Young Age for Fep

The first episode psychosis (FEP) often occurs on the adolescents or young adults (Verkuijl & Kelly, 2008). The younger of age at FEP, the longer duration of untreated psychosis the patient may experience (Schimmelmann et al. 2008). A first episode of psychosis is a traumatic experience for patients and families. The patients may feel hopeless and depression as the symptoms and social dysfunction (Mackrell & Lavender, 2004, kikku, Munnukka, lemtinen. 2003, Reed, 2008). They may have high risk of self-harm, suicide and substance disorder (Harvey et al, 2008, Wade et al, 2005, 2006, Breakey, Wolf, Nicholas, 2001). Assessing symptoms, mental health, and risks are very important for nurse to know the patients conditions, and made effective intervention to the patients (Keks & Blashki, 2006, Coffey & Hewitt, 2007). This essay will discuss the first episode psychosis from five aeries: definition, etiology, impact of patient and family, assessment and intervention.

In Fontaine’s (2009, P 342) opinion, the psychosis is defined as:

Psychosis is a general term used to refer to the experience of pervasive mental changes, such as the inability to think clearly, perceive correctly, and manage intense emotions. Individuals with psychosis experience delusions and hallucinations. Behavior and thinking both are disorganized

Furthermore, the first-episode psychosis (FEP) is the first presentation of psychotic symptoms (Reed, 2008). The patient in the first episode may not include the whole psychotic symptoms (Keks & Blashki, 2006). FEP often occurs on the adolescents or young adults who are around 20 years old (Verkuijl & Kelly, 2008).

The etiology of psychosis is unknown right now (Fontaine, 2009). However, there are some researches support the view of biology factors, psychology factors and social factors are causes of psychosis (Javanbakht, 2005, Kirkbride et al, 2006, Jarvis, 2007). On one hand, to prove biological changes in the brain in relative to...