Week 9: Early-Onset Schizophrenia

“I can’t believe he is speaking to me! I have always liked his music, but now here he is on TV speaking directly to me! When I started following him on social media, he must have seen my profile. I know he loves me. He cannot love that model I saw with him in the picture. She must be the person following me to school. I have not seen her, but I know she is there. She does not want me being with him, but I will be with him. He loves me as much as I love him.”

Kaitlyn, age 17

Early-onset schizophrenia is a rare and severe mental illness in which children interpret reality abnormally. There are a range of problems with cognitive functioning, behavior, and emotions. Perceptions may be distorted and children or their parents may report that they have difficulty distinguishing reality. This is a diagnosis that is difficult to confirm in the early stages.

This week, you compare evidence-based treatment plans for adults versus children diagnosed with schizophrenia. You analyze the legal and ethical issues involved with forcing patients with early-onset schizophrenia to take medications for the disorder. You also complete a Decision Tree concerning children with psychotic disorders.

Assignment 1: Early Onset Schizophrenia

Children and adolescents with schizophrenia have more difficulty functioning in academic or work settings, and significant impairment usually persists into adulthood. They may have speech or language disorders and in some cases borderline intellectual functioning. These individuals are more likely to complete suicide attempts or die from other accidental causes. Schizophrenia is characterized by positive and negative symptoms. Positive symptoms include hallucinations, delusions, and behavior disturbance. Negative symptoms include blunted affect and attention, apathy, and lack of motivation and social interest.

In this Assignment, you compare treatment plans for adults diagnosed with schizophrenia with treatment plans for children and adolescents diagnosed with schizophrenia. You also consider the legal and ethical issues involved in medicating children diagnosed with schizophrenia.

To Prepare for this Assignment:

Review the Learning Resources concerning early-onset schizophrenia.

The Assignment (2 pages):

Compare at least two evidence-based treatment plans for adults diagnosed with schizophrenia with evidence-based treatment plans for children and adolescents diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Explain the legal and ethical issues involved with forcing children diagnosed with schizophrenia to take medication for the disorder and how a PMHNP may address those issues.

Note: The School of Nursing requires that all papers submitted include a title page, introduction, summary, and references.

Learning Resources

American Nurses Association. (2014). Psychiatric-mental health nursing: Scope and standards of practice (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

· Standard 10 “Quality of Practice” (pages 73-74)

Sadock, B. J., Sadock, V. A., & Ruiz, P. (2014). Kaplan & Sadock’s synopsis of psychiatry: Behavioral sciences/clinical psychiatry (11th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer.

· Chapter 31, “Child Psychiatry” (pp. 1268–1283)

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

· “Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders”

Note: You will access this book from the Walden Library databases.

McClellan, J., & Stock, S. (2013). Practice parameter for the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents with schizophrenia. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 52(9), 976–990. Retrieved from http://www.jaacap.com/article/S0890-8567(13)00112-3/pdf

Giles, L. L., & Martini, D. R. (2016). Challenges and promises of pediatric psychopharmacology. Academic Pediatrics, 16(6), 508–518. doi:10.1016/j.acap.2016.03.011

Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases.

Hargrave, T. M., & Arthur, M. E. (2015). Teaching child psychiatric assessment skills: Using pediatric mental health screening tools. International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, 50(1), 60–72. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/docview/1702699596?accountid=14872

Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases.

Stahl, S. M. (2014). Prescriber’s Guide: Stahl’s Essential Psychopharmacology (5th ed.). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

 

Thapar, A., Pine, D. S., Leckman, J. F., Scott, S., Snowling, M. J., & Taylor, E. A. (2015). Rutter’s child and adolescent psychiatry (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell.

· Chapter 57, “Schizophrenia and Psychosis” (pp. 774