Category: OLD AGE SCHIZOPHRENIA SPECTRUM DISORDERS

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) a disorder characterized by recurrent intrusive or uncontrollable thoughts, causing stress (obsessions) that prompt the performance of rituals in a repetitive manner (compulsions). A person with OCD can have either obsessive thoughts and urges or compulsive, repetitive behaviours, or even both. Typical obsessions involve themes of contamination, dirt, or illness (fearing that one will contract or transmit a disease) and doubts about the performance of certain actions (e.g., a preoccupation that one has neglected to turn off a home appliance). Common compulsive behaviours include repetitive cleaning or washing, checking, ordering, repeating, and hoarding. Compulsions tend to relieve the anxiety, but only for a little while.

While such individuals realise that their seemingly uncontrollable behaviour is irrational, they are unable to stop. Their daily life is affected as simple tasks or chores take the form of insurmountable problems. Relationships with family and friends can often become strained or problematic.

Worried that you / your loved one might have OCD?

1. Do you ever experience repetitive thoughts that cause you anxiety?
2. Do you ever fear germs or engage in excessive cleaning?
3. Are you constantly worried that something bad will happen because you forgot something important, like locking the door or turning off appliances?
4. Are there things you feel you must do excessively or thoughts you must think repeatedly to feel comfortable or ease anxiety?
5. Do you experience the need to constantly check on something or arrange things?
6. Do you wash yourself or things around you excessively?
7. Do you keep many useless things because you feel that you can’t throw them away?
8. Do you struggle to control these thoughts or behaviours?
9. Do you spend at least one hour a day thinking obsessive thoughts or performing these ritual behaviours?

Treatments, we provide that can help you:

Behaviour Therapy

Relaxation Training

Supportive Therapy

Medication

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

The Somatoform Disorders are a group of conditions that involve physical symptoms and complaints suggesting the presence of a medical condition but without any evidence of physical pathology to account for them. In other words, they involved medically unexplained physical symptoms. They are also not intentionally faking symptoms or attempting to deceive others. For the most part, they genuinely and sometimes passionately believe something is terribly wrong with their bodies and so they frequently show up in the practices of primary-care physicians, who then have the difficult task of managing their complaints, which have no known medical basis.

Patients with somatic symptom and related disorders have usually been evaluated (perhaps many times) for physical illness. These evaluations often lead to testing and treatments that are expensive, time-consuming, ineffective, and sometimes dangerous. The result of such treatment may be only to reinforce the patients’ fearful belief in some non-existent medical illness.

Worried if you / your loved one have/has a Somatoform Disorder?

1. Do you experience pain that is excessive or chronic?
2. Do you experience changes in sensory or voluntary motor functioning, with no physical or physiological malfunctioning as its cause?
3. Do you have chronic, multiple symptoms that seem to lack an adequate explanation?
4. Do you have complaints that don’t improve, despite medical treatment that helps most patients?
5. Are you excessively concerned with your health or bodily appearance?

If you have said yes to most of the above, we might be able to help you.

Treatments we provide that can help you:

Psychoeducation

Psychometric Assessment

Pharmacotherapy (medication), if required

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

Relaxation Techniques

Family Therapy

Interpersonal Therapy

Schizophrenia is a chronic and severe mental disorder that affects how a person thinks, feels, and behaves. People with schizophrenia may seem like they have lost touch with reality. Commonly, people suffering from this problem, have several other symptoms that are considered to be odd and out of touch with the real world. Thus they might be unable to carry on with their daily life, work, and relationships smoothly. They might even neglect their hygiene and withdraw themselves from the others. Symptoms of schizophrenia usually start between ages 16 and 30. The symptoms of schizophrenia fall into three categories: positive, negative, and cognitive.

