NURS-6630 Approaches to Treatments: Antipsychotic Therapy: Pakistani Female | Walden University

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NURS-6630: Approaches to Treatments Antipsychotic Therapy: Pakistani Female Walden Universit Dr. Aaron Weiner, Professor Antipsychotic Therapy: Pakistani Female Schizophrenia- Paranoid Type is ... characterized as a mental illness not fully understood in regards to the cause (Piotrowski & Tischauser, 2017). However, it is considered to be partially related to a genetic disease due to tendencies of running in families, additional causes may include biological, environmental, or psychological risk factors (Stahl, 2013). According to Stahl (2013), the leading hypothesis for schizophrenia is related to the neurotransmitter dopamine, which suggests an excess of dopamine is involved with the diagnosis of schizophrenia. Post-synaptic dopamine receptor antagonism is the common mechanism that explains anti-psychotic properties such as positive symptoms of schizophrenia (Stahl, 2013). The dopamine pathways pertinent to schizophrenia symptoms are positive, negative, and cognitive symptoms. The over-activity of the mesolimbic pathway results in positive symptoms such as delusions or hallucinations which is caused by an over-activity of this pathway. On the other hand, the mesocortical pathway dysfunctions cause negative and cognitive symptoms, which resorts in underproduction of the pathway (Stahl, 2013). In addition, the neurotransmitter glutamate is also believed to play a role in schizophrenia due to the deficiencies of symptoms of schizophrenia including learning, memory, neural processing, and brain development (Stahl, 2013). Therefore, these symptoms may explain why these individuals have difficulty with sustained attention, cognitive control, and working memory. According to the US National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in 2015, schizophrenia occurred in roughly 1% of the general population, but it occurred in approximately 10% of individuals with a first-degree relative diagnosed with the disorder (Piotrowski & Tischauser, 2017). [Show More]

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