Ragy R Girgis

This book challenges professional and public misconceptions of schizophrenia as an illness with intractable symptoms and inexorable mental deterioration, educating clinicians and researchers on the effectiveness of treatment to change the course of or prevent the onset of illness. The authors illustrate such effectiveness through fifteen case studies examining psychosis in diverse clients. These case studies are divided into the three phases of the illness—prodromal/clinical high risk, first-episode, chronic, and treatment-refractory—with accompanying analyses of the causes, symptoms, interventions and treatments. By depicting patients at different clinical stages of the illness, with accompanying explanations of how they got to that point, what might have been done to avoid – or has been done to achieve – this outcome, the reader will gain an appreciation of the nature of the illness and for the therapeutic potential of currently available treatments. Readers will learn about the various clinical aspects of schizophrenia and treatment including diagnosis, prognosis, clinical presentation, suicide risk, cognitive deficits, stigma, medication management, and psychosocial interventions.

This book challenges professional and public misconceptions of schizophrenia as an illness with intractable symptoms and inexorable mental deterioration, educating clinicians and researchers on the effectiveness of treatment to change the course of or prevent the onset of illness. The authors illustrate such effectiveness through fifteen case studies examining psychosis in diverse clients. These case studies are divided into the three phases of the illness—prodromal/clinical high risk, first-episode, chronic, and treatment-refractory—with accompanying analyses of the causes, symptoms, interventions and treatments. By depicting patients at different clinical stages of the illness, with accompanying explanations of how they got to that point, what might have been done to avoid – or has been done to achieve – this outcome, the reader will gain an appreciation of the nature of the illness and for the therapeutic potential of currently available treatments. Readers will learn about the various clinical aspects of schizophrenia and treatment including diagnosis, prognosis, clinical presentation, suicide risk, cognitive deficits, stigma, medication management, and psychosocial interventions.

The goal of this book is to help change misconceptions that have historically pervaded Christianity by educating both laity and clergy about serious mental illness. It will accomplish this goal via an in-depth, exegetic examination of biblical accounts of what may have been untreated serious mental illness from the perspective of a psychiatrist and Christian. This in-depth examination will demonstrate that 1) serious mental illness was likely present and relatively common in biblical times, and similar in phenomenology to how it manifests today, and 2) that some instances of demon-possession and exorcisms as described in the Bible could, in a post-Enlightenment narrative, be better explained by occurring in the context of untreated mental illness, and that this could reveal a great deal of information about the biblical view of mental illness. Some of these accounts are from the Old Testament and some from the New Testament. Each essay will provide an in-depth examination of the biblical account from the perspective of a board-certified psychiatrist who is an expert in the field of serious mental illness and who is also a practicing Christian.

The goal of this book is to help change misconceptions that have historically pervaded Christianity by educating both laity and clergy about serious mental illness. It will accomplish this goal via an in-depth, exegetic examination of biblical accounts of what may have been untreated serious mental illness from the perspective of a psychiatrist and Christian. This in-depth examination will demonstrate that 1) serious mental illness was likely present and relatively common in biblical times, and similar in phenomenology to how it manifests today, and 2) that some instances of demon-possession and exorcisms as described in the Bible could, in a post-Enlightenment narrative, be better explained by occurring in the context of untreated mental illness, and that this could reveal a great deal of information about the biblical view of mental illness. Some of these accounts are from the Old Testament and some from the New Testament. Each essay will provide an in-depth examination of the biblical account from the perspective of a board-certified psychiatrist who is an expert in the field of serious mental illness and who is also a practicing Christian.