Psychosis and Schizophrenia - Assignment Example

It is not an easy task to differentiate psychosis from schizophrenia, but it is very important as they need different treatments. The main difficulty occurs when experts attempt to reveal the prodromal period of the illness. The differentiation becomes very difficult during periods of remission, and in case of schizophrenia is accompanied by alcoholism.  The first symptoms of psychosis and schizophrenia are very similar especially when a patient went through severe psychological trauma.  Bipolar disorder is characterized by frequent changes in moods and the ability to function. In contrast to patients with bipolar disorder, the patient with schizophrenia is less initiative during the period of increased mood. During this phase, the patient wants to be active, look happy, and be self-assured and wants to do something useful. The patient with schizophrenia usually looks not happy, but foolish, he does not have any real goal to do anything, and his excitement is aimless. Patients with schizophrenia do not have a such clear change of “good” and “bad” periods, even during their period of raised mood they seem sad and sluggish and suffer from hallucinations.

When interviewing a patient with bipolar disorder it is necessary to be tactful and careful and treat him with understanding. Such patients often want to isolate themselves from the surrounding world, they may not want to communicate. Therefore, it is necessary to be as careful and kind as it is possible to make them answer the questions and take part in communication. At the beginning of the conversation, it is necessary to say something pleasant to make them feel a warm atmosphere (Butcher et al, 2014).