Social skill training for Schizophrenia patient is done for which symptom?

AIIMS Delhi NO- 2019

Mental Health Nursing

Medium

Appeared in: AIIMS Delhi NO- 2019

Explanation

Social skills training (SST) is a behavioral therapy that directly targets the 'deficit' symptoms of schizophrenia, which are known as negative symptoms.
Negative symptoms include social withdrawal (asociality), lack of motivation (avolition), and reduced emotional expression (flat affect), all of which impair interpersonal functioning.
SST helps patients learn and practice communication, assertiveness, and problem-solving skills in a structured environment, thereby improving their ability to interact socially.
By addressing these behavioral deficits, SST aims to enhance social competence, improve quality of life, and promote community integration for individuals with schizophrenia.

Option A: Positive symptoms are 'added' experiences like hallucinations and delusions. Social skills training does not address these psychotic symptoms; they are primarily managed with antipsychotic medications.
Option C: Hallucination is a specific example of a positive symptom, involving false sensory perceptions. SST is not designed to eliminate hallucinations.
Option D: Delusion is a specific example of a positive symptom, involving fixed, false beliefs. SST does not resolve delusional thinking.

Clinical Relevance

Nursing practice connection: Use the key finding related to Management of Schizophrenia Symptoms to guide bedside assessment, documentation, and the next nursing action.
Nurses play a crucial role in identifying negative symptoms, which can be less dramatic than positive symptoms but are highly disabling. Encouraging participation in SST is a key nursing intervention.
Improving social skills through SST can lead to better medication adherence, reduced rates of relapse and rehospitalization, and an overall improved quality of life for the patient.
What if the patient is actively experiencing severe positive symptoms? In that case, the priority is stabilization with medication. SST would be introduced later, once the acute psychosis has subsided, as the patient would not be able to engage effectively in the training otherwise.

How to Approach the Question

First, identify the core concepts in the question: 'Social skill training' (an intervention) and 'Schizophrenia' (a diagnosis).
Recall or deduce the different types of symptoms in schizophrenia. The main categories are positive (added behaviors) and negative (absent behaviors).
Analyze the intervention. 'Social skill training' implies teaching and practicing behaviors. This type of intervention is designed to correct a deficit or lack of skill.
Connect the intervention to the symptom type. Since SST addresses a lack of skills (like social interaction), it logically targets the 'deficit' or negative symptoms.
Evaluate the options: 'Positive sign', 'Hallucination', and 'Delusion' all relate to added, distorted experiences, which are not addressed by skill-building. 'Negative sign' represents the deficits that SST is designed to improve.

Concept Tested & Keywords

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E6 Kaplan Sadock's Synopsis of Psychiatry-2022 (pp 1-3768 of 3768) pp. 2492-2494, 1097-1099, 2426-2428