Elizabeth, Marisa, Haley, Patricia, Tillie, and myself 

Case study (Tillie)—boy who was 13 and got admitted into hospital in India, random outbursts, sleeping issues, felt backwards, random unexplained increased communication, wouldn’t do school assignments but when he did he spent a long time on them, refused to listen, didn’t have hallucinations so schizophrenia ruled out, irritable, CT scan normal, submitted for psychometric investigation with test of mental ability and based on tests bipolar was diagnosed
  • Medications: 2mg risperidone increased to 4mg with significant improvement and back to 2mg doing well in treatment

Court case (Schizophrenia):
  • USA vs. Jared Lee Loughner 
  • He killed 6 people and injured 13 in Arizona (including congresswoman Gabriel Giffords)
  • Involved APA and AAPL (American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law)
  • Filed brief in case to address arguments over Jared’s forced medication which supposedly caused his schizophrenia 
  • diagnosed with schizophrenia and declared incompetent to stay on trial
  • when in federal prison in 2011, the circuit court permitted that prison authorities forcedly administer antipsychotics because he was posing a danger to himself and others
  • prison later had hospital authorities overrule the court order to administer medications because he was talking about suicide
Case Study #1 (Schizophrenia):
  • Helen has paranoid schizophrenia and pregnant
  • Diagnosed at 12
  • Brother committed suicide at 20
  • Mother of 5
  • Pregnant for the first time at 15 yrs old
  • NRAMP study which is National Register of Antipsychotic Medication and Pregnancy 
  • Study wants to see association between antipsychotics and effect on fetus
  • Smoked 10 cigarettes throughout pregnancy, ongoing chest pains, developed gestational diabetes during pregnancy
  • Baby had many abnormalities 
Treatment (Schizophrenia):
  • Medication
  • Therapy
  • In extreme cases: electroconvulsive therapy or transcranial magnetic stimulation

Book: The Boy Who Couldn’t Stop Washing His Hands: the experience and treatment of obsessive and compulsive disorder (OCD):
First family:
  • First 2 chapters father and son have OCD
  • 2 main types: washer and checker
  • Father (narrator) is a checker
  •  Convinced he hit someone in the car so he has to keep driving to that same spot to check although no one is on the road
  •  Son has a need to play with string but doesn’t know why he has to
Second Family:
  • Father—has to search books for words regarding life or death
  • If someone says something related to death, he has to get them to say a word that means life to undo the death
  • Punishes himself for having fun
  • If he wants to go on a date he won’t be able to use the escalator for a certain amount of time
  • Son is washer so he picks things up with his elbows to avoid his hands getting dirty
Teenagers:
  • One person who has to walk through door a certain way and if he doesn’t do it properly he has to keep doing it until he gets it right
Treatment (OCD):
  • Medication
  • Behavioral therapy or cognitive therapy
  • People don’t know why they have to do what they do they just know they have to do it
Court Case (OCD):
In this court case, a man in suburban Louisville, Kentucky named  Jerry
Seidl shot his wife saying that it was because of his Obsessive- Compulsive Disorder.
  • Married for 47 years
  • Shot his wife because he claimed OCD
    • Wife moved out of the family house
    • Dorene wanted protection because of domestic violence
      • Husband previously put a gun to her head
    • Dorene wen to the house to get her personal items
      • Had a note saying why she wanted to leave
    • Husband shot his wife in the head 5 times
      • Fatal wounding
      • He surrendered to a SWAT team
  • Seidl's lawyer said that Jerry had Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD)
    • Contradicted himself by saying he had obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
      • These are different from each other
      • Ocd has specific thoughts
      • OCPD has thoughts that don't cause anxiety
  • Psychiatrist said that Seidl suffered from OCD
  • Seidl's attorney indicated in court that his client deserved some sort of special consideration because he murdered his wife “under extreme emotional disturbance”
  • Seidl was guilty with a 35 year prison term.


Book: Prozac Nation (Depression):
  • Our book is about a girl struggling with depression ever since she was a young teenager
  • he book is about her journey with depression, and how she tried to deal with it
  • think the book is very interesting
  • learned a lot from the book.
  • learned about the drugs that people with depression can take
  • learned that depression can be a result of many different things.
  • realized that there are many different positive and negative aspects from depression and the journey to recovery
  • learned more about the illness itself.
  • a lot more than people think it is.
  • It is not just cutting yourself and trying to kill yourself
  • There are many different ways people deal with their depression, and many different ways people try to cover it up
  • Depression is a condition of mental disturbance characterized by such feelings to a greater degree than seems warranted by the external circumstances, typically with lack of energy and difficulty in maintaining concentration or interest in life
Case Study (Depression):
Sonya is a 52 year old woman with depression. Her father was an alcoholic. They started using flower essence for her therapy, and during each stage they increased the amount of essences they used and noticed a severe uplifting in Sonya which made her depression slowly but surely become less and less.

