully to medication. [4] Common negative symptoms include flat or blunted affect and emotion, poverty of speech (alogia), inability to experience pleasure (anhedonia), lack of desire to form relationships (asociality), and lack of motivation (avolition). Research suggests that negative symptoms contribute more to poor quality of life, functional disability, and the burden on others than do positive symptoms.[19] patients with negative symptoms tend to respond less well to medication and can often have a history of poor adjustment before the onset of illness.[5]



Paranoid schizophrenia is a sub-type of schizophrenia as defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, DSM-IV code 295.30[1]. It is the most common type of schizophrenia.[2] It is mainfested primarily through impaired thought processes in which the central focus is on distorted perceptions or paranoid behavious and thinking. [6] It is the accumulation of depression and paranoia. Symptoms’ often include the normal depressive symptoms with an experience of paranoid thoughts. Paranoid Schizophrenia is the presence of prominent delusions or auditory hallucinations. is usually Delusions are often more odd and the individual may be quite sceptical and disbelieving. Delusions may be multiple, but usually organised and coherent.[7] They often form the conclusion that others are “out to get them". The clinical picture is dominated by relatively stable, often paranoid, delusions, usually accompanied by hallucinations, particularly of the auditory variety (hearing voices), and perceptual disturbances. Disturbances of affect, volition, and speech, and catatonic symptoms, are not prominent.



Family therapy, also referred to as couple and family therapy, and family systems therapy, is a branch of psychotherapy that works with families and couples in intimate relationships to nurture change and development. It tends to view change in terms of the systems of interaction between family members and can help an individual in coping more effectively.[8] It emphasizes family relationships as an important factor in psychological health.



Depression, for the purposes of this article, refers to the mental disorder known as major depressive disorder. This kind of depression is a recognized clinical condition and is becoming a common condition in developed countries, where up to 20% of the population is affected by this disorder at some stage of their lives.[1] Patients are usually assessed and managed as outpatients, and only admitted to an inpatient mental health unit if they are considered to pose a risk to themselves or others.

The three most commonly indicated treatments for depression are psychotherapy, psychiatric medication, and (in severe cases) electroconvulsive therapy. Psychiatric medication are the primary therapy for major depression. [9] Psychotherapy is the treatment of choice in those under the age of 18, with medication offered only in conjunction with the former and generally not as a first line agent. Furthermore, pathology in the parents may need to be looked for and addressed in parallel.[2]

Tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) are heterocyclic chemical compounds used primarily as antidepressants. The TCAs were first discovered in the early 1950s and were subsequently introduced later in the decade, since then the ability of the trycyclics to relieve depressive symptoms has been firmly established. [10] They are named after their chemical structure, which contains three rings of atoms. The tetracyclic antidepressants (TeCAs), which contain four rings of atoms, are a closely related group of antidepressant compounds.

Signs and Symptoms of Schizophrenia A person diagnosed with schizophrenia may experience hallucinations (most commonly hearing voices), delusions (often bizarre or persecutory in nature), and disorganized thinking and speech. The latter may range from loss of train of thought, to sentences only loosely connected in meaning, to incoherence known as word salad in severe cases. Soial withdrawl, sloppiness about dress and hygiene, and loss of motivation and judgement are all common in schizophrenia. [11] There is often an observable pattern of emotional difficulty, for example lack of responsiveness or motivation. Impairment in social cognition is associated with schizophrenia, as are symptoms of paranoia, and social isolation commonly occurs. In one uncommon subtype, the person may be largely mute, remain motionless in bizarre postures, or exhibit purposeless agitation; these are signs of catatonia.

Late adolescence and early adulthood are peak years for the onset of schizophrenia. In 40% of men and 23% of women diagnosed with schizophrenia, the condition arose before the age of 19.[12] These are critical periods in a young adult's social and vocational development. To minimize the developmental disruption associated with schizophrenia, much work has recently been done to identify and treat the prodromal (pre-onset) phase of the illness, which has been detected up to 30 months before the onset of symptoms, but may be present longer.[13] Those who go on to develop schizophrenia may experience the non-specific symptoms of social withdrawal, irritability and dysphoria in the prodromal period,[14] and transient or self-limiting psychotic symptoms in the prodromal phase before psychosis becomes apparent.[15]

That is a very positive contribution. Thank you. One thing: Can you please replace the Carson citations with
<ref>Carson VB (2000). [http://books.google.com/books?id=QM5rAAAAMAAJ Mental health nursing: the nurse-patient journey] W.B. Saunders. ISBN 9780721680538. pp.</ref>
and the DSM-IV-TR citations with
<ref >American Psychiatric Association. Task Force on DSM-IV. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-IV-TR. American Psychiatric Pub. ISBN 9780890420256. pp.</ref>
(adding the page number/s at the end). It is important to include page numbers so that others can be sure you're not making it up. Otherwise, well done indeed. Anthony (talk) 17:39, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

References

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  1. ^ DSM-IV-TR. pp313
  2. ^ Kneisl, Carol. and Trigoboff, Eileen (2009). Contemporary Psychiatric- Mental Health Nursing. 2nd edition. London: Pearson Prentice Ltd. pp.374
  3. ^ DSM-IV-TR. pp 313
  4. ^ Carson, V,B.(2000) Mental Health Nursing:The Nurse-Patient journey. America
  5. ^ Carson, V,B.(2000) Mental Health Nursing:The Nurse-Patient journey. America
  6. ^ Carson, V,B.(2000) Mental Health Nursing:The Nurse-Patient journey. America
  7. ^ DSM-IV-TR
  8. ^ Carson, V,B.(2000) Mental Health Nursing:The Nurse-Patient journey. America
  9. ^ Carson, V,B.(2000) Mental Health Nursing:The Nurse-Patient journey. America
  10. ^ Carson, V,B.(2000) Mental Health Nursing:The Nurse-Patient journey. America
  11. ^ Carson, V,B.(2000) Mental Health Nursing:The Nurse-Patient journey. America