1. Schizophrenia Disorder
Presented by Chau Nguyen-Davis

2. A single story
• Thuy Tran hears voices.
• Refuses to take showers
• Trust issue with families and friends

3. What is schizophrenia?
• Schizophrenia is a chronic, severe, and
disabling brain disorder that has affected
people throughout the history.

4. Symptoms
• People with the disorder may hear voices
other people do not hear. They may
believe other people are reading their
minds, controlling their thoughts, or
plotting to harm them.

5. Treatment
• Helps relieve many symptoms of
schizophrenia, but most people who have
the disorder cope with symptoms
throughout their lives.

6. In the 1990’s
• New antipsychotic medications were
developed. Examples include:
• Risperidone, zyprexa, seroquel, geodon,
abilify.

7. Side effects of drugs
• Some people have side effects when they
start taking these medications. Most side
effects go away after a few days and often
can be managed successfully. Side
effects of many antipsychotics include:
drowsiness, blurred vision, rapid
heartbeat, skin rashes, menstrual
problems for women.

8. Schizophrenia’s statistics
• 1.2 percent of Americans have the
disorder.
• 1.5 million will be diagnosed around the
world.
• In the USA, 100,000 people will be
diagnosed
• 7.2 people per 1,000 people within a city
of 3 million who are likely to be suffer from
schizophrenia.

9. Original name for this illness
• Demetia praecox

10. The onset
• During adolescence or early adulthood.
• May begin in middle or late adult life.

11. Median age at onset
• For men, the first psychotic episode of
schizophrenia is in the early to mid 20s.
• For women, the first psychotic episode of
schizophrenia is in the late 20s.

12. Signs and symptoms
• Social withdrawal
• Loss of interest in school or work.
• Deterioration in hygiene and grooming,
unusual behavior, outburst of anger.

13. Symptoms of schizophrenia are
divided into two major categories.
• Positive symptoms ( delusions, somatic
hallucinations, hearing voices, thought
insertion or withdrawal)
• Negative symptoms( alogia, avolition,
anhhedonia, bluted.)

14. Causes
• Genetic, biochemical, development, and
environmental factors.
• There is no known single cause of the
disorder.

15. ProQuest Science Journals
• Treating Oriental Patients with Western
Psychiatry: A 12- Year Experience with
Vietnamese Refugee Psychiatric Patients.
• Out of the 2 million Vietnamese refugees,
more than 1.5 million have been scattered
around the world in many countries, such
as the United States.

16. Cultural Perception of Mental
Illness
• Vietnamese perceives mental illness as a
stigma.
• Abnormal behavior is unacceptable for it
shows a failure of one’s education on the
control of behavior and consequently, will
be a source of shame for the patient and
his or her family.
• All efforts will be made until the family
gives up and accepts the need to refer the
patient for treatment.

17. Abnormalities of cognitive
function
• Delusions and hallucinations are
considered extrinsic to the patient’s
normal mind.
• They are believed to come from spirits of
relatives or others, evils, or divinity.

18. Abnormal emotional manifestations are
also unacceptable.
• Individual selfcontrol is a constant
requirement.
• When control fails, further assistance may
be provided by the elders of one’s own
family.
• This lack of control is a shame and not to
be revealed to outside people.

19. The Vietnamese Mental Health
Project
• Established in 1989
• Mental health problems amongst refugees
from Vietnam resettled in London.
• From 1995 the Project has changed its
name to Vietnamese Mental Health
Services (VMHS).

20. Aims
• Aims to preserve and protect the good
mental health of persons from Vietnam
and their dependents and to promote a
quality and culturally sensitive mental
health services to people from Vietnam in
the UK.

21. Services
• Outreach and counseling services
• Training/education about mental health
issues; health/social care systems to
people from Vietnam.
• Publishing booklets in Vietnamese on
mental health issues, and bimonthly
Health Newsletter.

22. Counseling Services
• Individual Counseling: work on crisis;
confidence building and empowerment.
• Family Counseling: helping family
members coming to terms with mental
illness in the family; dealing with
dysfunctional family dynamics.

23. Supported Accommodation
• Care and support provided include:
monitoring mental state of residents for
early intervention, medication taking,
informal counseling and advice, life stills
training, socialisation, encourage
residents to take part in vocational training
including English class.

24. Training/Education/Information
• Meeting at the drop-in day centres
• Visit a home
• Health talk session
• Booklets and health newsletter published
in Vietnamese.

25. Contact
• Vietnamese Mental Health Services at
info@vmhs.org.uk

26. Conclusions
• Many changes have been observed in the
Vietnamese refugee’s perception of
mental health after 14 years of
resettlement in the USA.
• Families are more understanding and
accepting.
• Young adults have started seeking
professional help whenever they have
emotional problems.

27. References:
• “Vietnamese Health Mental Services” retrieved on June 14, 2012
from http://vmhs.org.uk/home2/english.php.
• Psych Central. “Asian immigrants report fewer mental health
problems” retrieved on June 14, 2012 from
http://psychcentral.com/news/archives/2006-11/uow-air112706.html.
• Today@UCI:Press Releases. “Older Vietnamese report more
mental health problems” retrieved on June 14, 2012 from
http://archive.today.uci.edu/news/release_detail_iframe.asp.
• ProQuest Science Journals. “ Treating Oriental Patients with
Western Psychiatry: A 12-Year Experience with Vietnamese
Refugee Psychiatric Patients” retrieved on June 11, 2012 from
http://search.proquest.com
• ProQuest Central. “ Adjunctive benzodiazepine treatment of
hospitalized schizophrenia patients in Asia from 2001 to 2008”
retrieved on June 11, 2012 from http://search.proquest.com.

28. References