I have had students diagnosed with mental disorders argue with me as well about things said in class. Often it involves a misunderstanding by the student of something I said, or something their counselor said, or a misstatement by the professional seeing the individual. Other times, it is my own oversimplification that gets caught, but that does not sound like the case here. Often patients in a manic phase demonstrate psychotic-like symptoms, such as the derailment/loose associations, and a degree of grandiose thinking. It sounds like the student took a statement by the therapist about such similarities as "becoming schizophrenic." Were I in class, I would try to convince the student of this, and have them check with their therapist at their next meeting. Alternatively, I have done the "well, I have never heard of such a pattern before..." as a compromise to the individual student while still suggesting to the class that such is far from typical (and in fact, wrong).
Now, it is possible the student has a bipolar disorder "with psychotic features" that most manifest themselves during his manic phase (particularly if he doesn't enter a depressive phase), but even so, he does not "become schizophrenic," like a werewolf during the full moon.
Hope this helps. Good luck.
David W.
At 12:04 PM 12/5/2005, you wrote:
Hi All:
I'm addressing tipster clinies for some advice on a student in intro psych. This
student told me the first week of classes that he has rather severe ADHD and is
on meds and may occasionally miss classes during the semester.
This week we covered psychopathology in class and as we discussed bipolar
disorder he announced in class that he has biploar disorder. Well, then he went
on to make the blanket statement to the whole class that in the manic phase he
becomes schizophrenic! I didn't want the whole class to believe this so I tried
to suggest that he was misinterpreting something but he was adamant that his
therapist said it was so.
Oh dear. I have a whole class listening to this exchange and am wondering what
to do about it. He has been a fairly good student all semester long and has
done fairly well on exams, although he is the only one who constantly raises
his hand to ask questions and thinks he knows a lot about psychology. However,
I tried to tell the rest of the class that becoming schizophrenic as a result
of a manic phase in bipolar disorder, and having the schizophrenic episode pass
when the manic phase passes is a misconception of sorts, all without getting
this person's ire.....
Any suggestions are welcome. This is my first encounter with this problem.
Annette
Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph. D.
Department of Psychology
University of San Diego
5998 Alcala Park
San Diego, CA 92110
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Associate Professor
Department of Psychology and Counseling
Valdosta State University
Valdosta, GA 31698
229-333-5620
http://chiron.valdosta.edu/dtwasieleski
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