VERIFIED CONTENTAuthor: lek. Tomasz Nęcki

Schizophrenia is considered to be one of the most serious mental illnesses. Its symptoms can be very different, but they can be managed with the help of pharmacotherapy. However, not all patients suffering from schizophrenia want to be treated. So how to talk to your loved ones so that you can persuade them to reach for the help they need?

Schizophrenia is a mental illness that causes fear in many people. Patients suffering from it are often considered madmen who have no chance of an ordinary life. Such thinking is definitely harmful - thanks to the right, appropriate treatment, it is possible to lead the patient to a completely ordinary life, and the symptoms of the disease may not appear at all or they will only appear to a negligible extent.

Schizophrenia, like diabetes or hypertension, must be treated. However, not all patients want to undergo treatment, which usually makes their relatives terrified. The relatives of the sick then try by all means to persuade the patient to decide on treatment. For such efforts to be effective, it is necessary first to look at why the patient may not want to take advantage of available treatments for schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia in adults: why patients do not want to be treated?

The key to persuading a loved one with schizophrenia to start treatment is to understand where their reluctance comes from. Sometimes it can simply be due to the disease itself. In the course of schizophrenia, patients may experience, for example, persecutory delusions, through which they may have the impression that others want to poison them and the drugs recommended by their psychiatrist will not help them at all, but only harm their he alth.

The patient may also have auditory hallucinations in the form of voices telling him that if he takes medication, then someone from his relatives or himself will be hurt.

A possible reason for reluctance to treat schizophrenia may be, however, other diseases related to the disease, which are referred to as negative symptoms. We are talking about problems such as loss of interest, emotional pallor or psychomotor slowing down. Patients canlosing interest in life, which may make it seem completely pointless for them to undertake any kind of treatment.

It sometimes happens that a patient who has previously taken medications recommended by a psychiatrist suddenly decides to stop using them. This may be especially true for those who experience some side effects of pharmacotherapy.

In the case of using antipsychotic drugs - that is, agents most often used in the treatment of schizophrenia - there may appear, among others, side effects such as:

  • excessive sleepiness,
  • weight gain,
  • sexual dysfunction
  • Is it difficult to remember?

Schizophrenia in adults: it takes patience to convince a patient to be treated

There is really no one universal method to convince your loved ones about the need to treat schizophrenia. Knowing the reasons for the reluctance to therapy, however, you can focus on certain issues in conversations.

For patients who do not want to take medications because of their side effects, it is worth mentioning that psychiatrists have not one, but many antipsychotics at their disposal. In a situation where the patient experiences severe side effects of treatment, it is possible to change the currently taken pharmaceutical to another one.

For this purpose, however, consultation with a psychiatrist is necessary, so it is worth urging the patient to visit him regularly.

It is important to know if your loved one trusts your doctor and is satisfied with your appointments. When he or she does not speak very positively about his psychiatrist, it is worth considering enlisting the help of another specialist.

Psychiatry is quite a specific field of medicine and ultimately the patient is not always able to find a common language with every physician involved in this discipline.

Sometimes it takes quite a long time from talking about the need for treatment until the patient finally decides to do so. However, just as it is possible to convince the patient that the treatment of schizophrenia does not have to be associated with the occurrence of severe side effects, it is much more difficult when he does not want to be treated due to his delusions.

The essence of the problem in this case is that the patient is convinced of the truth of his beliefs and no, even the most rational, arguments can convince him that he is wrong. It is not hardly surprising that families feel helpless then - but there is a solution that can be used in the most difficult situations.

Schizophrenia in adults: win what situations can the patient be treated without his consent?

In general, in medicine, patients must consent to various therapeutic effects. In accordance with Polish law, and more precisely in accordance with the Mental He alth Protection Act, it is possible, in certain specific situations, to treat patients with mental illnesses even without their consent.

This procedure is used only in specific situations and treatment without consent may take place, for example, when the patient threatens his own life or threatens the life or he alth of other people.

Placing a loved one in a psychiatric hospital may seem like a radical move in the end. In practice, however, it is sometimes the only solution. Then, when the patient threatens himself, the most important thing is saving his life.

It is obvious that for a long time he can just be angry with his relatives. However, the situation may change when, thanks to appropriate treatment, the patient's condition improves and he gains greater insight, i.e. awareness of his disease.

  • Types of schizophrenia
  • Inheriting schizophrenia
  • Treatment of schizophrenia
  • Alcoholic schizophrenia
  • Catatonic Schizophrenia
  • How to recognize paranoia?
  • Paranoid Schizophrenia

Category:

Psychiatry