CASE STUDY #2 Valerie is a 50 year old woman who was diagnosed with schizophrenia when she was 29. Prior to her diagnosis, Valerie had completed her BSc at the University of Toronto and began graduate school at The University of Guelph. During university, Valerie was convinced that someone was poisoning her, and made frequent trips to student health. Valerie became fascinated with organic foods and chemicals and was certain that growth hormones in meat were created to poison humans. While she did not have a large circle of friends, Valerie did have a boyfriend, Henry, throughout her undergraduate degree. As she became increasingly delusional, she isolated herself from her friends, and her relationship with Henry broke down. After starting her graduate degree, Valerie became more obsessed with food and would only allow herself to eat bread and bananas. She began to use marijuana. Now Valerie would spend her days in a smoke-filled room scared to go out for fear of coming in contact wit

CASE STUDY #2 Valerie is a 50 year old woman who was diagnosed with schizophrenia when she was 29. Prior to her diagnosis, Valerie had completed her BSc at the University of Toronto and began graduate school at The University of Guelph. During university, Valerie was convinced that someone was poisoning her, and made frequent trips to student health. Valerie became fascinated with organic foods and chemicals and was certain that growth hormones in meat were created to poison humans. While she did not have a large circle of friends, Valerie did have a boyfriend, Henry, throughout her undergraduate degree. As she became increasingly delusional, she isolated herself from her friends, and her relationship with Henry broke down. After starting her graduate degree, Valerie became more obsessed with food and would only allow herself to eat bread and bananas. She began to use marijuana. Now Valerie would spend her days in a smoke-filled room scared to go out for fear of coming in contact wit

CASE STUDY #2

Valerie is a 50 year old woman who was diagnosed with schizophrenia when she was 29. Prior to her diagnosis, Valerie had completed her BSc at the University of Toronto and began graduate school at The University of Guelph. During university, Valerie was convinced that someone was poisoning her, and made frequent trips to student health. Valerie became fascinated with organic foods and chemicals and was certain that growth hormones in meat were created to poison humans. While she did not have a large circle of friends, Valerie did have a boyfriend, Henry, throughout her undergraduate degree. As she became increasingly delusional, she isolated herself from her friends, and her relationship with Henry broke down. After starting her graduate degree, Valerie became more obsessed with food and would only allow herself to eat bread and bananas.

She began to use marijuana. Now Valerie would spend her days in a smoke-filled room scared to go out for fear of coming in contact with contaminated food. During this time she continued to see her doctor for stomach symptoms. One day, while traveling back from a doctor’s appointment, Valerie ran into Henry. Their relationship was soon rekindled, and Valerie stopped using marijuana. Valerie’s stress was substantially decreased now that she and Henry were spending so much time together, and gradually, Valerie became less and less worried about her food being contaminated, and her stomach symptoms ceased.

Within 2 years, Valerie & Henry were married. After 4 years of marriage, however, Valerie’s stomach problems started to come back. She began to make multiple appointments with her family physician, who could not discover any problems with her health. Valerie and Henry were not getting along, and Valerie became worried that he was injecting her food with poison and contaminating the milk she was drinking with deadly bacteria. Valerie & Henry were active members of their church; however, during this time, Valerie began to believe that there were members of the church who had infiltrated and were trying to destroy their faith community.

When Valerie told Henry about her concerns, Henry and Valerie’s pastor became worried about her, and consulted with Valerie’s physician. Henry and Valerie’s family physician informed Valerie that he was admitting her to hospital. Valerie was relieved that someone saw what was really going on; however, on admission, she realized she was on the psychiatric floor and was convinced the government was plotting against her. After 6 months in a psychiatric facility, Valerie felt better and was discharged. She received a diagnosis of schizophrenia, and was prescribed medication. Valerie took her medication and was able to settle into an apartment.

Valerie and Henry got back together for a short time. After 6 months, the side effects of the medication were so severe, she stopped taking them and she and Henry divorced. Two months later, she realized that Henry was spying on her through her apartment window, and she decided to escape by hitchhiking to Vancouver Island. In Comox – a small town on Vancouver Island, she got a job as a receptionist in a saw mill. Valerie continued to experience paranoia about the food around her and now started to feel that her co-workers in the office were plotting against her. She would see them huddled together before and after work and felt they were mapping out their plan against her. Valerie had contact with a community mental health team and the occupational therapist was working with her to support her at home and work. The OT had met with Valerie’s employer and discussed the difficulty Valerie had been having with her medication and maintaining her focus and attention. Shortly after this meeting, Valerie was fired and she stopped seeing her mental health team. This created a downward spiral for Valerie who continued to live in Comox for another 2 years, taking odd jobs, and living in squalor.

Isolation and despair drove her to leave BC and move back to Toronto. In Toronto, without money, Valerie lived between an abandoned car and local shelters. She went to soup kitchens, but was hungry and had little human contact. Somehow, she found a job taking out the garbage at a local restaurant and was able to find an apartment in a run down building in Toronto. With a little money, she began to drink heavily, alternating between cheap liquor and homemade beer.

Valerie’s paranoia and delusions shifted and she became convinced that aliens were inhabiting the people around her. She became increasingly distraught and one day was picked up by police and brought to the hospital. Valerie’s second hospital stay was longer than the first, but by the end, the voices had left and she was feeling like she would be able to manage on her own. Her psychiatrist set