Assessing and Treating Clients with Psychosis and Schizophrenia NURS 6630: Psychopharmacological Approaches to Treat Psychopathology

 Schizophrenia (SZ) is a severe chronic mental health condition that affects millions worldwide and is associated with significant impairment of quality of life. It is characterized by hallucinations, delusions, disorganized speech, and other symptoms that cause social or occupational dysfunction, including impairments in cognition, attention, and memory (Lai et al., 2021). Treatment of SZ is commonly grouped under two broad categories; non-pharmacological and pharmacological (Lai et al., 2021).Non-pharmacological interventions such as cognitive behavioral therapy target are to assist patients to cope with their symptoms and attain an acceptable level of psychosocial functioning in society. Pharmacological treatment, which is the backbone of the therapy, is based on neurobiological theories of re-uptake and release of neurotransmitters such as glutamate, gamma-aminobutyric acid, acetylcholine, and serotonin (Lai et al. 2021). This paper aims to select three decision tree treatment options for a client who is a 34- year-old Pakistani female who moved to the United States in her late teens/the early 20s. The patient presents with persistent psychotic symptoms for a month following a 21-day hospitalization for what was diagnosed as a brief psychotic disorder, currently in an "arranged" marriage (her husband was selected for her when she was nine years old). She presents following a 21-day hospitalization for what was diagnosed as a brief psychotic disorder. She was given this diagnosis as her symptoms have persisted for less than one month. On assessment, the patient appears quite calm and insists that the entire incident was exaggerated. She becomes hostile towards you but then calms down. Thepatient denies auditory and visual hallucinations but believes Allah sent a message to her through the television and believes that her husband does not love her but wants an American wife. She admits that she stopped taking her Risperdal a week ago prescribed for her in the hospital because she thinks her husband will poison her so