Schizophrenia spectrum disorders and other psychotic disorders all share the same common symptom, a loss of contact with reality that results in impaired functioning. While some of these disorders last from days to months with a total return to functioning, others within this spectrum of disorders cause lifelong disability, stigma, and significant cost. Early references to conditions containing the symptoms of schizophrenia appear in classical literature and the Bible. Eugen Bleuler, a Swiss psychiatrist, was the first to use the term schizophrenia in 1908. Until the 1950s, brain surgery, electric shock, sedative drugs, and sometimes life confinement were the only choices for the management of schizophrenia. With the invention of antipsychotics and the trend toward deinstitutionalizing those with mental health disorders, significant changes occurred for those diagnosed as being on the schizophrenia spectrum and having other psychotic disorders in the second half of the twentieth century. Nursing care is at the forefront of optimal care outcomes for those diagnosed with these disorders. Understanding the disturbance, symptoms, treatments, and care algorithms is essential in concordant nursing care.
Figure
15.1
The etiology of psychological and mental health disorders can be multifaceted, ranging from genetic and biological to environmental; often, specific causes are a combination of the types of factors or remain a mystery. (credit: “National Nurses Week: Capt. Stephanie Smiddy” by Staff Sgt. Shane Hughes/Air Force Medical Service, Public Domain)