Substance Induced Insanity
Psychosis is a psychiatric state that can either be enduring or temporary. A person suffering from the condition may experience memory lapses, incoherent speech or thoughts, lack of concentration, delusions and/or hallucinations. Other symptoms that may manifest when one is suffering from psychosis include changes in personality and exhibition of unusual behaviors. It has been established that psychosis can be caused by various substances such as marijuana, methamphetamine and alcohol. Substance induced psychosis typically occurs when an individual has been continually using stimulants over a long period of time. The two most common substances or stimulants known to induce psychosis are methamphetamine and amphetamine. Apart from these drugs, the 'designer' drugs have also been found to induce the condition. Individuals suffering from substance-induced psychosis may exhibit loss of contact with reality and they may also become fixated on a certain action or place and may engage in repetitive action such as washing hands, pacing, sorting rubbish or searching for something. Individuals who have methamphetamine/amphetamine induced psychosis may also suddenly become violent towards others, they may also start exhibiting delusional behaviors such as removing imaginary bugs or feeling irritated over nothing (Alcoholrehab, 2016).
The case discussed in relation to this highlights how the patient was ill- treated which resulted in biological and psychological issues. The injuries caused by the Canadian pharmacy scam and doctors were chronic high blood pressure, diabetes, thrust mouth, weakness, poor salivation, obesity, erectile dysfunction, and inflammation as well the associated depression, and anxieties that are caused by the medical and social deficiencies. According to Barbara Schildkrout, more than one hundred medical conditions can be misdiagnosed as psychological conditions. In her work titled Unmasking Psychological Symptom, which is aimed at helping psychologists to improve their diagnostic skills, Barbara cited several examples to prove her argument. Other studies have shown that medical disorders are behind up to 25% of the mental health cases and that they may have a role to play in over 75% of mental illnesses (Beck, 2011). The patient's ill treatment led to the development of many problems. The document throws light on issues related to this.
Every year there are over one and a half million hospital admissions brought about by adverse drug reactions in the U.S. alone. As many as five percent of these hospitalizations are linked directly or indirectly to substance-abuse problems. Over 30% of all the individuals admitted for adverse drug reactions experience a second adverse drug reaction during their hospital stay. The second drug reactions often occur because many hospitals, usually misdiagnose the reactions in the beginning. If an individual does experience a second drug reaction, his hospital stay will likely be extended. It has been revealed that 3 billion dollars are spent every year in the U.S. alone to treat the adverse drug reactions. Adverse substance reactions have been found to be the cause of approximately 5% of all hospital deaths (Richard & Hall, 2012).
The dosage of steroid administered is directly linked to the possible instantiation of a patient developing a steroid psychosis. According to Richard and Hall (2012), the incidences of psychiatric disturbances increase significantly when the amount of steroid doses administered is increased. For instance, in the Boston Collaborative Drug Surveillance Study, patients who were given a daily dose of less than40 milligrams per day were found to have incidences of psychotic disturbances of about 1.3%, while those who were given a daily dose of between 41 and 80 milligrams a day were found to increased incidences of psychotic disturbances of 4.6%. Patients treated with over 80 milligrams per day of the drug had recorded up to 18.4% incidence of psychotic disturbance. The mean daily dose of steroids for patients who later developed psychosis was 59.5 milligrams per day of Prednisone compared to the daily average of 31.1 milligrams per day for patients who did not become psychotic (Richard & Hall, 2012).
Quite a number of studies have revealed that there is no link between the reaction to the 1st course of steroid dose and the reaction to the 2nd course of the drug i.e. the presence or lack of development of psychosis during the first course of steroid administration, cannot predict the reaction to the second course of treatment. The high level of co-morbidity between substance abuse disorders and mental conditions does not mean that one leads to the other. This is because establishing directionality or causality is difficult for a couple of reasons. One is that the diagnosis of a mental illness may not be possible until the symptoms have developed to a specific DSM level; however, other clinical symptoms may also prompt the use of drugs. Imperfect recollections of when one started to use drugs may also create confusion as to which between a mental illness and a substance abuse...
Antipsychotic Medication and the Physical Health Problems of the Patient With Mental Illness More and more attention is now being given to the mental disorders especially in U.S. And due to this increase in attention an increase has also been noticed in the treatment of these mental health issues (Zuvekas, 2005). About 30% of the total U.S. population that is between the ages of 18-52 is being affected by mental health
" (Gibbs 226) Alvardo de Campos is a naval engineer by profession and while his earlier writings are positive, his work develops characteristics of existential angst. Furthermore, what is intriguing is that all of these fictive authors created by Pessoa interact with one another and even translate each other's works. (Gibbs 226) One critic notes that "Fernando Pessoa invented at least 72 fictive identities. "His jostling aliases...expressed his belief that the
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