Court Case (Depression):
A dentist was charged with billing Medicaid and private insurers as well as with money and laundering. History of psychosis. Supposed to stand trial but his condition deteriorated and his ability to stand trial was questioned. During a bail he yelled and spit at the magistrate and faced additional charges after conspiring to kill a witness and an FBI agent. He was sent for an evaluation and was found incompetent to stand trial after being diagnosed with delusional disorder. He was sent to a medical facility. The judge realized that the man was a danger to himself and others but medication could render him less dangerous. He was forcibly medicated. In a 6-3 ruling the Supreme Court affirmed the ruling to administer psychotic drugs to a criminal solely for the purpose of rending his or her ability to stand trial.
 

Discussion of Court Case

Jordan, Tillie, and I all agreed that the settlement received was a bit excessive and unnecessary. We agreed that he should not have been fired and, instead, given the time off of work needed to adjust to the medication. Quite frankly, the the whole disaster could have been avoided if the employer had just allowed the employee to take a few vacation days. 
 

Discussion of Illness

  • Tillie finds the disorder not as common as she thought it was; most people take lightly the term “bipolar” 
  • Many people misdiagnose their friends with bipolar disorder which has a negative underlying tone—misuse of the term
  • Jordan instigated the discussion of the four separate categories of bipolar disorder: bipolar I, bipolar II, cyclothymia, and bipolar not otherwise specified
  • The two main stages of the disorder are mania and depression
  • The treatments we found odd were electroconvulsive therapy and rTMS (repeated transcranial magnetic stimulation)
  • Most common form of treatment is medication; types of medication include:
  1. Mood-stabilizing agents (most common is lithium)
  2. Antidepressants 
  3. Benzodiazepines
  4. Neuroleptics
  5. Antipsychotics 
  6. Calcium channel blockers
  • Another common treatment is psychotherapy, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy
 
Quote Response:
     This quote attempts to explain one’s internal struggle with mental illness and insanity.  One with a psychological disorder feels pain and loneliness because he or she feels that no other person shares their thought process.  They truly believe that their world and their reality truly exist, yet they are the only one with their intuition.  The elation comes with the realization that they have discovered the truth, that they have been enlightened with all the secrets of the universe.  It feels almost euphoric to fathom all intention, all reason, and all the intangible. Unfortunately, however, one may feel terror which stems from the idea that they will always be alone in their reality. They may feel like nobody will ever understand and that perhaps they will forever be burdened with the truth while everyone else lives in blissful ignorance.  But the truth cannot escape them; they can never forget the knowledge with which they have been gifted and that is most terrifying. Of course they cannot erase their mindset.  It is like trying to convince someone who has been told their entire life that squirrels are evil that squirrels are actually gentle creatures. Although they are being told the actual truth, the brainwashed will believe that they are trying to be deceived for they think their reality is the truth. This notion can be applied to the explanation as to why it is so difficult to cure someone of insanity. How is it possible to convince someone of an alternate reality? of an unknown, intangible world existing within the mind? 
     Most every person, no matter their level of mental health, has some form of insanity. We all have ideas, beliefs, or thoughts that are our own. There is a world unique to each individual because it is seen through eyes unique to each individual. There is an irrevocable concept within each of us which is a result of our upbringing, our heritage, and/or our life experiences. For example, some people are pro-life and some are pro-choice. It all depends on how they were raised to think or how their life experiences have affected their thinking.  Each experience or believed abstraction is interpreted and translated into a notion in which only they understand. Everything in the world is perceived differently, for each person has an exclusive and private mind that is their own. To be exposed to another individual’s mindset is a truly rewarding experience; for it allows one to experience an entirely new reality which gives insight into so much knew knowledge.  

 
The humane way to deal with people who suffer from a psychological disorder is to keep them under careful watch of a psychiatrist, but to let them remain in society.  I believe that putting someone into a mental institution and cutting all ties to civilization will only intensify the symptoms of the disorder.  Regular contact with family and friends will keep the patient connected to reality and will allow them to stay familiar with daily routines. Support from friends and family, I believe, is the most effective form of treatment. Medication, however, is also extremely important to those with a psychological disorder and in extreme cases, forced medicating may be fitting.  If someone poses a threat to themselves or others, forced medicating may be the only way to keep their symptoms under control. Although some find forced medicating inhumane I believe in the opposite, that it is the only humane way of treatment.  If he or she is a potential harm to his or herself, drastic measures such as forced medicating are utterly necessary and acceptable.  The safety of the patient and others is ultimately the most important thing and must always take precedence. 

    Author

    My name is Carly and I am a senior in high school. This blog is being used as my "journal" for my final project in Psychology. Enjoy!

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