How I Treat: Schizophrenia With Dr Citrome, Case 1 Case Presentation

Case 1: Frank

• Frank is a 20-year-old White sophomore at a prestigious private university who lives at a fraternity house. He comes from a well-educated and wealthy family.
• However, mental illness is no stranger to the family—Frank has an aunt and a great uncle who were diagnosed with schizophrenia and a cousin who committed suicide after several psychotic relapses and hospitalizations.
• During the winter break, Frank’s mother becomes worried when Frank refuses to leave his room, does not allow any of his friends to visit him, and appears preoccupied with Satan and “the end of days."
• Frank is eventually coaxed into seeing his pediatrician (who is a family friend), and Frank passively allows his admission to a famous and well-respected inpatient psychiatric facility.

Case 2: Roger

• Roger is a 19-year-old African American freshman at the local state college.
• He is the first in his family to attend college. Roger has ambitions to become a physician, based in part on the chronic physical ailments that his grandmother suffered with before she passed away in Roger’s senior year of high school. There is no family history of mental illness.
• In the fall semester of his first year of college, he finds himself already falling behind in his schoolwork and experiences difficulties concentrating. He becomes preoccupied with thoughts that satellites are beaming instructions to the “chosen few” in the capital cities of Europe. By winter, he has failed a course and received a “D” in another; he is put on probation.
• In March, he is arrested at a local supermarket after destroying part of the dairy section, claiming that the food is tainted by “aliens.” The police are called, and Roger is brought to the local emergency department for an emergency evaluation. He is admitted to the locked inpatient psychiatric unit.