Johannah Case Paper

Client profile:
Johannah is a 34-year-old female. Born in the Netherlands, she married an American and came to this country when she was 25 years old. About a year later, Johannah began a series of admissions to psychiatric facilities. She was diagnosed with major depression and later with schizoaffective disorder. About a month ago, Johannah stopped keeping outpatient appointments, stopped taking her medications, stopped bathing, and stopped eating, but was sleeping all the time. Johannes mood symptoms suddenly became less noticeable, and she began wandering her yard after dark, saying the neighbors were in trees. Johannah began to carry a gun to protect itself against the neighbors, who she thought were out to kill her. When she started to fire the gun into the trees, her husband got a court order to have Johannah committed for treatment.

Case study:
Two deputies, one male and one female, and her husband have brought Johannah to the hospital to be admitted. The nurse does an assessment on Johannah and discovers Johannah has been on risperdone (Risperdal) liquid, valproic acid (Depakote), and venlafaxine (Effexor XR). The psychiatrist orders these medications to be continued. At first the nurse is unable to
“Schizoaffective disorder appears to have a broad age of onset in adults” (Abrams, Rojas, & Arciniegas, 2008). Out of 900 people diagnosed with this disorder, about one third developed the condition between the ages of 25-35, one third developed it prior to age 25, and one third developed it after age 35 (Abrams, Rojas, & Arciniegas, 2008). The broad range of age of onset can be attributed to this condition being similar to both schizophrenia, which has a younger age of onset, and bipolar disorder, which has a later age of onset. According to Abrams, Rojas, and Arciniegas, about two thirds of persons with this disorder are female (2008). So this disorder occurs more in