Positive symptoms: “Positive” symptoms are psychotic behaviors not generally seen in healthy people. People with positive symptoms may “lose touch” with some aspects of reality. Symptoms include:

• Hallucinations
• Delusions
• Thought disorders (unusual or dysfunctional ways of thinking)
• Movement disorders (agitated body movements)

Negative symptoms: “Negative” symptoms are associated with disruptions to normal emotions and behaviors. Symptoms include:

• “Flat affect” (reduced expression of emotions via facial expression or voice tone)
• Reduced feelings of pleasure in everyday life
• Difficulty beginning and sustaining activities
• Reduced speaking

Cognitive symptoms: For some patients, the cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia are subtle, but for others, they are more severe and patients may notice changes in their memory or other aspects of thinking. Symptoms include:

• Poor “executive functioning” (the ability to understand information and use it to make decisions)
• Trouble focusing or paying attention
• Problems with “working memory” (the ability to use information immediately after learning it)

Worried that you / your loved one may be suffering from Schizophrenia?

Since the past 1 month or more,

1. Do you feel that your thoughts often become jumbled, jump around or become blocked?
2. Do you feel that your thoughts tend to get fixed in your mind and you can’t get your mind off them?
3. Do you feel that your thoughts have a definite impact on others as though you can control things or ‘do things’ with your thoughts?
4. Do you feel that your thoughts, feelings and actions are being controlled by someone else?
5. Do you hear voices / see / smell / feel / taste things that other people don’t?
6. Do you believe that other people can read your mind, or you can read others’ minds?
7. Do you find it difficult to relate to other people and trust them?
8. Do you find it difficult to make decisions and get yourself moving to do anything?
9. Do you have difficulties controlling impulses (like shouting in public or suddenly becoming angry) or difficulties engaging in regular daily activities (like bathing or dressing)?
10. Do you experience severe difficulty in expressing your emotions?

If you have said yes to most of the above, we might be able to help you.

Treatments we can help you with:

Medication

Counselling

Psychometric Assessment

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy

Family Therapy

Delusional disorder is characterized by firmly held false beliefs (delusions) that persist for at least 1 month, without other symptoms of psychosis. The belief can be regarding any usual aspect of the person’s life but is not believed by anyone else except him since it is not true. Delusions in the elderly can take many forms; the most com­mon ones are persecutory-patients believe that they are being spied on, followed poisoned, or harassed in some way. Persons with delusional disorder may become violent toward their supposed persecutors. Some persons lock themselves in their rooms and live reclusive lives. Somatic delusions, in which persons believe they have a fatal illness, also ca occur in older persons. Among those who are vulnerable, delusional disorder can occur under physical or psychological stress and can be precipitated by the death of a spouse, loss of a job, retirement, social isolation, adverse financial circumstances, debilitating medical illness or surgery, visual impairment, an deafness.

Delusional disorder is distinguished from schizophrenia by the presence of delusions without any other symptoms of psychosis (eg, hallucinations, disorganized speech or behavior, negative symptoms). Delusional disorder may arise from a preexisting paranoid personality disorder. In such people, a pervasive distrust and suspiciousness of others and their motives begin in early adulthood and extend throughout life.

Early symptoms may include the feeling of being exploited, preoccupation with the loyalty or trustworthiness of friends, a tendency to read threatening meanings into benign remarks or events, persistent bearing of grudges, and a readiness to respond to perceived slights.

Worried that you / your loved one may be suffering from Delusional Disorder?

Since the past 1 month or more,

1. Do you tend to get angry or frustrated very easily?
2. Do you feel that your thoughts tend to get fixed in your mind and you can’t get your mind off them?
3. Do you feel that your thoughts have a definite impact on others as though you can control things or ‘do things’ with your thoughts?
4. Do you feel that your thoughts, feelings and actions are being controlled by someone else?
5. Do you believe that other people can read your mind, or you can read others’ minds?
6. Do you find it difficult to relate to other people and trust them?

If you have said yes to most of the above, we might be able to help you.

Treatments we can help you with:

Medication

Counselling

Psychometric Assessment

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy

Family Therapy