Schizophrenia Spectrum and other Psychotic disorders

1.  Psychotic disorders are defined by the abnormalities in one or more of the following 5 domains:  delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thinking, grossly disorganized or abnormal motor behavior, and negative symptoms.

2. Delusions are: strongly fixed beliefs that are not grounded in reality and are inflexible even when presented with contrary evidence.

3. Hallucinations are: lifelike experiences in which a person senses something despite a complete lack of external stimulus.

4. Disorganized speech or thought:  disorganized thinking manifests in one’s speech.  This includes rapidly shifting subjects, unrelated answers to questions, poor sentence structures

5. Grossly disorganized or abnormal motor behavior:  staring, rocking, repeated movements, catatonia

6. Negative symptoms: Symptoms that are missing or not present ( diminished emotional expression, decrease in purposeful activities, decrease in speech, inability to experience pleasure (anhedonia), and lack of interest in social interactions.

7. Counseling cannot begin until the person is stabilized on medication, perceive reality more accurately, and can communicate more readily.

8.  Counseling starts by just developing a relationship.

Your work:  I want you to research counseling psychotic clients and using the above statement, tell me what a counselor should and should not do with one of these clients.  Out line how you would help make a difference in this person’s life, as a counselor.