ABSTRACT

This chapter shows that the reader is adept and comfortable with descriptive, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) interviewing and diagnostic assessment. People with schizophrenia (SP) often will show an initial several months of a prodrome prior to meeting full DSM-5 criteria. Psychotropic’s will only deliver the outcomes promised if the patient at hand actually has been accurately identified as having SP or a spectrum disorder. Many SP patients are erroneously treated for major depressive disorder (MDD) in this timeframe. Once full SP symptoms are established, there should be an absence of full MDD or mania symptoms as well. Commonly, SP in adults is confounded by other psychiatric disorders, such as a formal anxiety, substance use, or depressive disorders. All of psychiatric prescribing at this beginning level is based on regulatory findings, approvals, and indications that are psychiatric disorder specific. Diagnosis may be difficult as patients often are poor historians with little insight into their disorder.