Alexandra Franklin Case Study

Case Study

Awtum Johnson

Bloomfield College

Introduction:

        I wrote this case study with the intentions of interviewing an individual who was schizophrenic. Working at multiple group homes and halfway houses for women with substance abuse, I have notice that schizophrenia is common disorder in rehabilitations program. But what about the people you see in the grocery store? What about the person who sits next to you on the bus? Schizophrenia is a disorder that does not discriminate. Most individuals who suffer from schizophrenia look like every day people one would come across. A loved one, family friend, or neighbors all could have or are predisposed to schizophrenia and do not know it. Here is the study of Alexandra Franklin.

Background

        Alexandra Franklin is a young and thriving 20 year old female. She was born in Passaic County, New Jersey to parents who migrated from the Caribbean. She was raised by a single mother and her three siblings. She is the third child out of four.  She comes from middle to low class family, who sometimes struggles to make ends meet. She graduated from high school in 2015. Her current occupation is a sales associate at a retail department store. Her socioeconomic status would be classified as low class due to the longevity of living in poverty. She has never been married and does not have any children. Alexandra’s family and friends call her Alex for short. Alexandra is a timid and quiet person at first, but her family describes her as having a sunny personality with a big heart. She has a goal of being a beautician.

Family History

        Franklin did not know too much of her family history. Her father was not too active in her  life and neither was her father’s family. Her mother migrated from the Bahamas as a young adult leaving her family behind. Due to the lack of communication after her mother settled in the United States, her mother lost touch with her family. She mentioned that she has not asked her mother about her family history. Her reason for that choice was because she never really had an interest in her mother’s side, because she was satisfied with her immediate family. The possible etiology of her illness might be from genetics. Her father was once addicted to drugs. His misuse of drugs  in the past could have an effect on Franklin’s brain and psyche, which could be the reason why she is having this psychotic episodes. She is not sure if her father/mother and his side of the family has any history of mental illnesses or disorders.  Environmental factors could also play a role in Franklin’s illness.

        Being raised by an illegal immigrant mother, placed a lot of stress on her. Franklin and her siblings were living in a tough neighborhood in Paterson, NJ. She lived in poverty until her and her siblings were able to get jobs to support and contribute to the family. The stress of living in poverty along with living in a tough neighborhood could have triggered her episodes. One traumatic event she had undergone was when her family was evicted from their home. When she was eleven, she came to home to find her and her family’s belongings outside with the door chained. She was forced to stay with a range of family and friends until her mother found a place for her and her siblings. While staying at a family friend’s house, one of the people who were staying there  tried to molest her while her mother was at work. When her mother found out, they immediately left the house and went to stay with her older sister’s grandmother in Pennsylvania.

        The first time she had an episode was at her friend’s house in 2010. She and a friend were in the living room hanging out until her mother came in and started to changed the channel with the remote. She started to feel weird mentally and physically.  Her sister describes the event as very overwhelming. She ran across the street back to her house crying and screaming. Her sister said she was balling when she came in the house screaming that they were trying to do voodoo on her and that they (Franklin’s family) knew what happened to her and screaming. After an about 30 minutes, she had calmed down. She said she had these episodes frequently in the beginning like twice a mouth. Her mother was not sure what do to and she was admitted into a psychiatric ward at St. Joseph’s Hospital. She was there for about a few days and decided to leave. During her stay, she was diagnosed. Although was given a diagnosis, she does not remember what she was diagnose with. The doctor had prescribed her medicine which helped a lot, but stopped taking them because the medication became too expensive for her family to purchase. Every few months, Franklin would had an episode. She always knew they were coming because a feeling of weirdness, she describes, will come over here. When that feeling starts to come over her, she feels as though she cannot move. She sits or stands in place until the feeling goes away or when the episode is starting. She was paranoid and believed that everyone was out to hurt her when having an episode.

        The progress of her symptoms are labeled dormant. Her symptoms have not increased and throughout the years, her episodes happen less frequently. This year, she only recalled having one episode. In the past, her episodes occurred 2-3 times within every two months. She does not think her episodes have impaired her functioning in academic, occupational, and interpersonal factors. Her episodes have only seem to happen when at home or close to home and usually during the night. One of her worst episodes was in 2015; the duration of her episode lasted about two hours of non-stop crying and screaming that someone is trying to kill her. Also, telling her family that she thought that they loved her and why did they (Franklin’s family) let them hurt her. She also was accusing them with knowing the people who are trying to hurt her.

        I decided to diagnose her with delusional disorder and/or brief psychotic disorder. I choose both disorders, because I feel that her symptoms fit both categories. Patients with delusional disorder match certain schizophrenic characteristics. According to Hoodley, Butcher, Nock, and Mineka (2017), “Patients with delusional disorder, like many people with schizophrenia, hold beliefs that are considered false and absurd by those around them.”  Franklin has delusional thoughts that people were out to kill or hurt her, accusing her family knew the suspects that were “attempting” to hurt her, and that her neighbors were trying to put voodoo on her. Those symptoms seem to fit well with delusional disorder.  In the DSM-5, the criteria to have a delusional disorder is the presence of one or more delusions with a duration of one month or longer. It also entails that not all the criteria of schizophrenia is not meet such as hallucinations. Also, the delusions does not impair or interfere with their behavior and functionality outside of having an episode.